Five Different Ways To Sell Cloud Computing To Anyone

1. Like an Early 1900s Market Place Traveling Salesman

You there sir and my dear lady, please step right up and let me tell you all a secret that is only ready for the likes that show the greatest of intelligence, such as yourselves. Now that I have you, did you know that we are living in the Technological Age? Technological Age you say? Yes sir and yes ma’am I will tell you now that we live in an age where technology is king, and I got a real humdinger for you. As you look on from the audience I can tell that you are a fine sort of sophistication, who does not have the time to worry about the hustle and bustle of storage technology development. Yet, I can also tell you are tired of holding your music in one hand, all your movies in the other, balance your books on your head, and kicking your apps, documents, photos, and tax information with your feet down the road while providing for your handsome family. No ma’am and no sir you are a person on the go and I can appreciate that. By golly, there has to be a better way to keep up with all your digital property and still have time to make a delicious five course meal for your wholesome family, or to spend time playing poker with the fellas after a long day at the Mill. Well what if I told you that I have the answer, and it has been sent from up on high down to shine its divine grace and wisdom with us. Ladies and gentlemen the cloud has come from the sky to take care of all your storage needs. Never again will you have to worry where you put that spread sheet because the cloud has got your back without a fear or doubt. It can hold your property, it can secure your property, it can move your property anywhere you are, and it is happy to do it. Step into my cart to experience the cloud for yourself and you too can be the talk of the walk, the bee’s knees, the cat’s meow, all around this fine patriotic town. When people hear you use the cloud to store your files they know you are a fine person of considerable astuteness, affluence, and an eligible suitor. Here in the Technological Age the king or queen is the one who uses the cloud and uses it right, and I got what you need right here ladies and gentlemen. Right this way to the future!

2. Like a Pharmaceutical Drug Company Representative

Have I given you one of our company’s pens yet? No, well take as many as you would like. Plus, how about some of our company’s notepads, key chains, business cards, flashlights, t-shirts, sweatpants, running shoes, gift certificates, jewelry, a brand new car, my first born child, and my first child’s first born child too. Oh did you just say you are interested in listening about how the cloud can help run your office more efficiently? Well you are just so generous with your time. Look, you can use files and drawers like your grandfather’s doctor’s office down of the road, or you can show your clients that I am looking for the next hip thing. Let’s not even mention all the Band-Aids you will save on when your staff does not have to worry about those nasty paper cuts from all those paper files and paper folders. Ouch! No, thank you. I’d rather work in an environmentally friendly paperless environment with the cloud storing all my data electronically. I don’t even need to get into how the cloud will store your digital information and keep it secure from anyone’s prying eyes. Oh, did you say you will try our company’s cloud network out, well you won’t be sorry. Oh, and I have these stacks of hundred dollar bills in my rolling suitcase, could you hold on to them for me? Thanks you are such a big help.

3. Like the Guy who fixes your Office Computer

What did you do to your computer this time? Oh did you say you cannot seem to open up a spreadsheet document you downloaded from an email, well stop the presses and MOVE. Well, let me begin by minimizing your, Perez Hilton website for you and let us see if the problem might just be a user error. Okay, well the firewall is not going to let you download the proper drivers to encrypt the necessary coding to establish a link from your email to your desktop because the ISP and the HD 6320 graphics card are outdated. We are going to need to do a systems check on your mouse to see if it caught a virus from your monitor. Then we can feed the motherboard 30kbs of ram or the heatsink and fan are not going to circulate the electrodes needed for the CPU. While I am doing that I will need you to unplug and plug-in the monitor cable three times in quick succession or until I tell you to. . . Stop. No, I said stop, stop doing that. Great, just great, now we have to start all over again. I’ll just reboot it for you. Alright I am finished with diagnostics and your computer is not going to download the link. Instead, you can just use the cloud. You know it will store all our documents on one network, and you can view it online or download it to your device. How have you not heard about the cloud yet? It is just a click here and here and there is your document. Look it is so simple even someone like you can use it, and no, no one outside this network can access our cloud, it is fine. I said it is fine, but I got to go to level eight apparently the printer is not printing out the page numbers on their slideshow.

4. Like a Coach of any Losing Sports Team at Halftime

Alright maggots listen up we are not winning this game and I think it is time to stop Nancy-footing it around and give it 110 percent out there. Umm, look people we are in a war out there and every inch we move forward with whatever ball, puck, baton, car, or pompom we are using in this particular game is not enough. Randy listen up and stop screwing around, you screw around too much and you keep losing it out on the field, you need this more than anybody. So yeah, I have decided that we need to call in the cloud. Yeah uhh, cloud get up here and let everyone take a good look at you. See, the problem is we are not fluid with our movement, and we are not secure enough with what we got. Umm, we need to use the cloud to move us around to any spot on the field and make sure we are secure enough to keep what is ours. So umm, get out there and put your heart into it, and uhh let’s bring home a win tonight with the cloud network. Remember we are only 0-0 tonight let’s get that one point for the W in the Gipper.

