Barracuda Networks, Inc., a leading provider of cloud-enabled security and data protection solutions, released findings from a new report, “Unlocking the Public Cloud — Benefits, Strategies, Challenges, and Solutions.” Conducted along with research firm Vanson Bourne, the study surveyed 300 IT decision makers from organizations across the U.S. that are currently using public cloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). Respondents included IT professionals across small, medium, and large-sized organizations.
Highlights:
Public cloud adoption is growing at a rapid rate across industries
Respondents currently run 44 percent of their infrastructure in the public cloud, but expect this percentage to nearly double in five years.
Security concerns still prevent widespread cloud adoption†
74 percent of respondents state that security concerns restrict their organizations’ migration to the public cloud.
The shared responsibility model is misunderstood
77 percent of respondents believe that public cloud providers are responsible for securing customer data in the cloud, and 68 percent of decision makers are under the impression that cloud providers are responsible for securing customer applications as well.
Organizations lack security measures for proper protection
Despite lack of clarity around the shared responsibility model, 30 percent of organizations have not added additional security layers to their public cloud deployments.
“This survey confirms what we are hearing from customers and partners — security remains a key concern for organizations evaluating public cloud, and there’s confusion over where their part of the shared responsibility model begins and ends,” said†Tim Jefferson, vice president, public cloud, Barracuda.†”Many organizations realize that cloud deployments can be inherently more secure than on-premises deployments because cloud providers are collectively investing more into security controls than they could on their own. However, the organizations benefiting most from public cloud are those that understand that their public cloud provider is not responsible for securing data or applications and are augmenting security with support from third-party vendors.”
Recommendations
- Many organizations often leverage multiple cloud providers alongside an on-premises infrastructure, which increases complexity. Customers are advised to partner with third-party security vendors who support a wide range of ecosystems with similar solutions, preventing added cost and complication.
- Many organizations weigh cloud licensing options by usage, hourly, or unlimited subscriptions, giving them a better understanding of how to utilize these options for greater cost control. Customers should partner with third parties that offer licensing options that meet their layered security needs.
- Particularly in multi-cloud and hybrid environments, centralized management is critical. Customers should look for vendors that can provide a common management scheme—either in their solutions or using public cloud security infrastructures to simplify managing and monitoring ongoing security.
Barracuda solutions are cloud ready and designed for hybrid deployments. Barracuda’s on-premises and cloud solutions work seamlessly together to protect customers’ data and applications regardless of where they reside.†
