A new survey reveals that data loss/theft and ransomware/malware attacks are the cybersecurity concerns most cited by IT leaders when it comes to the cloud.
The survey from Irish IT managed services provider Auxilion also found that 40% of respondents see IT security risks as a main concern associated with adopting and managing cloud computing.
The research was carried out by Censuswide and involved IT decision-makers across large enterprises in the Republic of Ireland.
42% of those surveyed also said that the changing cybersecurity landscape was one of the biggest obstacles to the successful delivery of their IT strategy, while 26% of IT leaders said they did not think current laws and regulations are sufficient to protect privacy, access, and confidentiality in a cloud-based environment.
Meanwhile, 24% of IT decision-makers surveyed, who are currently using the cloud, do not think their own organisation has sufficient capabilities to manage cloud computing and 36% of those respondents admitted to having little or no visibility of their workloads in the cloud.
But despite these findings, 83% of IT leaders surveyed said they consider the cloud to be a more secure approach for their organisation.
83% also said they have a cloud security strategy in place and 73% are currently using a technology partner to manage their cloud strategy and services.
The study also found that the shift to cloud is set to continue with 96% of respondents expecting to migrate more workloads, applications, and processes to the cloud over the next 12 months.
Donal Sullivan, CTO of Auxilion, said that while the cybersecurity landscape is constantly evolving, organisations are facing an even bigger uphill battle at the moment with the rise of threats enabled by Artificial Intelligence and the introduction of the European-wide NIS2 regulation in October.
"This means businesses not only need to be more proactive when it comes to securing their data and responding to incidents, they also need to ensure that they are meeting their compliance and regulatory obligations," he said.
"This requires the right technologies and partners that can support security, mobility and scalability," he added.
