At this years RSA Conference held last week in San Francisco, Cloud Computing was the main topic of conversation. In issues ranging from the role of government in securing the Internet to the concern of cyber warfare, the cloud was in the middle.
Advocates of cloud computing talk about the lower costs and ability to make security features part of the program data. Most of the lower costs come from equipment and repair costs that could save money for big and small companies alike. Many believe that cloud computing is changing security as we know it.
Others are more hesitant and the idea of widely adopting these information management techniques. Melissa Hathaway, former senior director for cyberspace for the National Security Council, said the migration toward the cloud is gaining momentum without having satisfactorily addressed several pressing concerns. Of these concerns, most were focused around online data’s vulnerability to attacks.
Also listed among the concerns is compliance with different standards and the governments access to information through search warrants. Because of the economic sense of cloud computing, these security risks are being evaluated. Also resulting from the discussions on cloud computing safety at the RSA Conference is the need for better private-public partnerships to fight cyber threat.
The concerns coming out of RSA encourage the cyber community to critically evaluate cloud computing and security.