Cloud computing to blame for recent AT&T and iPad disaster, says InformationWeek

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

The recent events involving AT&T, where more than 100,000 iPad users had their email addresses made public, raises an important issue - cloud computing security.

By all accounts, the iPad device has been deemed secure by most current standards. So, while AT&T currently has egg on its face for the security lapse, which also exposed the unique device ID for those affected, cloud computing is to blame, according to an InformationWeek article.

The information released to the public was stored within the devices' cloud system, not the actual devices themselves. The report's author, Jim Rapoza, believes as more information makes it way into a company's cloud, the AT&T fiasco will become more common. Rapoza states that regardless of the device - whether it be a PC, Mac or Linux system - cyber criminals will always go where the most sensitive data is stored. Rapoza states "in the end, how secure your personal device is won't protect you from these types of exploits."

With more companies and PC users opting to move data and other various items into the cloud, the networking service must find a way to improve its managed security to deal with these potential infiltrations. A recent report from the Pew Research Center found that 71 percent of IT experts believe the majority of computer users will be in the cloud by 2020.