Organizations want to leverage the cloud but are held back by security misconceptions

iboss has published the findings of its 2018 Enterprise Cloud Trends report. The survey of IT decision makers and office workers in U.S. enterprises found that 64% of IT decision makers believe the pace of software as a service (SaaS) application adoption is outpacing their cybersecurity capabilities.

Combined with growing pressures from shadow IT and mobile employees, 91% of IT decision makers agree they need to update security policies to operate in a cloud-first environment.

The results of the survey show approximately half of IT decision makers are hesitant to move to cloud-based cybersecurity solutions. Meanwhile large organizations are facing challenges like the growing use of SaaS applications, an increasingly mobile workforce, and widespread shadow IT which are best addressed by cloud-based cybersecurity solutions.

The primary concerns IT decision makers had when evaluating the migration to cloud were data privacy, cost of maintenance, cost of migration, concerns around legacy infrastructure integration, and compliance and data protection regulations.

“This survey shows that large organizations are facing many challenges that can be solved with cloud-based cybersecurity solutions, but they are holding back because of avoidable concerns,” said Paul Martini, CEO, iboss. “Office workers are clearly demanding access to SaaS applications and remote work capabilities; the challenge now is to secure them effectively.”

Key findings

• 94% of IT decision makers had concerns about moving their organization to the cloud
• Data privacy was the most common concern when moving to the cloud with 61% respondents citing it as a primary concern
• 64% of IT decision makers believe SaaS adoption is outpacing their ability to secure it
• On average, IT decision makers believe 36% of remote workers bypass security policies, but in reality, 48% of office worker respondents admit to bypassing remote work policies
• 62% of office workers have bypassed the IT department to access a new application, and nearly 80% of IT decision makers believe this type of shadow IT is a major security concern
• 82% of office workers admit to going around their VPN when working remotely
• 91% of IT decision makers think they need to improve security policies to effectively operate in a cloud environment.