Michael Cheek – TheNewNewInternet , April 23rd 2010: Lockheed Martin, along with the company’s Cyber Security Alliance partners, have released a new study entitled “Awareness, Trust and Security to Shape Government Cloud Adoption.” According to a survey conducted for the study, “the awareness, trust and security issues that have limited federal government adoption of cloud computing appear to be more perceptual than prohibitive.”

The majority of individuals involved in cloud computing trust the cloud based system and are not generally concerned about the security of the cloud model, the report found. The study predicts that the utilization of cloud technology by the federal government will increase as more people become aware of it.

The study also found that fully 34 percent of respondents in military, intelligence and federal civilian agencies were unfamiliar with the cloud model and only 14 percent of respondents said that their agencies had adopted cloud computing. Around 23 percent of respondents did not know what the agency’s policy on cloud computing was.

Also, three out of five respondents said that they do not expressly trust cloud computing. Perhaps most surprising is that 21 percent of respondents involved in cybersecurity within their organization were not familiar with cloud computing.

Nevertheless, the implimentation of the cloud model is growing across federal agencies.

“Increased awareness and understanding of cloud computing can pave the way for more adoption, as respondents who are familiar with cloud computing tend
to pursue its inherent benefits. The adoption rate among respondents familiar with cloud computing (44 percent) is more than triple the overall adoption rate (14 percent),” according to the report.

Also, respondents who are currently involved in cybersecurity at their agency listed cloud computing last on their list of security challenges.

“Seamless security is critical to protecting our customers’ information in the cloud.  Collaboration with industry partners and government will accelerate innovation and adoption while enabling successful cloud implementations in the public sector,” says Ray Johnson, Chief Technology Officer and Sr. Vice President at Lockheed Martin.

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