Gitex in Dubai: UAE must close gaps in cloud data protection, Veritas survey finds

Several challenges confront the world leader in public cloud adoption

Published: Thu 13 Oct 2022, 12:24 AM

Updated: Thu 13 Oct 2022, 12:25 AM

By
Joydeep Sengupta

Veritas Technologies, the global leader in data protection and multi-cloud data management, has unveiled the results from its international cloud survey (see box) in the ongoing Gitex Global in Dubai (October 10-14).

“The research reveals that UAE organisations have made strong progress in the transition to cloud, ranking as the second-highest adopter of public cloud services globally. However, there is still much to be done to ensure the data they have moved to the cloud is protected, compliant and available,” said Johnny Karam, Managing Director & Vice President of International Emerging Region at Veritas Technologies.

“Surveying over 1,500 information technology (IT) decision makers across 12 countries, including 100 respondents from the UAE, we have found that more than half (53 per cent) of the organisations in the country do not have full visibility of their data,” he said.

“The opaque understanding of where data is stored is compounded by the adoption of a multi-cloud provider strategy, with the average UAE business currently using three different public cloud providers to meet their storage needs. In turn, this is fracturing data protection strategies with 53 per cent of UAE firms surveyed saying they use data protection solutions built into each of these cloud services all of the time. This is despite more than half (56 per cent) saying that these tools put their organisation at risk,” he said.

“Veritas opened its first office in the Middle East, 22 years ago, back in 2000. Today, over 80,000 customers — including 95 per cent of the 'Fortune 100' — rely on us to abstract IT complexity and simplify data management,” Karam said.

“To make the most of their cloud leadership position, the next step for UAE organisations is to prioritise the protection of data across their multi-cloud environments and close any vulnerability gaps,” he added.

The findings of the survey

UAE ranks second for public cloud Adoption at 34% with China at 37%
More than half (53%) of UAE respondents no longer have visibility of their entire data footprint leaving them vulnerable to cyber attacks
56% agreed that relying only on their cloud service providers security tools puts their organisation at risk, with 35% reporting financial loss due to paying ransoms to cyber attackers
Veritas urges organisations to adopt a unified data management approach for their multi-cloud, hybrid environments

Source: Veritas Technologies

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