Cloud security under a cloud?

The research reveals a widespread increase in cloud adoption because of COVID-19. It also indicates a widespread misconception around the responsibility for backup and recovery of data in the cloud and a lack of confidence in the security of data held by public cloud service providers. 

When asked if COVID-19 had impacted cloud adoption:

• 48% of respondents noted accelerated adoption of cloud services for data management. 
• 61% of respondents confirmed increased use of cloud backup services. 
• 28% of respondents stated they increasingly rely on cloud services for data recovery.
• 57% said they had increased the use of the cloud for IT infrastructure (IaaS).

Despite the accelerated adoption of cloud services, the study showed a lack of clarity and confidence regarding the protection and recovery of data stored in public clouds.

• 44% believe data backed up to a public (AWS, Azure, Office365, etc.) is not as safe as data backed up on-premises. This concern was particularly prevalent in organizations with over 1PB of data, where 69% believe data backed up to a public cloud is not as safe as data backed up on-premises.
• 40% of respondents believe the protection and recovery of data stored in public clouds is the cloud provider's responsibility instead of the data owner. 

The widespread misconception (40%) that the protection and recovery of data stored in public clouds is the cloud provider's responsibility is concerning. Companies transitioning to cloud services must understand that data held in public cloud services and applications is a shared responsibility between the data owner and the cloud provider.

When asked about the major barriers to adopting cloud data services, 39% said regulations and compliance, 33% said lack of control over data, and 50% said security concerns hindered their adoption.

Shridar Subramanian, CMO at Arcserve, said: "Organisations are increasingly looking to cloud services as part of a hybrid data centre strategy to help manage the cost and complexity of their data environments which have typically become even harder to manage with the move to remote working." He continued, "It is encouraging that many plan to increase data security and back up investments with their MSPs. The expertise MSPs bring to the table will ensure these organisations will have well-defined and tested data protection and recovery plans in place."   

39% of respondents said they plan to increase spending with MSPs on backing up on-premises data in the cloud, 40% on cloud backup of remote offices, and 19% on cloud DRaaS."