Blancco Technology Group Study Finds 26 Percent of Organizations
Have Limited Visibility into Use of All Cloud Storage Providers
ATLANTA and LONDON, Oct. 12,
2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Lack of visibility into an
organization's use of cloud providers can lead to unauthorized
access to data, improper handling and storage of data and improper
data removal. As a result, organizations are left highly exposed
and vulnerable to a data breach, reveals the "Lost in the Cloud:
Data Security Challenges and Risks" research study released today
by Blancco Technology Group (LON: BLTG).
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Based on a survey of over 290 IT professionals in the US,
Canada, Mexico, UK, Germany, France, India, Japan
and China, the study indicates
that 26 percent of organizations are either 'not confident' or
'somewhat confident' about their IT teams' knowledge of the use of
all cloud storage providers. Further exacerbating data security
vulnerabilities in the cloud, 15 percent of organizations rarely or
never conduct audits of cloud providers who are storing their
corporate data.
Key findings from the study include:
- Consolidation and diversification is the name of the cloud
computing game. 89 percent of the surveyed IT professionals
said they use a total of 1-15 private cloud storage providers and
92 percent use 1-15 public cloud storage providers.
- Fighting off APTs, compromised credentials and hacked
interfaces are top cloud security priorities. When we asked IT
professionals to rank various cloud security threats in terms of
their company's priority – specific to budgets, resources and tools
– the respondents cited advanced persistent threats (APTs),
compromised credentials and hacked interfaces/APIs as being top
priorities.
- Data migration and data center decommissioning processes are
fundamental to preventing data loss. 16 percent of
organizations admitted that they 'do not know' what security
precaution they would take to prevent data loss/theft when
decommissioning/shutting down a cloud/virtual server.
- Cloud storage needs defined audit processes and monitoring
to stay compliant. Close to half (40 percent) of organizations
believe storing corporate data in a cloud environment increases
their compliance risk.
Richard Stiennon, Chief Strategy
Officer of Blancco Technology Group, urges organizations to counter
these data security vulnerabilities by conducting cloud compliance
audits on a regular basis. "Whenever storing data offsite with a
cloud provider, organizations must be diligent in knowing where
their data is being stored, how it's being protected and when it
needs to be removed (in the case of migrating data to a new vendor
or consolidating data centers, for example). A cloud compliance
audit should include a review of policies and procedures that the
cloud storage provider applies to your data, the technical
solutions in place to protect your data and the skills of technical
or business staff responsible for your data."
About Blancco Technology Group
Blancco Technology
Group is a leading, global provider of mobile device diagnostics
and secure data erasure solutions. We help our clients' customers
test, diagnose, repair and repurpose IT devices with the most
proven and certified software. Our clientele consists of equipment
manufacturers, mobile network operators, retailers, financial
institutions, healthcare providers and government organizations
worldwide. The company is headquartered in Alpharetta, GA, United States, with a distributed workforce
and customer base across the globe.
Blancco, a division of Blancco Technology Group, is the global
de facto standard in certified data erasure. We provide thousands
of organizations with an absolute line of defense against costly
security breaches, as well as verification of regulatory compliance
through a 100% tamper-proof audit trail.
SmartChk, a division of Blancco Technology Group, is a global
innovator in mobile asset diagnostics and business intelligence. We
partner with our customers to improve their customers' experience
by providing seamless solutions to test, diagnose and repair mobile
assets. SmartChk provides world-class support, pre and post
implementation, allowing our customers to derive measurable
business results.
Media Contacts:
SHIFT Communications for Blancco
Technology Group (US)
David Heffernan, Account Manager
T: (617) 779-1839
E: blancco@shiftcomm.com
SAY Communications for Blancco Technology Group (Europe)
Robert Hickling, Senior Account
Manager
T: 44 (0) 20 8971 6427
E: blancco@saycomms.co.uk
The Hoffman Agency for Blancco Technology Group (APAC)
Miyuki Washino, Senior
Consultant
T: 81 3 5159 5750
E: blanccoapac@hoffman.com
Blancco Technology Group
Ragini Bhalla, Senior Director of
Global Communications
E: ragini.bhalla@blanccotechgroup.com