Delivering data and software services over the Cloud does have inherent security risks, which are important to understand….. however the irony is your data is most likely far safer in the cloud than in your own office!
There are different types of clouds which carry different risks. For instance, public clouds mean that your data and applications are stored on a server(s) somewhere out in the cloud, but no one could tell you where this data is, or how to retrieve it in the event of a hardware crash.
Cloud companies providing this service need to be audited fully, and one should fully understand how their disaster recovery procedures work, as well as their backup processes should the unfortunate hardware failure ever occur. A visit to their offices to meet support staff and to gain a thorough understanding into their disaster recovery and backup process would help. You must be confident that your business critical data is being managed to the very highest levels.
Private Clouds are far safer, mainly because it is all managed in a secure Datacentre where someone can physically put their hand on your data, but it is vital you check everything for your own due-diligence. Well managed Private Clouds and Datacentres come with accreditations which you can look into.
The application, the hardware and the operating system will be owned by the cloud provider. However, the data is what your intellectual property is based on, and it 
has to be clearly acknowledged in the contract that you can take that data away at any time. Your cloud subscription gives you access to the functionality of the application. If that access is removed, can you still access the data so that you can take it away with you? Ensure that the contract allows for access to the back-end data, either directly or via the provider offering an export capability, even after the contract has finished.
At Netcetera we offer a range of solutions which allow you to expand your capabilities without increasing your overhead.
Previous posts:
- Step 1 – Are your applications ready to run in the Cloud?
- Step 2 – How important is Technical Support for Cloud success?
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