Former hacker warns of cloud vulnerabilities

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

If it takes a thief to catch a thief, it would only seem appropriate that it takes a hacker to predict the next big internet target. And according to reformed hacker Michael Calce, that next target is the cloud.

The hacker once known as Mafiaboy recently warned that cloud computing poses several security risks for companies that choose to store sensitive information online, IDG News Service reports.

In an interview with CDN, Calce said one of the main concerns with the cloud is that technology companies are moving too quickly without bothering to remedy problems with its current infrastructure. This, he said, is leaving companies vulnerable to security issues.

"It's hard to patch-up holes when so many bullets have already been fired. I know I'll never get businesses to agree but we need to slow down technology, and stop reinventing without fixing the predecessor first," Calce told CDN. "We're always taking on security as an afterthought. We should redesign the protocols behind the internet to make it less exploitable."

Calce's concerns are echoed by enterprise cloud users. According to a recent survey of 1,600 IT executives by Ernst & Young, 60 percent of respondents indicate they have security concerns regarding the cloud, social networking and personal mobile devices.