5. Like a Passive Aggressive Mother-in-Law

Oh, it is so nice of you to take the time out of your busy schedules to come visit me. I know how your kids always like going on trips and seeing the world, and it must get so tiring. I guess a little too tiring to have a baby, but I guess everyone can’t be responsible marathon runner after a year of marriage. Well, since you don’t seem to have any big news on this visit, have I told you how I invested in a cloud network for the family? I sure am excited to start using this cloud network. I got it to store all your traveling pictures you seem to love to take, which are nice but I am more partial to cute baby pictures. Oh, and it is so easy to use, so you don’t worry about me or helping me figure out how to use this new computing system. I know you are so busy with not settling down in one place near me because I know it is not important to you like traveling to far off places. I can just store pictures and videos of your aunt’s grandchildren on it, so I know how to use it for whenever you guys decide it is time to start a real family. Of course, that is not until after you go where again, parasailing over the Galapagos Islands? Well that sounds pleasant, almost as fulfilling as having children. Did I mention you can share this cloud network safely so we can just save all the pictures, movies, and bank account numbers of future college funds that I may or may not have set aside if you ever give me grandchildren? Plus it can be all done anywhere with one device, but it can be uploaded and downloaded on any of our devises at any other place? Oh but never mind about crazy old grandmother . . . I mean just plain old mom’s plans. I just hope you have a safe trip and nothing bad happens.

Hello CloudTweaks Community, I have wanted to get in touch with my fellow readers lately, so leave a comment below and tell me another style of How to Sell the Cloud to Anyone that you want to hear. I will pick my favorite(s) and write them out on my next article, giving you all the yummy internet credit. Plus all the appeal and celebrity status that comes with demanding me to entertain you.

By Chris Kenealy

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Cloud Infographic: Safeguarding The Internet

While we are all very happy about the entire cloud data storage concept and feel that it’s a breath of relief from the constant battle against malware, key loggers, PC monitoring software, and whatnot, we tend to forget that there are steps which we need to take to ensure security even after we have shifted all our digital luggage to the cloud.  Read the 10 steps that will make your life on the cloud a smooth experience.

Infographic Source:  Verisign

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Pavlov and Cloud Computing: How We Will Overcome our Anxiety

It’s interesting to consider why we struggle to accept the cloud-computing model of data management. It seems safer to have our critical data and applications within walking distance from our desk where we can check its pulse anytime we want. Like Pavlov’s dogs we are conditioned to a react to whatever is a perceived as the non-threatening option. In this case one where we believe we must own the applications. After all we own our home, our vehicles, and our money. And yet even that is not the truth in its entirety.

For most of us the mortgage holder can be considered at least a part owner who requires us to have insurance and make payments. Vehicles are also financed and when we can’t make the payments we, “own” these lenders take the asset. If all of us decided to visit our money at the bank on the same day we would be disappointed yet we rest assured that the government has guaranteed it, and the banks are taking care of it. The point is that all of us do a lot more outsourcing than we are trained to believe. In fact every time we participate in online banking we are engaging in a form of cloud computing both literally in a technological sense, and figuratively in that we can never check on our money in the other room. This sounds like a, “cloud” philosophy.

What Pavlov Would Say

Based on the influential learning theories of Russian scientist Ivan Pavlov, its safe to assume he would tell us we have learned to trust an expensive form of ownership through classical conditioning. Pavlov conditioned dogs to salivate when they heard a bell much like we are conditioned to react guardedly when the cloud is suggested as a less expensive alternative than back room tech ownership. It is then that our, “owner reflex” kicks into gear and we feel insecure. Often this reaction is a reflection of a biased view toward ownership that produces the opposite paradigm than the ROI approach so necessary to a company’s success.

The Cost of Ownership

That house we own is an expensive proposition. Taxes, mortgage payments, maintenance, and other expenses arise that can make one doubt the value of this investment. Yet over the long haul home ownership has been a sound investment for most people. The history is far shorter in the tech industry. How many of us are working from a concrete financial analysis to assess cloud computing by the numbers? Often our initial reactions are conditioned responses to cloud computing until something happens to wake us from our slumber

When Pavlov’s assistant accidentally slammed a door during the bell ringing what came to be known as a, novel stimulus interrupted the dogs and they responded less. In the same way many of us will open up to the cloud when the novel stimulus of convenient, quick, and effective services are experienced.

