Trend Micro survey finds 88% of surveyed organizations have accelerated their cloud migration, but only 55% are adding security tools to protect it

HONGKONG SAR - Media OutReach - 17 December2020 - Trend MicroIncorporated (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704),theleader in cloud security, todayreleased survey results confirming that the pandemic has accelerated digitaltransformation for 88% of global organizations. However, this increase in cloudadoption may leave business data insecure.

Trend Microcommissioned Sapio Research to interview 2565 decision makers in 28 countries,across several industry sectors, and from organizations of all sizes, with afocus on large enterprise.

"It's a verypositive sign that a majority of organizations around the world are embracingdigital transformation and adopting the cloud," said Mark Nunnikhoven, vice president of cloud research forTrend Micro. "But the survey findings also highlight the challengesremaining with understanding security in the cloud. Cloud adoption is not a'set it and forget it' process, but takes ongoing management and strategicconfiguration to make the best security decisions for your business."

The survey confirms asimple misconception that can lead to serious security consequences. Whilecloud infrastructure is secure, customers are responsible for securing theirown data -- which is the basis of the Shared Responsibility Model for cloud.

Nearly all (92%) ofrespondents say they are confident they understand their cloud securityresponsibility, but 97% also believe their cloud service provider (CSP) offerssufficient data protection.

Of those surveyed, only55% of respondents use third-party tools to secure their cloud environments.This suggests that there may be significant coverage gaps and confirms that theshared responsibility is not understood. Trend Micro Research has foundthat misconfigurationsare the number one risk to cloud environments, which can happenwhen companies don't know their part of the Shared Responsibility Model.

The surveyedorganizations seem to be confident in their cybersecurity posture in the cloud,as:

• 51% claim theacceleration in cloud migration has increased their focus on security bestpractices
• 87% believethey are fully or mostly in control of securing their remote work environment
• 83% believethey will be fully or mostly in control of securing their future hybridworkplace

Despite this confidence,many respondents also admitted to experiencing security related challenges:

• 45% said thatsecurity is a "very significant" or "significant" barrierto cloud adoption
• Settingconsistent policies (35%), patching (33%), and securing traffic flows (33%)were cited as the top three day-to-day operational headaches of protectingcloud workloads
• Data privacy(43%), staff training (37%) and compliance (36%) were reported as significantbarriers in migrating to cloud-based security tools

"The good news isthat by using smart, automated security tools, organizations can migrate to thecloud headache-free, ensuring the privacy and safety of their data andovercoming skills shortages as they do," Nunnikhoven added.

Security solutions forcloud environments rated most important to responding organizations werenetwork protection (28%), Cloud Security Posture Management (26%) and CloudAccess Security Broker (19%) tools.

Download theinfographic: https://resources.trendmicro.com/rs/945-CXD-062/images/1.pdf

About Trend Micro

Trend Micro, a global leader in cybersecurity,helps make the world safe for exchanging digital information. Leveraging over30 years of security expertise, global threat research, and continuousinnovation, Trend Micro enables resilience for businesses, governments, andconsumers with connected solutions across cloud workloads, endpoints, email,IIoT, and networks. Our XGen™ security strategy powers our solutions with across-generational blend of threat-defense techniques that are optimized forkey environments and leverage shared threat intelligence for better, fasterprotection. With over 6,700 employees in 65 countries, and the world's mostadvanced global threat research and intelligence, Trend Micro enablesorganizations to secure their connected world www.trendmicro.com.hk.