ISACA, a non-profit global association of more than 100,000 IT audit, security, risk, and governance professionals, released guidance on managing three top trends expected to pose major challenges to Indian businesses in 2013: Private vs. public clouds, cyber-security threats, and data privacy.

Debate over Private vs. Public Cloud

Over the next 12 months, information security concerns will prompt a growing interest in private or hybrid (public/private) cloud solutions. The expected rise of “personal clouds” will add to the challenge of protecting data across multi-platforms. Cost, speed, manageability, and security are the factors most debated in cloud computing.

ISACA’s 2012 IT Risk/Reward Barometer shows that IT professionals remain wary of public clouds; 64 percent believe that the risk of using public clouds outweighs the benefit.

At the same time, it was highlighted that 66 percent of respondents in India believe that the private cloud has its own benefits which overcome the possible risk factors. This finding showed that respondents believe the benefits of private cloud far outweigh the risk, when compared with other cloud platforms, such as hybrid (17 percent) and public (15 percent) cloud platform.

The survey also highlighted that 31 percent of respondents have deployed private cloud for mission-critical services, compared to public cloud (6 percent) and hybrid cloud (7 percent). At the same time, for low-risk, non-mission critical services, enterprises are bullish on deploying public cloud (26 percent), compared to private cloud (22 percent) and hybrid cloud platform (23 percent).

Increasingly Sophisticated Cyber-security Threats in India

Viruses that send unsolicited e-mails and attack web sites, as well as search engine poisoning—where unwitting users are misdirected toward questionable or fraudulent sites—are among the increasingly sophisticated tactics used to capture and exploit consumer data and pose threats to international supply chains.

Due to phishing scams and social engineering attacks, clicking on an e-mail link from a work-supplied computer or smartphone presents a high risk to enterprises, say 56 percent of IT professionals in India.

Avinash Kadam, advisor, ISACA’s India Task Force, says, “With the growing number of cyber threats, it is critical for enterprises to safeguard their information assets. Addressing cyber issues should be considered beyond defining internet policies. It is equally important for enterprises to educate their employees on information risks, as it is not just an IT issue, but also a business issue.”

To address the growing cyber-security concerns in India and throughout the world, a team of ISACA members is dedicated to researching cyber-security issues and developing guidance to help enterprises protect their information assets. ISACA recommends that management address cyber-crime across all areas, including:

•      Awareness

•      Prevention

•      Detection

•      Incident and crisis management

•      Cooperation with investigating organizations

Growing Privacy Concerns

In the coming year, IT professionals will have to manage not just threats of data leakage and identity theft, but also growing consumer and employee concerns about data privacy.

Niraj Kapasi, IT auditor and chair of ISACA’s India Task Force, says, “Enterprises in India should be conscious that data protection goes beyond securing servers at datacenters or office premises. With the growing number of cyber threats globally, information risk can come from existing employees, customers, industrial surveillance by competitors, hackers, organized crime, and even foreign governments.” He added, “It is important for business leaders to govern privacy, evaluate the risk around privacy, ensure proper security management and effectively govern sensitive information.”

Enterprises can use the COBIT 5 framework to govern their information and systems. The framework publication is available as a free download at www.isaca.org/cobit.