A new report into the means by which businesses will be approaching the outsourcing of data security and protection has found that fewer may be considering engaging the services of a third party vendor than in previous years.
Analyst firm Ovum has announced the results of a survey covering 512 businesses around the world. Seven per cent of respondents said that they were looking into outsourcing data protection within the next two years, which is a decrease of 11 per cent compared with the number that actively engage with third party security firms at the moment.
Ovum’s Rhonda Ascierto said that faltering confidence in outsourced security was the main driver behind the figures. Policies and regulations from both internal and external parties are putting pressure on businesses to ensure data security compliance, and this is making some wary of relying on third party vendors for protection, according to Ms Ascierto.
A lack of clearly defined guarantees from security providers is also seen as an obstacle by some firms, and is further undermining confidence, continued Ms Ascierto.
Ovum points to the negative publicity surrounding security breaches as engendering mistrust in third party vendors. It points out that it is almost impossible to report on the good work that occurs in the data protection industry from day to day, because when systems are working they should be doing so seamlessly and transparently.
Ovum sees security vendors being placed in a no win situation when it comes to reporting data loss or security breaches, as in doing so they will automatically further a reputation for being insecure, which is ultimately damaging to their businesses.
Businesses and organisations that may otherwise have contemplated outsourcing data security and online backup are being dissuaded for a number of other reasons, including a lack of clarity in contractual terms.
The fallout of the recent global recession and the ongoing uncertainty in economies around the world is also a contributing factor, according to Ms Ascierto, and until general confidence is restored in the business community, a cautious atmosphere is likely to prevail.
