While many industries have experienced high adoption rates in cloud based security solutions, financial services has traditionally been the more hesitate sector, with concerns with compliance and data security. However, these concerns and hesitations have hindered financial/bank/hedge fund providers from accessing more innovation in data protection. But, is this changing?

Some say “yes” as some security providers are starting to see an increase in uptake in cloud solutions from financial services organizations – who are finally overriding their fears-of-the-cloud and taking that leap of faith into the new world of security.

Kurt Long, CEO and Founder of FairWarning, recently sat down with Inside Counsel for an exclusive interview. He shared why the “wall of fear” in financial services is finally coming down, his predictions on why financial services will surpass healthcare cloud security adoptions, the new cloud technologies in privacy and compliance for financial providers that has made this sector more open to the technology. Cloud security fears stem from the fact that data is the most valuable and business critical asset for the finance industry, so mass data loss is a primary fear when it comes to cloud technologies.

“With mounting regulatory laws, organizations are concerned with maintaining proper security in a cloud based environment,” he explained. “Fear of updating outdated legacy applications when migrating to a cloud based environment is perceived risky for financial services firms who believe it will be costly and time consuming to update their systems.”

According to Long, the “wall of fear” is finally coming down for financial services providers because of the updates in cloud technologies. Cloud technologies now include security features like encryption, tokenization, strong authentication, and the ability to produce event monitoring files. In addition, organizations are finding that cloud technologies can be an asset to their security posture, helping them comply with industry regulations.

“Fierce competition from new fin-tech businesses have also pushed organizations towards cloud adoption,” he said. “These new businesses are immediately leveraging the advantages of cloud based technologies and providing customers with the transparency and instant information they now crave. Financial firms have no choice but to update old legacy systems and leverage cloud technologies to be competitive in the marketplace.”

Today, compliance and privacy enable innovation, according to Long. In fact, the role of security is to build trust between employees and systems so that they can build upon their work in a secure and scalable way. “Governance, if done correctly, applies similarly in that it is checking to make sure that there is a trust enabled environment for customers and employees that is repeatable.”

Per Long, there are five key benefits contingent on choosing a cloud provider that takes security seriously. First, partnering with a cloud security vendor that is security centric will allow organizations to maintain up to date patches. Second, agile cloud security providers are able absorb customer feedback and provide rapid releases at scale, with a click of a button. Third, cloud security providers are now responsible for application service levels, allowing for full transparency between vendor customer regarding the application's performance and its IT needs. Next, in the competitive cloud security vendor ecosystem, organizations now have more choices when it comes to choosing a cloud security provider that provides the most value to their organization.

Finally, Long said, “Your overall security posture is not just your immediate organization, but your entire business network. Choosing a cloud security provider that not only maintains your overall security posture, but also strengthens it can provide immense value to your business.”