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Cloud computing safer than on-premises
6 comments- TAGS:cloud security
- IT TOPICS:Management, SaaS & Cloud Computing, Security
To some people the cloud is a scary place. When they think of cloud computing they envision thunder and lightning and stormy weather, not blue skies and clear sailing.
A couple recent Computerworld stories (here and here) feed those fears. Although the stories offer solid security advice to consider before putting any company applications and data in the cloud, the primary assertion of these and other stories is that cloud computing is less safe than on-premises computing.
But there is not much, if any, data to support such an assertion. In fact, most known security breaches that have happened occured in on-premises data centers, which should spur the opposite notion: cloud computing is safer than on-premises computing.
Before anyone can categorically declare that data in the cloud is safer than data in an on-premises data center, or vice versa, there needs to be a quantitative study. If there is one, I'm betting computing in the cloud comes out ahead.
For a cloud computing provider, the business is IT. For most companies, IT serves the business. As a result, a cloud computing operation's primary business investments will be in the computing infrastructure and staff. In most organizations, IT competes for limited resources and people.
A cloud-computing security breach is likely to kill the business. One would expect the security systems to be second to none and security processes be razor sharp and monitored with a vigor augmented by a CEO's and CFO's dogged attention to the bottom line.
Just because it seems logical that data outside your on-premises data center will be safer doesn't mean that it is, especially when there's no data to support the logic. I admit there's also no data to support my logic, which is why the industry needs a detailed study of which approach is empirically safer.
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