The state of data protection in the cloud today is analogous to renting a seaside home for the weekend, dropping off all belongings, and then heading for the beach without locking the front door. If all the possessions get stolen, is it the fault of the homeowner for not providing proper security or the renter for not using the protection provided?

A survey from Veritas Technologies LLC found that a sizable majority of cloud customers would side with the renter.

“One of the things we found interesting is that 85% of the respondents said the cloud service provider is responsible for protecting their data,” said Doug Matthews (pictured), vice president of product management at Veritas. “That’s completely disconnected from the fact that over 53% of those that responded had a service-level agreement which was higher than their cloud service provider could provide. We’ve been talking about this shared responsibility model for some time now, but these survey results show that it is still a problem.”

Matthews spoke with Stu Miniman, host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed soon-to-be-released updates for a Veritas flagship product and the importance of paying close attention to cloud agreements and recovery planning. (* Disclosure below.)

Updates for NetBackup

This disconnect between cloud provider and user revealed by the Veritas survey highlights the need for data protection solutions that can safeguard critical information in the event of a ransomware attack or a breach. Veritas will soon be releasing cloud point and resiliency platform solutions for its NetBackup recovery suite, according to Matthews.

“NetBackup is designed to solve the data-protection challenges across all infrastructures, whether it’s on-premises infrastructure or new cloud architectures,” he said. “These solutions are designed to help customers efficiently recover in cloud, as well as do it in a quick and automated fashion. We’re going to bake those into our NetBackup product.”

As enterprises continue migrating data stores to the cloud in large numbers, Matthews recommends that businesses check cloud service provider agreements closely and ensure there is an ability to recover data in the event of a problem.

“Make sure you understand your recovery plan, make sure you rehearse it and that it works,” Matthews said. “Read that fine print of your contract, and make sure that your required service-level agreements match up with what your cloud service provider provides, or you need to adopt technology that makes sure you achieve that.”

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s CUBE Conversations. (* Disclosure: Veritas Technologies LLC sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Veritas nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE