The security implications of cloud storage (i)

Liz Devereux knows something about cloud storage. As head of it storage and digital imaging at Banner Health, Devereux is responsible for overseeing the construction of 150TB storage grids within the company. The grid provides networked storage of health care providers headquartered in Phoenix in the form of services for medical and health care equipment in 7 countries. These countries use them as storage rooms for radioactive imagery. But she never delegates this data to any external cloud service provider.

"I'm worried that some people will control my data one day," Devereux said. ”

Cloud Storage offers a number of tempting advantages. It is a pay-as-you-go model that does not require infrastructure investment and does not require the purchase of redundant equipment for future storage requirements. You can dynamically expand your storage device and simply pay for the part you use. But you have to show enough trust in the data stored in the cloud and the vendors that provide the cloud services.

Today, few midsize enterprises and large enterprises are willing to trust the cloud, although some are using cloud services. "People have a very high interest in cloud storage," says Gene Ruth, an analyst at Burton Group. But he added that no Fortune 100 users today use cloud storage services for real-time data storage.

It may be wise to tread cautiously, says James Damoulakis, chief technology officer at Glasshouse technology. Glasshouse Technology is an independent IT consultant and service company focused on other elements of the enterprise data Center, storage, and IT infrastructure. "Today's cloud storage is a very early concept," he said. ”

With the exception of a handful of heavyweight figures using cloud storage, such as Amazon.com's Simple Storage Service (S3) and Verizon Communications's online backup and recovery services, most products are used by small start-ups. "Cloud storage is ideal for low priority or low access and low touch type applications, primarily file-based, not block based." "Computerworld columnist Damoulakis said. But he says there are some users who are using Amazon's services as a temporary extension of their test-bed or marketing plan.

Apollo Group chief information Officer Joe Mildenhall is using cloud storage as a baby learns to walk. "We need to lose a lot of things. If we're playing, we can only compete with the biggest guys. "he said. For-profit educational institutions based in Phoenix are using Amazon's S3 to temporarily store files, some of which were submitted by 400000 College students via the Apollo website.

But even Amazon,mildenhall will only entrust the low risk data to the cloud. For example, the student union submits a word file to the Apollo Web site, which runs the files through a grammar-checking engine, and then places the files on Amazon's S3 storage device. When a student retrieves his file, the data is clearly known. "The main feature is that the storage of these files is not particularly important to us," Mildenhall said. ”

So far, the integration with S3 has provided us with a lot of help. But Mildenhall remains concerned. "If Amazon goes down for two days, our ideas will change," he said. ”

It's not safe.

The most common storage and service offerings are online backup and archiving applications. Things have changed since the day of the Storagenetworks of 2003, and some businesses are unable to properly host backups and ultimately choose to shut them down. Damoulakis said Storagenetworks's first thought was outsourcing, which provided services that used the same architecture as the datacenter. Many cloud storage services now use distributed architectures for Low-cost off-the-shelf product storage devices. "We have made rapid progress in virtualization, the Internet, distributed computing and the concept of grids," he said. ”

Michael Peterson, president of Strategic research, launched a storage service provider early in the day and is a Storagenetworks business and technical advisor. Cloud storage, he says, is a very broad term that encompasses a variety of technologies and business models. For example, some service providers use distributed storage devices for off-the-shelf products, while others may use traditional midrange or high-end storage architectures. This means that you'd better figure out what product or service you're buying first.

But there is a common theme here, and that is virtualization. "Cloud storage includes anything, and it's a model of virtualization." "Peterson said. The cloud is a catalyst for change, not a technology, so he predicts that the cloud will lead to widespread adoption of virtualization.

From basic file-based storage infrastructure services, such as Amazon's S3, until storage and service applications are within range of cloud storage services offerings. In addition to the start-up Zetta, most vendors choose the cloud for primary storage needs.

Peterson says that in the enterprise market, remote backup has become the real driver of cloud storage. Still, most big companies are sitting on their hands.

One of the biggest concerns of the IT enterprise for cloud storage is the security of the data. Many cloud storage vendors provide cryptographic services for dynamic and static data. Some vendors, such as Zetta, also set encryption to default. Because your data in the storage cloud is on the same disk as someone else's data, it's important to encrypt, Ruth says. For example, if someone's data were raided by the FBI, will your data be searched? The law is far from adequate for the protection of innocent groups of data located in the same equipment. "said Ruth. To address this problem, some vendors store data for each user on a separate disk. Zetta encrypts each user's data with a different key.