Top Cloud Worries Are Data Loss, Privacy Threat, Confidentiality Breaches, Finds Survey

Protecting against data loss (57 percent), threats to privacy (49 percent) and breaches of confidentiality (47 percent) were the top three cloud computing security concerns based on an online survey released Wednesday by Crowd Research Partners. The survey of more than 1,900 cybersecurity executives, managers and IT practitioners in January and February said unauthorized access was the biggest threat to security (61 percent), followed by hijacking accounts (52 percent). The researcher said 53 percent of respondents want to train and certify their current IT staff to address new security challenges, while 30 percent want to partner with a service provider, 27 percent want to use software to address the problem, and 26 percent want to hire dedicated staff. Seventy-five percent said traditional security tools don't work or have limited functionality in the cloud, and 33 percent of organizations expect security budgets to increase over the next 12 months.