Roger Halbheer on Security
I am talking a lot about Cloud Security. There are a few observations I made: Even though a lot of people are talking about the Cloud, there is still not too much knowledge about it. What is a private Cloud versus a public Cloud? What is Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, Application…
Back at the times of outsourcing, there was real tension between IT and the business. Internal IT had the “comfortable†position of having a monopoly: The business used the internal IT and basically just had to pay the bill. Then times came, where the business was not satisfied anymore. That basically started with the time…
Wow, I guess the reason for you clicking on the link is this statement – right? Well, “unfortunately†I cannot claim ownership of it. It was made by a Google representative during an interview in Australia: Google: Who cares where your data is? To me, the whole Cloud discussion sometimes drives into interesting directions. I…
To me, one of the benefits of moving to the Cloud is security – obviously besides availability and costs. Recent incidents made me doubt: Amazon not only having significant downtime but in the same time losing customer data. Sony’s game network being significantly compromised. This is definitely not to blame them but I was heavily…
The longer the more I see articles and posts that claim that security could actually improve if you migrate to the Cloud. And the longer the more I am a firm believer of these statements. It is not about forgetting best practices and just handing over everything to the Cloud provider. It is about adapting your practices to the new reality.
If you evern wondered, what our CISO thinks about security in the Cloud, you should listen to him directly.
It is not really surprising that the criminals will leverage the economy of Cloud Computing for their illegal purposes. Especially activities, which consume a lot of processor power will be moved to the Cloud – like any other business. Some way back, there were discussions on how to leverage GPUs to crack passwords: Graphics Cards…
Yes, not only gray Seriously, we commissioned a study to see what the impact of cloud computing is not only to efficiency but the the environment. Can you save CO2 by moving to the cloud? I think something, we do not look at often enough. As pictures say more than 1000 words, here you see…
Just a quick one. Our Global Foundation Services organization (the ones who run our datacenters) just published a new whitepaper: Information Security Management System for Microsoft Cloud Infrastructure This paper describes the Information Security Management System program for Microsoft’s Cloud Infrastructure, as well as some of the processes and benefits realized from operating this model.…
We recently released a paper called The Economics of Cloud Computing for the EU Public Sector, which is actually valid for every other European country as well as it is not too narrowly focused on the EU only. Additionally there is a US-version of the paper as well.
Now, Gartner commented on it as well with “Microsoft offers a refreshing perspective on government clouds”.
If you use Hotmail, you should enable full session SSL in my opinion. Additionally we use SSL for additional services like Skydrive etc. However, there are some caveats. Read the blog post on that:
Hotmail security improves with full-session HTTPS encryption
Roger
An interesting question, posed by V3.co.uk: Can cloud security ever work? – How relevant is the question by itself? When computers and especially personal computers were introduced, people asked as well whether the security on a PC will ever work – the question is just not relevant. Let’s face it: The Cloud will come! Period. We just have to figure out, how we will manage risks in the Cloud – that’s our job.
Last week, when I was in South Africa, a partner of us pointed me to a very interesting paper by KPMG called Cloud computing: Australian lessons and experiences. What I like is, that a lot of the items I was recently raising, where actually reflected in quotes by customers of Cloud providers as well as by the general findings of the study.
The final conclusion is to me that there are a lot of security benefits moving to the Cloud.
Our Trustworthy Computing team published a very good paper on Data Governance in the Cloud including areas to consider as well as some real hints how to appraoch it.
I am convinced that there are workloads that can and should be moved to the Cloud: For security reasons as well as for economical reasons. E-Mail might well be the first one of them.
There is a good post on that: Editor’s Note: Email, the Lowest-Hanging Fruit of the Cloud
Roger
Even though it might be obvious, compliance is not only about protecting data but identities as well – and more. Jon Collins, Freeform Dynamics, whom I value high, wrote a good article: Doing the right thing on ID management isn’t enough… – you should read it!
Roger
July 1st, Scott Charney, Corporate Vice President Trustworthy Computing was testifying at a hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Basically the hearing was on the benefits and risk of Cloud adoption for the US government. If you are interested in reading his full testimony, you will find it here. Additionally, Scott…
Well, it is not me saying that, it is actually Clint Boulton, eWeek. He published an article on 10 Reasons Why Google Won’t Beat Microsoft in Cloud Collaboration and they are: Microsoft Is Big, Getting Bigger Local Still Preferable? Microsoft Now Lives in the Cloud Bang for the Buck Lies with Microsoft Serena Said It…
An interesting post (by a Microsoft employee) on the Google cost calculator. An interesting read on the way they compete….
Lies, Damned Lies and the “Gone Google†Calculator
Roger
This morning I was reading an article called Google seeks to assure customers on cloud security practices on ComputerWeekly. I had to read this – obviously :-). It references a paper written by the Google Security Officer called Security Whitepaper: Google Apps Messaging and Collaboration Products. So, I read through it and to me it…
