Everyone talks about the positives of moving to the cloud: increase reliability and resilience, move from capital expenditures to operational expenditures, freedom from expensive hardware and software as well as the associated support costs, and the list goes on. But, as with all things good, there is also the potential for misuse. Luckily a new Symantec report highlights some of the common cloud computing pitfalls that befall unwary SMEs eager to utilize todays efficient cloud solutions.
The explosion of free/cheap cloud services makes it unsurprising that “Rogue Cloud” implementations are one of the largest problems for business IT today. It is incredibly easy for employees to open a free Dropbox account to store company data or subscribe to unvetted cloud services without the knowledge or oversight of their managers or local IT. Any business data subsequently stored in these accounts is effectively unmanaged and is at risk of being lost or exposed. An astounding 70% of SMEs surveyed by Symantec found rogue cloud deployments within their business in the last year; among those, 40% suffered an exposure of confidential information, and over 25% experienced an account takeover, defacement of web properties, or theft of goods or services .
Cloud data storage and backup can also prove troublesome for organizations with two-thirds experiencing recovery failures and almost half having suffered a cloud data loss at some point. Surveyed businesses also only utilized 17% of their online storage space—meaning that 80% of the space they’re paying for is going unused!
Fortunately, it’s not all doom and gloom. All of these issues can be mitigated by taking a few proactive steps:
1) Create comprehensive policies regarding the utilization of cloud computing. Ensure staff are well educated in these policies. Constantly monitor, and strictly enforce them—no exceptions.
2) Ensure that all cloud services are thoroughly vetted by a trusted 3rd party for security and reliability.
3) Be proactive about identifying and implementing cloud solutions that simplify staff workloads and increase efficiency. Addressing new services possibilities as they arise can help prevent staff from going “rogue” and attempting to implement new services on their own.
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