Numerous security breaches in 2011 call for improved cloud security

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Extremely sensitive information used to be stored on paper in government bunkers, miles underground, accessible only to those with documents that proved top-secret authorization. In the modern world of cloud computing, however, unsecured clouds are like unlocked, unguarded backdoors open to all sorts of cyber-criminals.

Recently, Veracode released a report that evaluated the current state of security technology. The report found that the over 80 percent of security software submissions by managed security services were not acceptable to industry standards. Perhaps most troubling is that the submissions were not geared toward mobile device security.

Mobile devices that take advantage of cloud capabilities are exceptionally vulnerable to attack because they can use a wide variety of networks and operate from nearly anywhere. Check Point recently interviewed 768 international IT professionals for a research study, and found that the Android mobile platform is widely said to hold the greatest security risks of any mobile operation platform.

The report also stated 78 percent of respondents said that they have more than two times the number of mobile devices on corporate networks than were present two years ago.

Mobile device management is more important than ever as more private information is accessed from portable smart platforms.