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Cloud Computing: Can You Trust Your Data in the Cloud?
SaaS and cloud-based computing are one of the fastest growing sectors of IT. Check the top five trends of almost any IT analyst and you’re almost certain to see SaaS and Cloud Computing in the list. But despite the growth and rosy predictions, the one thing that still worries people about Cloud computing is security.
Is data stored in the cloud safe? Are there legal issues that prevent the storing data outside the enterprise? The questions are common and the answers aren’t always clear.
Jeff Goldberg, analyst at research firm Celent, started hearing the questions come up so often that he took on the task to try to drill down a bit more to get some answers.
For example, what about regional regulations. If a local regulation says that data needs to be maintained within that region, does that preclude the use of the cloud with servers located elsewhere? Actually, some users see the storage of data at some unknown location a plus for security, but to accomodate regulations that specify regional data storage, some cloud vendors are opening data centers in regional facilities to satisfy the requirement. Data that flows across multiple jurisdictions and is subject to different sets of regulatory policies can also be particularly sticky.
Auditing and compliance with federal regulations is another issue, especially for financial companies. Cloud vendors need to become much more transparent in their policies and practice so that their customers can validate that their data is compliant with regulations. This is one area where things will need to change. But cloud vendors are sure to see this as a requirement for them to satisfy in order to capture business. They will comply. In fact, Goldberg predicts that SaaS vendors may ultimately become certified by a regulatory body.
Finally, licensing terms also need to be carefully considered, particularly around service level and for conditions like what happens to data if the cloud vendor were to go out of business.
“It took many years to work out the rules governing web-based commerce and transactions – some still to be defined,” Goldberg said. “But this did not prevent a valuable technology from taking hold over time.”
