Sonian's Cloud Buzz Blog

Is Lawyer Involvement in Cloud Computing Going to Start a Snowball Effect?

  

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Up until now a lot of the buzz around the cloud has focused on security and trusting someone else with your data, but that's all it's been: buzz. Buzz, debate, speculation, naysaying, and well... you get the point. However, a big change is starting to gain momentum: more and more lawyers and legal departments are taking interest in the cloud. I know what you're thinking, "Woohoo. Why is this a big deal?"  This is a big deal because, once lawyers get involved with any new technology, the ball starts rolling. 

This concept was brought to my attention by John Soat's recent post, Cloud Computing: It's Time to Send in the Lawyers. I've heard my fair share of "security this", and "privacy that" by just about everyone who hasn't passed the bar. But John's post illustrated to me that legal departments are starting to have the real talks about cloud computing. John points to one example in which the legal team of a Midwestern company all of a sudden takes an interest in the cloud once the legal team approved of a cloud solution. And really, since legal is usually the source of delay and endless red tape, once they approve of new company policy, who else will object? Lawyers are historically obstinate towards technological change since they prefer the old ways they are used to. Not to mention their job requires a lot of dissenting with practices that have the slightest possibility of risk. If privacy, security, performance and continuity are all handled and OK'ed by the lawyers, all that's left for for your company to do is implement a solution and reap the benefits.

What You Need to Know Before Moving Company Data to the Cloud

Webinar on Cloud Security

Hosted by Steve Riley, Cloud Computing Strategist for Amazon Web Services, and Greg Arnette, Founder and CTO of Sonian

5 Ways to Prepare for the Inevitable Adoption of Cloud Computing

  

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Stop toying with the idea of cloud computing and take action. While the back and forth about the cloud's security might make your head spin, the time spent debating could have been used prepare for the inevitable cloud adoption. Here are 5 ways to get the ball rolling on cloud security.

1. Risk Assessment: Decide on the limits. What will go where, and why the differences must be made. Decide on classifications and have an IT risk assessment so you'll be prepared and have a full game plan when you adopt cloud computing. If you need help doing this, check out Craig Balding's post on CloudSecurity.org.
2. Policies: If you don't have a solid security policy the cloud won't change that. Review and modify policies so they will not only protect you now, but will be prepared and modernized to handle an external system. The Cloud Security Alliance has a great resource that provides a guide for these policies.
3. Training: Without giving your staff time to understand the cloud and your new system, it would be very difficult to ensure security. Setting aside a little wiggle room in the budget and work schedule for proper acclimation to the cloud through education, training, viewing webinars, etc. can do wonders for the transitional phase.
4. Purchasing: When you buy your solution, make sure that it is an open standards and strong encryptions. Using a strong and long lasting system is very important, look for things like federated authentication models, detailed logging and an easy deployment model.
5. Upgrades: In the time before you move to the cloud, try to make upgrades that would be compatible with a cloud solution in the future. If you don't think before you upgrade when a cloud solution is implemented, you may have to go back and do it all over again.

Toolkit: Cloud Security

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Full of webinars, research reports, magazine articles, and video clips to educate you on how to keep your business safe when adopting the cloud.

Cloud Computing Security Video goes Viral

  

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Downfall, Oliver Hirschbiegel’s film about the fall of Hitler, has spread like wildfire over YouTube - well, parodies of Downfall have spread like wildfire over YouTube.  The scene below has gained notoriety has one of the all-time greatest spoof clips on the internet.  Search for the original scene, and you most likely won't find it (mostly due to copyright laws), but you will find an ever-increasing number of clips where the subtitles have been inserted to have Der Führer enraged about everything but Germany losing the war.  Hitler gets scammed on eBay, Hitler Find Out Sarah Palin Resigned, Hitler Find Out Kansas Lost to UNI in 2010 NCAA Tournament, and even Hitler and Cloud Computing Security:

Well, clearly Hitler was upset about a security breach, and he is not the only one wary of Cloud Computing Security.  Last month, Sonian conducted a survey of over 200 IT professionals, and over 66% of them said that their biggest reservation with the Cloud was data security.  

Sonian has a number of resources to help you better understand how cloud security works, so you can find your faith in Cloud (even if Hitler can't).

1. Browse through our blog to find out how we use 256 bit AES encryption to protect all your data.
   
2. Read the MIT Technology Review to see how they answer the question, "Is the Cloud Safe?" 
   
3. Debate with The Economist magazine over whether or not we should trust the cloud (Hint: Yes we can). 
   
4. Watch Greg Arnette at EduComm 2009 as he discusses The Future of Cloud Computing. 
   
5. Download the Amazon Web Services Security White Paper
6. View the Security of Cloud Archiving Webinar