In case you need any more evidence that enterprises no longer see the cloud as a security threat, here it is straight from the horse’s mouth – almost 90 percent of IT security leaders have, or are planning to adopt the cloud very soon, according to new research from IBM.

That’s probably the most telling statistic from IBM’s third annual Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) study, which sought the opinions of some 138 IT security leaders. The study, which also found 75 percent of respondents are expecting an increased cloud budget in the next three to five years, proves CISO’s “are finally getting a seat in the boardroom,” claims IBM Security General Manager Brendan Hannigan.

Such is the CISO’s rise to prominence that 90 percent of them now claim to have a ‘significant influence’ on their organization’s decision making, while a further 71 percent said they’re receiving the support they need to put their plans into practice.

Likely this rising influence has something to do with the very important role CISO’s play in protecting company data. The study found that some 60 percent of security leaders believe they’re being “outgunned” in the cyber war, with “sophisticated external threats” being identified as the biggest challenge they face. Such is this threat that IBM warns it will take a huge amount of organizational effort to deal with them – even more effort than will be required for dealing with internal threats, new technologies and regulatory problems combined, it said. As such, CISO’s will need to use their new-found influence to manage these threats and deliver on their organization’s high expectations.

“A more extensive scope of what requires protection (e.g., cloud, mobile, etc.) and new security technologies also contributed to this trend toward increased complexity,” IBM said in a statement. “CISOs are no longer stewards of security technology but rather decision makers who must always take business operations into account. Security leaders are obtaining more clout and wielding it to contribute to companies’ broader goals while managing risk at every step along the way.”

IBM’s study also threw up a few additional interesting facts, including:

• Protection through isolation is unrealistic – some 62 percent of security leaders agreed their organization’s were facing an increased risk due to the growing number of connections and interactions with customes, partners and suppliers.
• Security leaders don’t collaborate enough – IBM found that only 42 percent of the security experts it interviewed participate in a formal IT security group, though 86 percent believe that membership of such groups will become vital in the next three to five years.
• Organizations see IT security as a big threat – almost half of respondents said the deployment of new security technologies was a top focus for their organizations.

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