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Gartner: Cloud Computing Remains Top Emerging Business Risk

Cloud computing ranks as the top risk concern for executives in risk, audit, finance and compliance, according to the latest survey by Gartner, Inc. While cloud computing presents organizations with novel opportunities, a number of new risks — including cybersecurity disclosure and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance — make cloud solutions susceptible to unexpected security threats.

In Gartner’s latest quarterly Emerging Risks Report, 110 senior executives in risk, audit, finance and compliance at large global organizations identified cloud computing as the top concern for the second consecutive quarter.

Additional information security risks, such as cybersecurity disclosure and GDPR compliance, ranked among the top five concerns of the executives surveyed.

The top two fast-moving, high-impact risks — those which have the ability to cripple an organization quickly — are also related to information security threats. Social engineering and GDPR compliance were cited as most likely to cause the greatest enterprise damage if not adequately addressed by risk management leaders, according to Gartner. However, only 18 percent of the cross-functional executives surveyed currently considered social engineering to be a significant enterprise risk.

Through 2022, at least 95 percent of cloud security failures will be the fault of the organization

Executives should expect cybersecurity threats to affect organizations in unpredictable ways. Through 2022, at least 95 percent of cloud security failures will be the fault of the organization, according to Gartner. As more sophisticated tactics such as social engineering are engineered to compromise sensitive data, organizations should expand their cybersecurity team to address evolving digital risks.

“Executives are right to expand cloud services as part of their digital business initiatives, but they need to ensure their cloud security strategy keeps up with this growth,” said Matthew Shinkman, Practice Leader at Gartner. “Leaders should start by clearly identifying their most at-risk areas, which remain obscure to many large organization leaders.”

Increased Adoption Brings New Risks

Gartner forecasts cloud computing to be a $300 billion business by 2021

Gartner forecasts cloud computing to be a $300 billion business by 2021, as companies increasingly adopt cloud services to realize their desired digital business outcomes. Through the use of cloud services, cloud computing provides the speed and agility that digital business requires. Adopting the cloud can also result in significant cost savings and generate new sources of revenue.

Results from Gartner’s report, however, reveal that companies continue to struggle with security. Despite record spending on information security in the last two years, organizations have lost an estimated $400 billion to cyber theft and fraud worldwide. As cybersecurity events and data breaches increase, it is imperative that organizations elevate IT security to a board-level topic and an essential part of any solid digital business growth strategy.

“Executives should promote risk awareness throughout the organization,” Shinkman concluded. “A strong risk culture helps employees make the right decisions and mitigates poor outcomes.”

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Businesses that face downtime or outages risk financial and reputational damage, as well as reducing partner, shareholder, and customer trust. One of the major challenges that enterprises face is implementing a robust business continuity plan. What's the solution? The answer may lie in disaster recovery tactics such as truly immutable storage and regular disaster recovery testing ...

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Gartner: Cloud Computing Remains Top Emerging Business Risk

Cloud computing ranks as the top risk concern for executives in risk, audit, finance and compliance, according to the latest survey by Gartner, Inc. While cloud computing presents organizations with novel opportunities, a number of new risks — including cybersecurity disclosure and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance — make cloud solutions susceptible to unexpected security threats.

In Gartner’s latest quarterly Emerging Risks Report, 110 senior executives in risk, audit, finance and compliance at large global organizations identified cloud computing as the top concern for the second consecutive quarter.

Additional information security risks, such as cybersecurity disclosure and GDPR compliance, ranked among the top five concerns of the executives surveyed.

The top two fast-moving, high-impact risks — those which have the ability to cripple an organization quickly — are also related to information security threats. Social engineering and GDPR compliance were cited as most likely to cause the greatest enterprise damage if not adequately addressed by risk management leaders, according to Gartner. However, only 18 percent of the cross-functional executives surveyed currently considered social engineering to be a significant enterprise risk.

Through 2022, at least 95 percent of cloud security failures will be the fault of the organization

Executives should expect cybersecurity threats to affect organizations in unpredictable ways. Through 2022, at least 95 percent of cloud security failures will be the fault of the organization, according to Gartner. As more sophisticated tactics such as social engineering are engineered to compromise sensitive data, organizations should expand their cybersecurity team to address evolving digital risks.

