Will Cloud Computing Violate your Privacy and Security? at Ben Balbo
My friend Ben discusses the implications of cloud computing and privacy. What follows is my rambling on the subject.
"Cloud computing" really means software running on service hosted on a server (or cluster of servers) accessible via the Internet. At least, that is what lay people understand it to mean, and I've grown quite happy in accepting this definition (Ben's definition is more general and correct, though). It does introduce some peculiarities. For example, if I purchase Confluence, for example, as a hosted product, that's cloud computing according my definition. If I buy the server license and install it on my fire-walled server, that's not cloud computing, even if it is accessible via the Internet.
So, given this definition (whether you agree with it or not), their are multiple factors to consider:
Then, of course, you'd need to weight the risks and relative benefits of all these points.
Just a small anecdote regarding security:
There are companies that refuse to use cloud services, especially those managed by Google. For example, Google Apps is off-limits as it is considered too risky to host data and communications on a third-party server. Instead, companies keep sensitive information on their local servers. These servers are backed up by amateurs. The passwords are insecure. The users don't understand how to security documents as the systems are not easy to use.
I would argue -- strongly -- that Google's services, in this case, are much more secure.
My friend Ben discusses the implications of cloud computing and privacy. What follows is my rambling on the subject.
"Cloud computing" really means software running on service hosted on a server (or cluster of servers) accessible via the Internet. At least, that is what lay people understand it to mean, and I've grown quite happy in accepting this definition (Ben's definition is more general and correct, though). It does introduce some peculiarities. For example, if I purchase Confluence, for example, as a hosted product, that's cloud computing according my definition. If I buy the server license and install it on my fire-walled server, that's not cloud computing, even if it is accessible via the Internet.
So, given this definition (whether you agree with it or not), their are multiple factors to consider:
- security: is the cloud provider better able to secure data than I would be running my own server and infrastructure?
- reliability: is the cloud service provider able to offer me more reliable uptime than I would otherwise get by managing my own hardware?
- trust: do I trust the cloud service provider more than I would my own staff in not accessing data that they shouldn't?
- functionality: is the hosted service something I just can't get anywhere else?
Then, of course, you'd need to weight the risks and relative benefits of all these points.
Just a small anecdote regarding security:
There are companies that refuse to use cloud services, especially those managed by Google. For example, Google Apps is off-limits as it is considered too risky to host data and communications on a third-party server. Instead, companies keep sensitive information on their local servers. These servers are backed up by amateurs. The passwords are insecure. The users don't understand how to security documents as the systems are not easy to use.
I would argue -- strongly -- that Google's services, in this case, are much more secure.
1 comments:
Dude... we are in agreement about what you mentioned on my site... Not like we can actually tell people about this, but... I think it is the truth :)
I'll be in accounting too... I sit sort of up in the front, to the right. Will look for you if I wake up by then.
^_^
Ronjon
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