Almost 63% users trust Cloud to store personal data, says Fortinet India

Fortinet has published global research revealing the growing appetite of Generation Y employees to contravene corporate policies governing use of own devices, personal cloud storage accounts and new technologies such as smart watches, Google Glass and connected cars. Based on findings from an independent 20-country survey of 3,200 employees (150 of them in India) aged 21–32 conducted during October 2013, the research showed a similar tendency (58% this year compared with 66% last year) in the willingness to break usage rules compared to a similar Fortinet survey conducted last year. The new research also describes the extent to which Generation Y have been victims of cybercrime on their own devices, their “threat literacy” and their widespread practice for storing corporate assets on personal cloud accounts.

This year’s research reveals the issues faced by organizations when attempting to enforce policies around BYOD, cloud application usage and soon the adoption of new connected technologies. The study highlights the greater challenge IT managers face when it comes to knowing where corporate data resides and how it is being accessed. There is now more than ever a requirement for security intelligence to be implemented at the network level in order to enable control of user activity based on devices, applications being used and locations, said Vishak Raman, Fortinet's Senior Regional Director for India & SAARC.

Almost two-thirds (63%) of the cloud storage users sampled stated they fully trust the cloud for storing their personal data, with only 3% citing aversion through lack of trust.

The survey also hinted at a direct correlation between BYOD usage and threat literacy, i.e. the more frequent the BYOD habit, the better a respondent’s understanding of threats.