What is the Cloud?

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

What is the Cloud?

Lately it seems everyone is talking about the Cloud, public Cloud, private Cloud, and on and on.

Fundamentally, the Cloud is a marketing term.

Think of the Cloud as a magic curtain, behind which all the technical magic occurs. Files are still stored on disk drives, on server clusters, in server rooms. The difference is a point of understanding and access.

To a non-technical person, storing files in the cloud means simply relying upon someone else to do the dirty work. Of course there’s nothing wrong with this, just understand that behind the curtain is the same fundamental hardware.

Security is just as much, if not more of, a concern with Cloud storage; in particular the various public cloud providers. Where, exactly, is your data stored? Who actually has access to it? Physically it still exists somewhere. If you delete it, do ghosts of the data still appear? Even encrypted, if the data is accessible it can be cracked, it is only a matter of time. When physical disks are retired, how are they disposed of? Will they be wiped to whatever standards your data needs? Is the cloud complaint with your legal requirements? (HIPPA, SOX, etc)

What are the legal implications of Cloud storage? A recent webinar I attended included a lawyer talking about Cloud storage, and he brought up many good points. He talked of privacy rules depending on which country the data resides in, if your data is stored in the EU there are stricter privacy laws than in the US for instance.

Cloud storage has amazing potential, but is still in it’s infancy stage. Individuals and business users should examine how the government and military have been carefully using the Cloud (obviously not so much the public cloud). If you or your company are not sure how the Cloud could be used safely, consider talking to a security professional. Not just a sales pitch, it really is that important.

(c) 2012 David Lyle