According to Bannister, organisations are struggling with the confidence that they or their cloud provider can adequately secure their data and use of the cloud.
However, he says, this perception is likely to change in 2011 as stronger, more advanced security options are deployed as cloud services from organisations that specialise in security.
In his predictions for 2011 on the security front, the CA Technologies CTO says that, around every 15 years or so, there is a major infection point in technology when a powerful set of technology enablers meets a compelling set of business needs.
"From the mainframe in the mid-1960s to microprocessor tech in the early 1980s, and on to the start of the internet era in 1995, today's infection point is cloud computing”, he said.
"While 2010 may have been the year of cloud talk, 2011 is the year of cloud action", he added.
Bannister went on to say in his 2011 predictions that cloud computing is changing the way business operates and the way the IT functions.
IT, he explained, is no longer a back-room activity, but rather a major business enabler shaping every aspect of how an organisation operates.
As a result of this, he said that CA Technologies believes the top tech trends for 2011 will combine to create a new era in IT – the consumerisation of IT.
The groundswell of consumer technology, he adds, is taking over the enterprise. Business now wants speed, choice, secure, and agile technology at its fingertips.
"The cloud, virtualisation and mobile devices are making this possible. The IT professional will need to move quickly in order to provide the necessary infrastructure and services that its users increasingly demand", he said.
"The consumerisation of IT also means that smart mobile devices, like tablets and iPads, will start displacing laptops as the device of choice for employees", he added.
Whilst many enterprises have tried to resist the deployment of these devices, user demand has been too strong to resist.
As a result, Bannister predicts that technology and services will be delivered differently, and there will be an array of new IT challenges, specifically managing security and authentication.
The CA Technologies CTO also made the interesting prediction that the insider will be the next security attack vector for the enterprise.
The insider, he argued, is a direct line to corporate data, which is high-quality, valuable and lucrative.
"As companies continue to have better and more sophisticated security, it will become easier to social engineer someone on the inside than to continually create new malware", he says.
"Now, with companies opening up social networking sites and increasing employee mobility, there will be more access points to sneak out classified information. Organisations will begin using behavioural analysis to predict threats from the inside", he added.