A Microsoft-sponsored study released today indicates that despite the fact that security concerns remain a huge barrier to public cloud adoption, SMBs who made the transition actually saw their IT infrastructure get more secure, not less.

To get a little more accurate, 35 percent of companies surveyed said that they actually saw notably higher levels of security in the cloud, with 32 percent saying that they now worry less about cyberattack than they did before making the switch. Organizations using the cloud also spend 32 percent less time weekly managing their security. Other interesting findings from the study can be found in this infographic (with more analysis after the image):

Tim Rains, director of Microsoft Trustworthy Computing, told me that he thinks this survey is interesting insofar as it shows how the “barriers become the benefit” – in other words, security concerns are holding back cloud adoption, but those that have made the switch are actually seeing their overall security go up, not down.

It’s definitely important to keep some perspective here. A study released by Intel earlier this month indicates that companies adopting public cloud services have seen a higher rate of security breaches. Though, of course, Intel used those study findings as part of a sales pitch for new trusted cloud solutions developed by subsidiary McAfee. A few days ago, Cisco released its own study that indicated a high degree of skepticism around cloud security and availability among IT decision makers.

But it’s equally important to remember that Microsoft’s study was focused on SMBs, and that most other studies tend to look at a cross-section of customers as a whole. It’s certainly possible that SMBs are seeing cloud security benefits that larger enterprises simply are not. And as cloud integrator Appirio put it in a blog entry, coincidentally published today, it’s more important to pay attention to the security and reliability of the cloud service provider you choose to trust with your business, not that of “the cloud.”