Focus on cloud security: The four major security risks cannot be ignored

Huge sums of money are pouring into the cloud. Top research institutions such as IDC and Gartner are watching and predicting the growth rate of cloud computing services.

But have you seen a lot of headlines about security? No. But there is a lot of concern about that. It seems that suppliers are not paying attention to the problem, but it is clear that security concerns are one reason why many companies hesitate to accept cloud computing services.

Many IT managers think cloud computing is a security black hole, and sensitive corporate data is at risk of being stolen/replicated/tampered with by countless remote it criminals. These fears are not unfounded.

There are several potential dangers to this booming technology:

1. Privileged User access

With cloud computing, your priceless data will be monitored by employees at telecommuting (possibly varying degrees, but more or less always). As a result, people outside the company are also likely to get all the permissions to access them.

2. Commitment

Even without the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, companies are still responsible for monitoring and archiving sensitive data. Even if a company contracts with an external cloud computing service provider, the company itself still needs to be held responsible for the disclosure or loss of the data.

3. Data separation

Cloud providers do use the SSL protocol to protect data in transit, but because data is eventually saved, they are likely to be stored in the same virtual space as other companies ' data. Can you accept your data and your competitors ' mix?

4. Usability (This is the most critical point)

In theory, you don't have to worry about your data disappearing when you use cloud computing. For vendors, it's easy to make a backup image of a data in a different area, so you don't have to worry about the loss of a system crash.

But do your employees have access to the data at all times? What if the virtual pipe is blocked? What if some of the vendor's internal problems lead to a prolonged period of obstruction between you and your critical data? Large-scale suppliers are also afraid of power outages.

In fact, any qualified cloud vendor will try to solve every problem.

But the key is to make sure that they are doing it. Get their answer--in the form of a written document. Your data will thank you for that.


Original: Loko security worries of Cloud Computing Author: James Maguire