Survey Results: Public Cloud Security is a Top Customer Concern

Public cloud adoption is increasing as more companies shift to a digital transformation strategy. As an MSP, your customers can potentially benefit from using cloud infrastructure as the backbone of a modern, distributed enterprise. Gartner predicts the market for public cloud services will grow at roughly three times the rate of the overall IT services market, reaching $331 billion by 2022. However, many companies still have concerns about cloud security.

In a new report, “Future Shock: The Cloud is the New Network,” Barracuda evaluates just how big a challenge those security concerns will be when it comes to public cloud investments. Barracuda and market research Vanson Bourne interviewed 750 IT decision-makers across EMEA, APAC and the United States with responsibility for or knowledge of their organizations’ cloud infrastructure.

Securing the Cloud

The number and variety of security threats are increasing daily, and cybercriminals have become more sophisticated and effective in their approaches. As a result, security is a top concern when it comes to public cloud use among the respondents in the survey. Regarding public cloud infrastructure, security topped the list of concerns at 42%, followed by the impact of cyberattacks (36%), and protection of public cloud apps (33%). Thirteen percent of IT leaders said they lack an expert security partner to help them with public cloud deployments–presenting a significant opportunity for MSPs.

Given this growing interest in public cloud, how can MSPs help these companies take full advantage of cloud services, while also ensuring that their data and applications remain secure?

Integrated Solutions: First, MSPs should offer assistance to existing and potential clients. According to the Barracuda study, 95% of global respondents are looking for third-party providers to help them overcome cloud adoption barriers.

However, 42% of those companies will only work with a partner that offers full integration with major cloud platforms. MSPs still need to provide the basics, like staff training on cloud security and regulatory guidance. Keep in mind that security tools that have been proven effective in the public cloud will also be critical, as 41% of respondents said that responsive threat detection is a vital part of addressing security concerns.

SD-WAN: Companies that want to migrate to public cloud infrastructure need protection from both internal and external threats, but the Barracuda study found that they also need a secure connection to the public cloud. Software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) technology can provide companies with the ability to manage security policies and bandwidth using a centralized tool. SD-WAN solutions also offer network monitoring and traffic prioritization capabilities, at a lower cost than legacy MPLS.

Organizations sometimes struggle with SD-WAN optimization because they don’t understand the