Cloud Computing Companies Can’t Be Trusted With Our Data
Conventional thinking leads us to believe that storing your data in your own local servers is safer than sending or accessing it through the cloud to servers owned by a third-party. It’s just that we don’t trust people outside the company, and “losing” control over our data and networks brings about fear. However, we do this all the time; we trust ourselves and our assets to other institutions because of the security measures they put in place. We fly on airplanes (essentially giant metal cans with wings hurtling through the sky) because we know they have on-board fail-safe controls, trained pilots and staff, security personnel to check all the baggage and passemgers etc. We also put our money in banks because we know they are protected by the federal government, and banks employ high-tech security. Perhaps in the same token, cloud computing companies can put as much of their resources as they can into security. They hire the top security experts, update to the latest hardware and software, not to mention take out the best insurance in case of disasters. They are much more conscious about the safety of their clients data, than perhaps, as some might contend, even your local IT manager may be. Their business depends on keeping your data safe, and they know it.
Blackouts Can Occur and Wipe Out Our Data
Blackouts do occur, and when they do happen to companies like Google or Sony, it tends to be well-publicized. However, the truth is, those blackouts aren’t much different from blackouts that occur on a local IT network. More often than not, it’s not some malicious hacker or rival bringing down the network (as perhaps those who watch too many Hollywood films might think) but rather, a boring reason like overcapacity or simply someone forgetting to flip on a switch.
While real problems do occur that are only specific to cloud computing, there tends to be a lot of redundancy when it comes to cloud computing security. More often than not, many cloud computing companies will encrypt your data for you when it reaches their servers. They will have double, even triple back-up disaster recovery plans. Also, many local IT networks will perform a back-up every night, so that if something should happen, they can revert to the last saved data. However, cloud computing allows for instant back-up. It backups all the data as soon as you update it, so should disaster strike, you can revert back to the data from minutes, even seconds, before the problem occurred.
All These Security Measures Will End Up Costing More
Many people may say redundancy can equal big spending over time. While that may seem logical, you may actually end up saving more money in the long-run. In a study conducted by Osterman Research they found that companies who switch to the cloud could “...reduce its security costs by 41%”. One of the main reasons is because many IT departments spend a lot of their time dealing with malware infecting the system. When you switch to a cloud architecture and to a third-party company, it becomes their responsibility to protect you from such things, freeing your internal IT department to really focus on what needs to be done.
If you really want to move to the cloud but are still concerned with security issues, then there are further steps you can take. Do your own backups locally, and encrypt your data before you send it out to your cloud servers. Of course, these actions are things you should consider doing even if you had a local network, and while all technology is still not 100% reliable, cloud computing is still a viable and secure competition for local IT networks.
Sources:
http://www.infosecisland.com/blogview/17690-Is-Cloud-Computing-Secure.html
