Thursday, November 1, 2012

Top Cloud Computing Security Issues

By Marcy Becker


There are various cloud computing security issues those subscribing to the service should be aware. Some of these pose serious threats to any data stored in the clouds. This calls for businesses to find out how their providers respond to some of these concerns before signing for the service. It does not matter whether your business is on public or private clouds, all users face the same challenges.

Since every information exchange between your network and the cloud service you are accessing is travelling through the internet, one has to make sure its transfer is via a secure channel. You can ensure this by connecting your browser to the provider only with a URL that begins with https. In addition, make sure to have your data encrypted and authenticated by protocols developed for internet traffic safety.

Subscribers need to know about the software interfaces their providers use in this technology. A good choice of interface will allow high data integrity, excellent connectivity and confidentiality. A weak interface is greatly detrimental to your business operations as it can allow easy access of hackers to your data, a scenario that can cause you to face legal charges because of having compromised customer information.

Find out what measure your service provider has taken to make sure that the data stored in their servers is secure. Issues of data retention policy should be of concern to you for when you terminate your contract with them. Ask how long they will hold that information after termination of the contract and their ways of disposing it.

There is a risk of employees accessing information stored in cloud-based services that they do not need. This can be high level management information which is irrelevant to low-ranked employees. Such information leaks can jeopardize the operational strategies of the firm and thus organizations using this computing technology need to consider what data to be stored in the clouds. It would help to ask the service provider to give your staff different access level to data stored on their servers.

Companies using this kind of technology share provider resources like infrastructure. In some cases, users can get access to information that belongs to different organizations despite the efforts of their providers to make sure there is proper data separation. In this case, ask your provider the measures they have put in place to keep your data secure from other users.

In spite of the challenges facing this technology, there are many benefits that can help your business grow faster. This technology helps business owners to save on operational costs that come with purchase and installation of computer network. Small and medium organizations can operate on superior networks like big companies and thus are able to compete at the same level.

Another advantage of this technology is its portability. Companies using it can have their employees work at home and thus save on office space and any other utility expense coming with open workspace. It thus notable most cloud computing security issues relate to secure login by users. Let employees create strong passwords for use when accessing data stored in the clouds. Periodic password change is also vital in ensuring further safety.




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