Many enterprise security and network professionals deeply fear cyberattacks and breaches in their hybrid cloud environments, according to a new survey out today.

Undertaken by security management firm AlgoSec Inc., they survey found that while 32 percent of those polled plan to increase their public cloud usage in the next 12 to 18 months, conversely many were concerned about the risks involved. Some 58 percent listed cyberattacks as being of deep concern, followed by 53 percent saying that they were concerned about unauthorized access.
About 40 percent of respondents said they believed that security concerns were inhibiting further adoption of cloud platforms.

In terms of security management, lack of visibility was cited by 63 percent of respondents as being an ongoing problem, while their ability to manage security policies consistently was a concern to almost as many. Demonstrating compliance and managing a mix of traditional and virtual firewalls and cloud security controls were also cited as major issues. “These challenges highlight the need for solutions that can manage and automate security processes holistically across both cloud and on premise networks,” the report stated.

Some 44 percent said they had difficulties in managing security policies during cloud migration and 32 percent said that they had difficulty mapping application traffic flows before starting a migration project. But it wasn’t all doom and gloom, with 26 percent of respondents saying that they use automation to manage security in their hybrid cloud environments versus 20 percent who prefer to use manual processes. Automation was claimed by those using it to deliver better speed and accuracy of security changes and the ability to speed up migrations to the cloud, providing audit reports and enforcing compliance and thus helping to overcome staffing limitations.

“The survey clearly shows that most enterprises are driving their business transformation strategies by expanding their usage of public cloud infrastructure,” Joanne Godfrey, director of communications at AlgoSec said in a statement. “But they also have significant security concerns about how they will secure and manage their increasingly hybrid environments. As organizations increase their public cloud deployments and migrate applications, it’s essential that they have complete visibility across both their on-premise and cloud networks, together with the ability to automatically and holistically manage their security policies. This enables them to better protect the business and fulfill compliance demands while taking full advantage of the cost savings and agility offered by the hybrid cloud model.”

A full copy of the report and its findings can be found on the AlgoSec website.

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