Netwrix Survey: Government’s rapid cloud adoption lacks security

Netwrix Corporation, provider of a visibility platform for data security and risk mitigation in hybrid environments, today released the 2018 Netwrix Cloud Security: In-Depth Report for Government infographics. The infographics provide insight into the use of cloud technology by government agencies and highlight their concerns and plans regarding data security in the cloud.

The report reveals that the rapid pace at which most government agencies are embracing cloud technology lacks a systematic approach to protecting sensitive data. Agencies have ambitious plans for transitioning to cloud-based infrastructures, but data security leaves much to be desired.

The key findings include:

• 94% of the government agencies surveyed store sensitive data in the cloud.
• Their top cloud security concerns are unauthorized access (named by 81%) and malware infiltrations (named by 60%).
• 33% of respondents said external attackers are their main cloud security risk, while 27% named employees.
• Few agencies have visibility into the activity of IT staff (34%) and business users (29%). Control over user behavior is still not common.
• Government agencies have aggressive plans to exploit more cloud options. 40% will move their entire infrastructure to the cloud within the next five years, and 53% are ready to broaden their cloud adoption today.
• To improve cloud security, 55% of respondents plan to increase employee training and 43% are going to update their security policies.

The survey showed that governments are determined to use cloud services more actively. Many factors are driving this cloud adoption, from the need for IT modernization to the desire for more innovation to the promise of cost savings. However, cloud security remains a weak spot for government agencies. Many of them see unauthorized access to data as the main security concern, and the lack of visibility into the activities of business users and IT staff complicates threat mitigation. Until agencies make cloud security their top priority, this issue will remain unresolved.
Steve Dickson, CEO of Netwrix

To read the story and download the full-size infographics, please visit: https://www.netwrix.com/go/cloudsecurity2018_government