Customers are finding it tricky to match in-house resources with cloud security issues, according to new research from Claranet.
Claranet said that there has been a skills shortage on the security side of things more than half of UK firms do not have the in-house ability to protect data in the cloud.
Not only were skilled staff in short supply but customers were baffled by how the cloud was impacting overall IT security.
Claranet Cyber Security director Sumit Siddarth said: “Businesses that have not engaged with cloud in some way are now few and far between, with hyperscalers having established a dominant position in the cloud market. Organisations are making significant progress with planning and carrying out these migrations, but our research has shown that there’s a very real danger of security being left behind as part of this process.”
He added that the self-provisioning aspects of public cloud are beneficial in many ways, but they can also lure businesses into a false sense of security.
“The big hyperscalers have a lot of sensible defaults to help guard against threats, but if internal IT teams without the requisite skills create these environments themselves, mistakes can still occur”, he said.
The answer does involve the channel with customers being advised to look to external experts to gain access to the knowledge that is lacking in-house.
“Migrating to cloud is often a complex process, so it’s important to invest a lot of manpower in it. However, there should be no excuse for neglecting security considerations, especially given the current threat landscape and the fact that hackers are seeing cloud as an increasingly lucrative target. Working with partners can be hugely advantageous here, as they can bring the added expertise needed to work through the more complex aspects of secure cloud migration, such as developing infrastructure as code to guard against mistakes being made”, he said.
The report with the title “The Evolving Landscape of the MSP Business” found that customers struggling with a lack of in-house skills was now the main catalyst for turning to an MSP for support with 69 percent of partners reporting that as the driver, followed closely by cloud migration.
