Survey reveals widespread mistrust of the cloud

Seven in 10 businesses don't trust the cloud to obey data protection laws, according to research by Ponemon

Seventy-two per cent of businesses don't trust cloud firms to obey data protection laws and regulations, according to a report by Ponemon Institute.

Data Breach: The Cloud Multiplier Effect in European Countries, commissioned by Netskope, found widespread mistrust, with 84 per cent of respondents doubting that their cloud service providers would notify them if their intellectual property or confidential information was breached.

Businesses do not trust their cloud vendor to protect them from data breaches, with 53 per cent saying the likelihood of a data breach increases due to the cloud, the research also found.

The report follows findings that one in 10 businesses have switched their cloud provider following the NSA scandal last summer.

Sanjay Beri, chief executive and co-founder of Netskope, said: "This study proves that some companies are struggling with shadow IT and need much more visibility into what data and apps are being accessed in the cloud and guidance on how they should analyse vendors."

Ponemon's report also found that 64 per cent of IT pros think their organisation's use of cloud services reduces its ability to protect confidential information.

"We all know the cloud can offer productivity gains, but these shouldn't come at the expense of security. Our respondents agreed that cloud has the potential to be more secure than on-premise IT, but this is only true if they have policy enforcement capabilities coupled with deep contextual visibility into cloud transactions," said Beri.

Dr Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of Ponemon, said: "I suspect that the low vote of confidence in cloud vendors we're seeing is due to this heightened scrutiny and a ‘fear of the unknown'."