“Executives are right to expand cloud services as part of their digital business initiatives, but they need to ensure their cloud security strategy keeps up with this growth,” said Matthew Shinkman, Practice Leader at Gartner. “Leaders should start by clearly identifying their most at-risk areas, which remain obscure to many large organization leaders.”

Increased Adoption Brings New Risks

Gartner forecasts cloud computing to be a $300 billion business by 2021

Gartner forecasts cloud computing to be a $300 billion business by 2021, as companies increasingly adopt cloud services to realize their desired digital business outcomes. Through the use of cloud services, cloud computing provides the speed and agility that digital business requires. Adopting the cloud can also result in significant cost savings and generate new sources of revenue.

Results from Gartner’s report, however, reveal that companies continue to struggle with security. Despite record spending on information security in the last two years, organizations have lost an estimated $400 billion to cyber theft and fraud worldwide. As cybersecurity events and data breaches increase, it is imperative that organizations elevate IT security to a board-level topic and an essential part of any solid digital business growth strategy.

“Executives should promote risk awareness throughout the organization,” Shinkman concluded. “A strong risk culture helps employees make the right decisions and mitigates poor outcomes.”

Hot Topics

The Latest

According to Auvik's 2025 IT Trends Report, 60% of IT professionals feel at least moderately burned out on the job, with 43% stating that their workload is contributing to work stress. At the same time, many IT professionals are naming AI and machine learning as key areas they'd most like to upskill ...

Businesses that face downtime or outages risk financial and reputational damage, as well as reducing partner, shareholder, and customer trust. One of the major challenges that enterprises face is implementing a robust business continuity plan. What's the solution? The answer may lie in disaster recovery tactics such as truly immutable storage and regular disaster recovery testing ...

IT spending is expected to jump nearly 10% in 2025, and organizations are now facing pressure to manage costs without slowing down critical functions like observability. To meet the challenge, leaders are turning to smarter, more cost effective business strategies. Enter stage right: OpenTelemetry, the missing piece of the puzzle that is no longer just an option but rather a strategic advantage ...

Amidst the threat of cyberhacks and data breaches, companies install several security measures to keep their business safely afloat. These measures aim to protect businesses, employees, and crucial data. Yet, employees perceive them as burdensome. Frustrated with complex logins, slow access, and constant security checks, workers decide to completely bypass all security set-ups ...

Image
Cloudbrink's Personal SASE services provide last-mile acceleration and reduction in latency

In MEAN TIME TO INSIGHT Episode 13, Shamus McGillicuddy, VP of Research, Network Infrastructure and Operations, at EMA discusses hybrid multi-cloud networking strategy ... 

In high-traffic environments, the sheer volume and unpredictable nature of network incidents can quickly overwhelm even the most skilled teams, hindering their ability to react swiftly and effectively, potentially impacting service availability and overall business performance. This is where closed-loop remediation comes into the picture: an IT management concept designed to address the escalating complexity of modern networks ...

In 2025, enterprise workflows are undergoing a seismic shift. Propelled by breakthroughs in generative AI (GenAI), large language models (LLMs), and natural language processing (NLP), a new paradigm is emerging — agentic AI. This technology is not just automating tasks; it's reimagining how organizations make decisions, engage customers, and operate at scale ...

In the early days of the cloud revolution, business leaders perceived cloud services as a means of sidelining IT organizations. IT was too slow, too expensive, or incapable of supporting new technologies. With a team of developers, line of business managers could deploy new applications and services in the cloud. IT has been fighting to retake control ever since. Today, IT is back in the driver's seat, according to new research by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) ...

In today's fast-paced and increasingly complex network environments, Network Operations Centers (NOCs) are the backbone of ensuring continuous uptime, smooth service delivery, and rapid issue resolution. However, the challenges faced by NOC teams are only growing. In a recent study, 78% state network complexity has grown significantly over the last few years while 84% regularly learn about network issues from users. It is imperative we adopt a new approach to managing today's network experiences ...

Image
Broadcom

From growing reliance on FinOps teams to the increasing attention on artificial intelligence (AI), and software licensing, the Flexera 2025 State of the Cloud Report digs into how organizations are improving cloud spend efficiency, while tackling the complexities of emerging technologies ...