Free Public Cloud Services Are Putting Your Data at Risk

Today’s IP news roundup focuses on cloud. Here’s what’s making headlines:

• Should you allow employees to use consumer-based cloud services, such as Dropbox, to store company information? According to an article on ReadWriteWeb, these services are useful and cost-effective, but they may put corporate data at risk. In fact, some companies, such as IBM, are banning the use of these services altogether. “It’s not that these consumer cloud services are inherently insecure,” the article states, “but the idea of just having critical company information out in a public cloud makes a lot of companies nervous. Risks of data loss and falling out of compliance are too high to ignore.”
• Say ‘cloud’ to most Americans, and they will think ‘sky’ or ‘toilet paper’. A new study commissioned by Citrix revealed that most Americans don’t have a good understanding of cloud computing. Only 16% associated the word “cloud” with computing, although 95% use cloud services for things like online shopping and banking. Also interesting is that 22% have faked knowledge of cloud at work, during a job interview or on a first date. This shows that more education is needed about cloud – particularly in the workplace. It may also show that the way to someone’s heart is through the cloud.
• Mobile and apps will shape the future of cloud computing. A post on CloudTweaks.com outlines five cloud trends that are changing the way business is done. According to the article, “Industry analysts have predicted that the stage is now set for the best of smartphones and tablets so far. Should the predictions be true, then we are looking at a future where these mobile devices will have strong capabilities to manage solutions running in the cloud platforms.” In addition, more cloud solutions are going to provide apps as a core offering. Check out the article for the other three trends that are going to shape cloud computing.
• More Canadian companies are experiencing problems with cloud security. According to Trend Micro’s latest global cloud security survey, 43% of Canadian businesses have experienced a data security issue with their cloud service this year, compared with 38% last year. These numbers have increased as the Canadian cloud adoption rate has risen 8% over the past year.
• And finally, more businesses are adapting to cloud. According to a new cloud computing survey by BTM Institute, 43% of respondents find the cloud critical and use it in multiple ways. Meanwhile, another 14% say that cloud is important and their business is slowly adapting. When it comes to getting the most value from your cloud investment, “it’s easy to get lost in the wonders of the technology and the lofty promises of the new age it will usher in, but we must stay anchored since this is, ultimately, a matter of business, not technology,” says BTM Corporation founder and CEO Faisal Hoque. The article continues, “As such, its usefulness must be assessed in the context of the enterprise as a whole. New ways of thinking are required. Investment decisions and the measurement of success will not be about individual technologies, or projects, or even the IT department itself, because ‘the cloud’ is about the whole organization.”