Over 40% of UK IT professionals not aware of the ICO guidance on cloud computing

Grazed from Channel EMEA. Author: Editorial Staff.

A new survey of 300 senior IT professionals highlights a worrying lack of awareness of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) guidance and recommendations on cloud computing, with over 40 per cent of professionals admitting they are unaware of them. Of those IT decision makers that are of aware of the ICO guidelines, less than 27 per cent admit their organisations are compliant.

CipherCloud, the leader in cloud information protection, commissioned the independent survey of 300 IT professionals across key industries including financial services, healthcare, and government between 15/11/2012 and 23/11/2012 by Opinion Matters. The survey was targeted at leading enterprise organisations in the UK…

Despite the fact that the ICO’s guidelines – outlining the responsibilities of organisations when storing data in the cloud – were only published in October of this year, the percentage of senior IT professionals that claims to be aware and informed is surprisingly low. With responsibility for data security now residing with the company that owns the information, not the cloud provider or cloud services company taking care of it, CipherCloud advises businesses to get to grips with the relevant legislation and the steep fines that are being levied at those found to be non-compliant.
“UK IT professionals need be aware of the fact that regulatory non-compliance penalties could be as much as half a million pounds," according to Richard Olver, Regional Director of EMEA at CipherCloud. "It’s clear that businesses are confused or even complacent about regulation, legislation, and compliance when storing data in the cloud and are largely unaware of their responsibilities.”…

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