Digital transformation is on the rise, but it can be unsafe for many. According to a Trend Micro survey, 82 percent of German companies have intensified their cloud migration, but almost none of them understand their responsibility for security.
Trend Micro's new survey results confirm that the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated digital transformation for 82 percent of companies in Germany (88 percent worldwide). However, the proliferation of the cloud can make business data insecure.
Serious security consequences threaten
The survey of IT decision-makers confirms that a simple misunderstanding can lead to serious security consequences. While the cloud infrastructure itself is secure, customers are responsible for protecting their own data - this is the basis of the shared responsibility model in the cloud.
89 percent (92 percent worldwide) of respondents say that they are aware of their responsibility for security in the cloud. But almost all of them (99 percent in Germany, 97 percent worldwide) also believe that their cloud service provider (CSP) offers sufficient protection for their data.
Digital transformation poses challenges
Richard Werner, Business Consultant at Trend Micro
"It is a positive sign that the majority of companies worldwide are driving digital transformation and moving to the cloud," says Richard Werner, Business Consultant at Trend Micro. “However, the results of our study also show the challenges that still exist in understanding cloud security. The introduction of the cloud is not a one-time process. Rather, it requires ongoing management and strategic configuration in order to make the best security decisions for a company. "
Of the companies surveyed worldwide, only 55 percent use additional third-party tools to secure their cloud environments. This suggests that there may be significant gaps in coverage and confirms that the shared responsibility model is not understood. Previous research from Trend Micro indicated that misconfigurations are currently the greatest risk to cloud environments. This is especially the case when companies underestimate their part of the shared responsibility model.
Key findings of the study
The surveyed companies in Germany seem to be quite confident about their cybersecurity situation in the cloud:
- Forty-four percent say accelerating cloud migration has increased their focus on security best practices (44 percent globally).
- 85 percent believe that they have the security of their remote work environment fully or largely under control (87 percent globally).
- 84 percent believe they will have full or major control over the security of their future hybrid workplace (83 percent globally).
- Despite this confidence, many of the respondents also admitted that they also have security challenges.
- 41 percent see security as a “very significant” or “significant” barrier to cloud adoption (45 percent globally).
- The three biggest daily problems German companies face when protecting cloud workloads are securing data traffic (45 percent), setting consistent guidelines (35 percent) and a lack of integration with on-premise security solutions (29 percent).
- When migrating to cloud-based security tools, they perceive employee training (43 percent), data protection (42 percent), and compliance (37 percent) as the three main obstacles.
“The good news is that by using intelligent, automated security tools, companies can migrate to the cloud with confidence. This gives you the opportunity to ensure data protection and the security of your data while at the same time mitigating the consequences of the shortage of skilled workers, ”continues Richard Werner.
The security solutions for cloud environments that were rated as the most important by the companies surveyed in Germany include tools for network protection (50 percent), cloud access security brokers (CASB, 15 percent) and cloud security posture management (12 percent).
About the Study
On behalf of Trend Micro, Sapio Research surveyed a total of 2020 decision-makers in 2565 countries (28 of them in Germany) from various industries and from companies of all sizes with a focus on large companies in October 100.
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About Trend Micro As one of the world's leading providers of IT security, Trend Micro helps create a secure world for digital data exchange. With over 30 years of security expertise, global threat research, and constant innovation, Trend Micro offers protection for businesses, government agencies, and consumers. Thanks to our XGen™ security strategy, our solutions benefit from a cross-generational combination of defense techniques optimized for leading-edge environments. Networked threat information enables better and faster protection. Optimized for cloud workloads, endpoints, email, the IIoT and networks, our connected solutions provide centralized visibility across the entire enterprise for faster threat detection and response.