Why Lack of Proper Governance Puts Cloud Deployments at Risk

Cloud computing provides opportunities for companies to reduce the size and costs of their IT infrastructures with the goal of improving profitability and efficiency. But a new survey of 300 IT professionals by Fugue, a company that specializes in cloud infrastructure governance, has found that many companies have weak or even no cloud data governance plans in place. Furthermore many companies that have governance plans maintain them with pen and paper. Poor data governance raises the possibility of data breaches that could result is serious financial losses and result in senior executives losing their jobs for failing effectively protect corporate data. This slide show will discuss Fugue’s findings and highlight why effective cloud governance can mean the difference between suffering a breach and keeping critical data safe.

Many companies are struggling to keep track of what data and systems they have running in the cloud. According to Fugue, 44 percent of companies cannot adequately keep track of cloud infrastructure.

Collaboration between IT, security experts and governance compliance can be important in the proper use of cloud services. However, 39 percent of respondents said that those three parties don’t actually collaborate in their office.

Enterprises value rapid innovation over IT security and policy compliance. The survey found that more than half of respondents said that security and compliance can actually slow down the pace of innovation, causing business problems. The Fugue survey identified this as the main reason why IT infrastructure managers, security experts and compliance specialists frequently don’t collaborate in enterprises.

As the enterprise focuses on rapid cloud deployment to the detriment of governance, security can take a hit. Fugue found that 44 percent of respondents routinely fail to identify and remediate cloud infrastructure security risks increasing the risk of breaches.

Fugue’s survey found that 31 percent of the IT professionals said that business executives at their companies don’t fully understand IT infrastructure security risks or don’t currently have a plan in place to actually address the risks.

Governance and infrastructure planning can help in mitigate certain infrastructure risks. But 42 percent of IT professionals reported that their organizations aren’t using infrastructure governance tools or processes to safeguard their operations.

Despite the benefits to deploying governance tools to help with cloud infrastructure, a surprisingly large number of IT professionals—28 percent—report that they have no plan for actually implementing governance policies.

Many enterprises move systems to the cloud seeking higher levels of cyber-security. However, the survey showed that 27 percent perfect of IT professionals said that they aren’t “confident” that their cloud infrastructure is sufficiently secure.

In a digital-first world, a large number of companies still rely on pen and paper to manage infrastructure, according to Fugue. The company said that 68 percent of IT professionals are using paper-based checklists for infrastructure policies and 62 percent use manual reviews to ensure infrastructure is properly provisioned.

Poor governance and infrastructure planning raise the risk of a data breach that is extremely costly financially and in terms of market reputation, putting C-level executives’ jobs at risk. According to fugue survey, 47 percent of respondents believe a CEO should be terminated after a data breach. CIOs should be on the chopping block, according to 32 percent of respondents.  The vice president in charge of cloud systems should get the ax according to 31 percent while 11 percent of respondents believe corporate board members should lose their positions.