Cloud providers need to instill consumer trust

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

When it comes to cloud computing, security has proven to be a major hurdle for many consumers who worry whether their data will be safe.

Customers need to know how their data is protected, Vincent Campitelli, vice president of IT risk management at McKesson, told attendees at the Security Standard conference. However, providers do not have the resources to allow each customer to inspect their networks and perform periodic audits, according to CIO.

This poses a problem for corporate IT security professionals, who are pressured to adopt the cost-cutting services of the public cloud, but are at risk of losing control of their data.

Traditional third-party assessments of physical networks will not work with the cloud, Campitelli said, because assessors lack the tools and training necessary to assess cloud architectures. And while new standards for checking the security of provider networks are being discussed, none are yet in place.

Another research director told attendees the best solution now is for corporate teams and legal experts to assess the risks of data compromises and to submit only data whose value is low enough that if compromised, the costs are bearable.

With 20 percent of all companies expected to adopt cloud computing within the next four years, according to a CloudTweaks report, ensuring security within the network is an essential step.