Despite more than three-quarters of businesses in the US adopting cloud storage and web applications, and 70 percent globally, confidence around cloud security is at an all-time low according to a recent survey by BT.

The survey revealed that security is the main concern about using cloud-based services. About half of respondents stated that they are “very or extremely anxious” about the security implications of these services. This anxiousness, reflected by 82 percent in the US and 76 percent world-wide, represents a 10 percent increase from 2012.

Despite these fears, 69 percent of US organizations and 50 percent globally have adopted mass market “consumer” services, rather than those designed specifically for the enterprise. The decision to use consumer cloud services was based on the pair of beliefs that enterprise cloud applications and services are too expensive and that the mass market products are as effective as those designed for enterprise users.

According to the survey, about 40 percent of IT decision makers are united in the belief that all cloud services are inherently insecure with nearly a quarter indicating they had experienced a data breach incident where their cloud service provider was the party at fault.

The summary of the data was that like most IT decisions, each organization must evaluate the risks and benefits of their cloud options. For Uplogix, the trend toward moving more and more applications and data to the cloud just underscores the importance of the network. Meeting service level requirements for the network is critical for cloud success, and solutions like Local Management play a key part in ensuring that an organization can meet those SLAs without breaking the bank.