Cloud services necessitate new security measures

Despite the rapid changes taking place in the IT world as a growing number of companies adopt managed cloud services, many organizations have not yet changed their security measures to meet the new reality, according to a recent study.

The study, conducted by Forrester Consulting, surveyed 306 enterprises with between 1,000 and more than 20,000 employees, finding many organizations are leaving themselves open to unauthorized access and data breaches.

According to the study, 54 percent of the companies surveyed experienced a data breach during 2010. Forrester suggests the increase may be associated with irresponsible adoption of cloud services, without taking the necessary steps to update security measures.

"The IT landscape is changing so dramatically and so rapidly that one in four organizations are requiring users to remember six or more passwords to access corporate networks and applications," said Atri Chatterjee, vice president for user authentication at the company that commissioned the study. "As this Forrester study shows, that approach to authentication is collapsing under its own weight," Chatterjee added.

The study reiterates the recommendations of a recent Narus report, which suggested cloud computing can create new data vulnerabilities if not managed responsibly.