CLOUD COMPUTING

Security Concerns Still Abound for the Public Cloud

Rebecca Kutzer-Rice | Date: 07-07-11 | Comments

More companies are adopting cloud computing today. But according to a recent study from Gartner, security threats remain a concern, especially for the public cloud.

Many companies are rushing to the cloud because of its promise of greater efficiency and lower costs. Security concerns, however, still cause hesitation for some making the switch.

In June, at the 2011 Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit, IT analysts discussed discrepancies between how enterprise leaders expect cloud computing to grow and the actual limitations of public-cloud offerings.

According to the Gartner team, companies must take vital measures to protect their cloud-based data from security threats. The research also showed that the public cloud might be limited to software as a service, or SaaS, offerings.

The group advised enterprise security professionals to work cloud computing into their security plans and to recognize the risks associated with consumer cloud-computing services.

"Today we have a lot of players, like Google and Amazon, who are starting from the consumer space, but are now offering enterprise services, and cloud-based services like Twitter that are starting to get used for business," Gartner Vice President and Distinguished Analyst John Pescatore said in a recent article in Search Cloud Security.

Companies are often wooed by the ease and inexpensive cost of cloud services, which can result in ignored security risks, he said.

"So from the user perspective, there are a lot of rewards, and from the CIO's perspective, it's saving a lot of money, but from the attacker's perspective, it's opening up new paths to go after users," Pescatore told Search Cloud Security. "There's a lot of new risk."

Recent studies have shown how cloud computing is changing the basic structure of IT departments, with CIOs playing a more executive-like role.

Some have also suggested that security concerns surrounding the cloud have forced companies to be even more vigilant than they would be with in-house systems�leading to better overall protection.

"The decisions you're making today are very key in how you're going to be able to extend security out to hybrid and public clouds," said Pescatore.
Do the benefits of cloud computing outweigh the potential security risks? How is your company addressing these concerns? Let us know in the comments section below.