Security professionals foresee job growth due to cloud computing

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

The majority of IT security professionals believe the emergence of cloud computing in enterprises will increase demand for their skills, a recent study found.

According to a survey of 7,500 IT professionals conducted by Frost & Sullivan and security education provider (ISC)2, 73 percent of respondents said they believe new skills are needed to help businesses successfully deploy the cloud.

John Colley, managing director of Europe, Middle East and Africa markets at (ISC)2, revealed the results at a recent Infosecurity Europe press conference in London.

He noted that over half of the respondents said their organizations have already deployed at least one cloud computing service, and 42 percent claimed to use SaaS.

The top concern with cloud computing, the survey showed, is data security, including unauthorized exposure of sensitive information and data loss.

According to Infosecurity, (ISC)2 will release the full report on February 17.

More businesses are turning to cloud computing in hopes of reducing IT costs while also accessing high-level services and support. According to a recent report by CA Technologies, 80 percent of enterprises have already deployed some form of the cloud.