Great distrust in the digital cloud

This is the result of the study "IT Security and Data Protection 2015" of the self-help organization National Initiative for Information and Internet Security e.V. (NIFIS). According to the study, loss of control over one's own data (73%), internal and external hacker attacks (71%) and one's own ignorance of the existing risks (89%) are currently the main threats to the German economy in cloud computing.

Companies are careless with their data

The NIFIS study also considered other security aspects of cloud computing. According to the majority of experts (66%), modern encryption programs can make it much more difficult to read data - but even they do not offer complete protection against spying. A further 54% attest to the German economy's careless handling of its cloud-based data. It is also worth noting that almost half of the IT experts surveyed (49%) believe that in some cases cloud providers are also too careless with the data they entrust to them. The US Jurisdiction is also contributing to German companies' uncertainty when choosing a cloud provider, according to NIFIS Chairman Attorney Thomas Lapp. According to the study, 65% of the companies surveyed believe that there is a lack of transparency as to whether the cloud service providers that manage their customers' data in Europe do not pass it on to US authorities such as intelligence agencies.

Awareness campaign called for

In order to ease German companies' uncertainty about cloud computing, Lapp is calling for a broad-based education campaign: "The German government and business associations must see the digitization of the German economy as a national task." As part of more intensive cooperation, especially between government and business, an educational campaign must provide information about the dangers and risks of cloud computing, he said. "This would give many companies more security in dealing with the digital cloud and at the same time massively strengthen confidence in the new technology. Moreover, if companies are more aware of the dangers, many of their fears will prove to be unfounded," emphasizes the NIFIS chairman.

According to Lapp, German companies still seem to be under the lasting impression of Prism and Co. According to the NIFIS study, the espionage scandals have made 88% of German businesses more aware of data protection. Accordingly, spending on IT security and data protection will continue to increase in 2015. Almost half of German companies (49%) expect investments to increase by 50% this year. A further 17% even forecast a doubling. Compared with the previous year, significantly more companies thus expect demand for IT and information security to rise.