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Cloud Computing: Governments Target the Cloud for Select Data
Governments both in the US and EU have been urging their departments and agencies to consider adopting Cloud Computing because of efficiencies and cost savings that can be realized. But at the same time because of governance concerns, government bodies are also being warned that there is too much risk in putting sensitive information on a public cloud computing service.
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European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) in January issued a 146-page report discussing the goals and concerns that the EU has for Cloud Computing. The report found that Cloud Computing offers huge efficiencies that, in the case of EU governments, could ultimately lead to as much as a 90 percent savings on infrastructure costs. The savings would be possible by taking advantage of the inherent efficiencies of the cloud and also be creating a shared infrastructure in which redundancies between governments and agencies could be eliminated or reduced.
Udo Helmbrecht, exeuctive director for ENISA, said that the “Public cloud offers a very high level of service availability and is the most cost effective. Yet, currently its adoption should be limited to non-sensitive or non-critical applications, in the context of a well-defined cloud adaptation strategy with a clear exit strategy… Cloud computing offers a host of potential benefits to public bodies, including scalability, elasticity, high performance, resilience and security together with cost efficiency. Understanding and managing risks related to the adoption and integration of cloud computing capabilities into public bodies is a key challenge.” The ENISA report is a result of input not only from European members, but also was strongly influenced by other countries, like the US and Japan. The report, for example, quotes US Federal CIO Vivek Kundra as saying that “cloud computing has the potential to greatly reduce waste, increase data centre efficiency and utilization rates, and lower operating costs.” While the report details many of the potential benefits of a cloud infrastructure, it cautions that there are many potential challenges that need to be overcome before the goals can be realized. The report says that “for example, understanding the shift in the balance of responsibility and accountability for key functions such as governance and control over data and IT operations, ensuring compliance with laws and regulations, and, in some instances, the poor quality of Internet connectivity in some areas of the EU.” |
Not surprisingly, one of the top challenges identified by the report is the need to be able to guarantee security in the cloud. And if security fails, a plan needs to be in place to be able to deal with any sort of data breach. Depending on the seriousness of the problem Data Protection Authorities (DPAs) need to be able to know how to appropriately respond. The report says that “many public bodies have not yet built a model for assessing their organisational risks related to security and resilience.” For sensitive data, the report recommends that the EU set up a transnational private cloud that can support all members of the EU and that is managed as a single entity.
