Dive Brief:

• Trust in the cloud declined among information security professionals over the past year, according to the new SANS Institute survey on cloud security. 
• The survey found 62% of respondents are concerned that unauthorized outsiders could access data stored on public cloud services, compared to just 40% in 2015.
• This year, 56% of respondents said they lacked the tools needed to identify a data breach or do forensic analyses that would make incident response effective. In 2015, just 33% of respondents made the same complaint.

Dive Insight:

The greatest challenges are the "limited ability to access data controls built into cloud platforms, integration with existing tools and the slow progress toward APIs or services to bridge the gap between internal and external security," according to study. 

But SANS analyst and survey author Dave Shackleford says the situation will soon change, predicting this time next year more support third-party solutions and openness about security controls from cloud providers. That could help increase trust. 

In June, Diane Greene, senior vice president of Google Enterprise said cloud is now viewed by many enterprises as the safest choice for protecting data. Greene pointed to the fact that financial services — normally among of the most conservative and security-conscious industries — are growing more and more accepting of cloud. 

But a study released in April by Intel Security concurs with the SANS findings, concluding that a significant number of respondents to a global survey of 1,200 IT leaders found there are still strong concerns about cloud security. Only 13% of respondents said they fully trust cloud companies to keep their most sensitive data secure.

Despite security concerns, it appears most companies are plowing ahead with cloud investments. A recent report from the International Data Corporation predicted that infrastructure spending for cloud environments will reach $38.2 billion in 2016.