A diagram from McAfee's website shows how its cloud security platform works. The study finds most organizations are skeptical of public cloud security.
(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — A recent study released by security firm McAfee (www.mcafee.com) finds that management is largely unaware of how secure their data centers are.
Released on Monday, the results of a survey conducted by Gabriel Consulting Group showed a “serious disconnect” between security perceptions and reality among IT enterprise security managers.
After surveying 147 enterprise data center managers responsible for various sizes of data centers, 22 percent reported that management is aware of their company’s security preparedness.
“It’s astounding that almost two-thirds of our respondents say that their management is in the dark about their true security status,” Dan Olds, principal analyst at Gabriel Consulting Group said in a statement. “This is something that should cause a lot of thought both in the executive suite and in the data center. Management needs to seek out the truth when it comes to IT security, and data center management needs to be frank and honest when discussing the strengths and weaknesses of their security mechanisms. Obviously, it’s far better to discuss potential security issues before they’re exposed by a breach.”
The report finds that nearly half of the respondents feel that virtualization and private cloud require unique security measures but that most respondents are using the same tools to secure both physical and virtual systems.
Other interesting findings from the report include more than 40 percent of respondents feel that their organization’s security pace isn’t keeping up with threats, according to the press release. Even more surprising, 40 percent of respondents report that day-to-day security does not meet the standards required by their official policies.
“The move to virtualized data center requires organizations to consider their approach to security early in the design cycle,” Greg Brown, vice president of network security at McAfee said in a statement. “Using network and system security solutions that are optimized for virtualized environments ensures continuity of data center operations, without interfering with performance. McAfee’s solutions provide seamless security management across conventional and virtualized data center resources.”
The study also found that approximately 70 percent of respondents are skeptical of public cloud security. Recently, McAfee launched its McAfee Cloud Security Platform to enable a customer to secure all content and data traffic between their organization and the public cloud.
About Nicole Henderson
Nicole Henderson writes full-time for the Web Host Industry Review where she covers daily news and features online, as well as in print. She has a bachelor of journalism from Ryerson University in Toronto, and has been writing for the WHIR since September 2010. You can find her on Twitter @NicoleHenderson.
No related posts.
