{"id":11752,"date":"2014-11-04T00:52:26","date_gmt":"2014-11-04T00:52:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cloudcomputing-news.net\/news\/2014\/nov\/04\/7-reasons-why-cloud-governance-challenge-should-we-eradicate-shadow-it\/"},"modified":"2014-11-04T00:52:26","modified_gmt":"2014-11-04T00:52:26","slug":"7-reasons-why-cloud-governance-is-a-challenge-should-we-eradicate-shadow-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/7-reasons-why-cloud-governance-is-a-challenge-should-we-eradicate-shadow-it\/","title":{"rendered":"7 reasons why cloud governance is a challenge: Should we eradicate shadow IT?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Picture credit: iStockPhoto<\/em><\/p>\n

Another day, another report bemoaning shadow IT for cloud computing. SafeNet’s Challenges of Cloud Information Governance study, conducted by the Ponemon Institute, is the latest to put the blame of compromising data at the door of unapproved IT activity.<\/p>\n

Shadow IT, which involves employees bypassing company policy on website and technology usage, has meant cloud security is “stormy”, according to the report. More than half (55%) of the 1,864 IT and IT security practitioners surveyed admitted they were “not confident” that IT knows all the cloud computing services in use at their company.<\/p>\n

Respondents added that payment information (56%) was the data that presented the greatest security risk, ahead of customer information (50%), consumer data (34%) and email (23%). Payment info, however, was the least likely to be stored in the cloud, probably as a result of this risk.<\/p>\n

Part of the problem for IT managers is that conventional security methods are difficult to enforce with cloud apps and products. 71% of respondents agreed with that statement, while around half (48%) believe it’s more difficult to control or restrict end-user access. Similarly, 61% said cloud increases the compliance risk, compared to only 8% who thinks it goes down.<\/p>\n

Another problem, as the survey revealed, was the age old question of who is responsible for cloud data: the end user, or the cloud provider? It’s still not been answered. 33% argued it was the cloud user’s responsibility, 32% said the provider, while 35% said it was a shared responsibility.<\/p>\n

Similarly, there is a lack of encryption in software as a service (SaaS) applications. Three quarters of respondents say they use document sharing and online backup tools, but only 28% say their organisation encrypts sensitive data directly within these apps.<\/p>\n

As enterprise cloud usage will inevitably increase in the coming years, the 30 page full report (pdf here<\/a>) paints a fairly bleak picture. SafeNet goes through seven reasons why cloud governance is a challenge:<\/p>\n