A new survey of 430 members of the Oracle Applications Users Group (OAUG) reveals that organizations lack a sense of urgency about securing critical data, and the greatest challenges to securing application and data environments are primarily organizational and budget related.
The OAUG's 2011 Data Security report, "Managing Information in Insecure Times," was conducted by Unisphere Research, a division of Information today, Inc., in partnership with Application Security, Inc. (AppSec) in December 2010.
Fifty-three percent of respondents stated that budget was the greatest impediment holding back information security efforts. Thirty-three percent claimed a lack of an understanding of the threats prevents them from rallying support for countermeasures. And more than one-quarter of respondents cited a disconnect between IT teams and executive management as a major impediment to implementing proper security measures.
During a period when the proliferation of cloud computing is increasing, the report found that 45% of the respondents see some risk in the rise of "private cloud" computing and were concerned about the security implications of sharing data and application services outside of their business units. While cloud computing continues to be a growing industry trend, three out of four have not defined a strategy for cloud security.
Adding to the risk, a large segment of companies rely on third parties external to the organization's firewall to help manage application and data environments. Nearly 40% respondents indicate that they outsource or offshore at least some of their database and application administration functions
"The study highlights a serious lack of understanding and concern for data and application security in today's organizations," states Thom VanHorn, vice president global marketing at AppSec. "Given the increased number of threats and the acceleration of database attacks, the failure of organizations to support and implement proactive data security measures is a formula for disaster."
To download a copy of the report "Managing Information in Insecure Times," go to www.appsecinc.com.
For more information about the OAUG, visit the website at oaug.org.