Most enterprises use cloud storage, but don’t trust it completely

A global survey of 912 businesses reveals that although 83 percent of businesses surveyed back up some part of their data to the cloud, there is a strong reluctance to embrace the medium fully. In fact, almost half (47 percent) of respondents store less than half of their data in the cloud and almost one-fifth (17 percent) do not use cloud storage at all, the results of the survey revealed at Infosecurity Europe 2014.

Of the companies surveyed that are using a cloud storage solution, over two-thirds (69 percent) consider the data they store there as sensitive. However, almost one-fifth (16 percent) of companies surveyed have experienced problems with their cloud provider.

Of these, 42 percent had found that the data held by their cloud provider was not secure. Meanwhile, 40 percent claimed that data held in the cloud had not been available when needed and over one-third (37 percent) said their cloud provider had actually lost their data.

Further, approximately 89 percent of the firms surveyed cited the security credentials of their cloud provider as important or very important. Respondents said that they are more than twice as likely (53 percent vs. 23 percent) to trust a security vendor than a storage vendor to keep their data safe in the cloud.

Key statistics from within the UK:

• Just 14 percent of UK firms store everything (100 percent of data) in the cloud and, of those that do, half employ over 500 people
• Almost one-fifth (18 percent) do not use the cloud at all and around two-thirds (61 percent) store less than half of their data in the cloud
• Of those with data in the cloud, almost one third (30 percent) are not confident about the security of it
• Over two thirds (67 percent) cite the security credentials of their cloud provider as very important, however, 17 percent have experienced issues with their cloud provider
• UK businesses are almost twice as likely to trust a security vendor than a storage vendor to keep their data safe in the cloud.

“The rapid and widespread adoption of cloud storage, along with the data security concerns that come with it, suggests that it’s the more security-minded cloud storage providers who are most likely to be the preferred supplier in the future,” commented Wieland Alge, VP & GM manager EMEA, Barracuda.

The survey polled 912 businesses from across the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, US, Australia, New Zealand and Japan, from a cross section of organisation sizes.