By Don Cleveland

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10 Tips For Keeping Your Cloud Data Safe

While we are all very happy about the entire cloud data storage concept and feel that it’s a breath of relief from the constant battle against malware, key loggers, PC monitoring software, and whatnot, we tend to forget that there are steps which we need to take to ensure security even after we have shifted all our digital luggage to the cloud.

It’s not as difficult as putting security barriers on an Android but sometimes it isn’t a walk through the park either. So to cut down the confusion and help the technologically helpless, here are ten steps that will make your life on the cloud a smooth experience.

1. Password First.

If we are talking about ideal scenarios, then your username and password should be unique for every service or site you have to use credentials for. The reason is simple enough: if one gets compromised, so do the rest of your accounts.

2. Security Question, Check.

Try your best to avoid questions to which answers can be found just by taking one glance online, for instance, on your Facebook profile. Best way to go about this is to choose a question and answer it with another question’s answer. For instance if you choose the question where did you live as a kid, answer with ‘yellow’.

3. Try Out Encryption.

Whenever this is possible, this is a great idea. Encryption software does require some effort on the part of the user but it will also scramble and code your credentials so that no one will be able to procure them easily.

4. Manage Passwords.

By this time you will have a lot of passwords and usernames to be tracking and taking care of. So to manage this get your hands on an app or software that will do this for you. A great option is the LastPass utility.

5. Two Factor Authentication.

This means that there are two modes which are being used by the site before allowing the user entry. So instead of just username and password, a unique code will also be required which is available through a text message to your phone at the time of log in. This way even if someone gets your credentials, they won’t have the unique code and hence access will be denied.

6. Don’t Think, Just Backup.

It may be strange to be told to backup data on a physical drive when it comes to securing cloud data, but that is what you need to do. This is why you shouldn’t think over it; you should simply backup your data on an external drive and keep it with you.

7. Delete When Done.

Again, why bother deleting anything when there are limitless data storage options around? The reason is that you never know how much data can later become potentially dangerous for you. If an e-mail or a warning message from some bank account has outlived its worth, simply delete it.

8. Be Careful Where You Log In.

Many times we end up logging in from devices other than our own. And of course we tend to forget that these other devices may be saving our information via web browsers.

9. Use Anti-Virus and Anti-Spy Software.

The reason for this, despite having to do with cloud data, is that all the access to the cloud is from your system first. Hence if your system is at risk, so is your online data. If you forget to encrypt then a key logger may get to your cloud vendor password and hence all may be lost anyway.

10. Keep Your Mouth Shut. 

Never share any information regarding your cloud storage with anyone. Keeping passwords a secret is a must but lay low on telling people which vendor or service you use too for extra security.

By James Clark

James Clark has been playing with his words and spinning out one informative piece after another on computer monitoring software along with keyloggers for a while now. His work is about all things technology related, especially when it comes to pcs. For more details, please visit him at Mobistealth

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Simple Ways For Businesses To Leverage The Cloud For A Competitive Advantage

Cloud computing is one of the best technologies of the century. It allows companies to leverage their computing functions on other company’s servers. When corporations, small businesses, or nonprofit organizations adopt this technology, they get many benefits. The common ones are streamlined costs, efficiency, and security. This article looks at ways businesses can boost their competitive advantage by adopting cloud computing services.

Cutting costs with cloud computing

Cloud computing allows a business to use other company’s hosted software and hardware at a lower price than the one for buying physical hardware and software. The maintenance costs are catered for by the hosting company. In the end, a business is able to benefit from optimized services at low costs, allowing it to increase its revenues. The extra revenues could be used to motivate its workers, finance expansions, and invest in marketing or other activities to boost their advantage in a competitive business environment.

Improving workflows and project management

Cloud computing can be used for project management. Most companies lack a synchronized project management system, in the detriment of their competitive advantage. This is because poor project management results in delays, rework, and higher costs. With a good project management system—provided by cloud computing—businesses can manage projects effectively. They can also communicate changes, monitor performance, and update schedules faster. All these will improve productivity and result in more revenues.

Fostering healthy working relationships and communication

Different expert reports have indicated that telecommuters are more efficient than office workers. Naturally, these workers spend less time in traffic, work at their own pace, and in an environment that motivates them. Cloud computing functions can be adapted to allow workers to telecommute. The revenues of the company will increase because they will spend less on electricity and office space and because its workers will improve their productivity. These will boost the competitive advantage of the business.

Saving valuable business time

Cloud computing can save businesses a lot of the time wasted in meetings because it offers e-mail solutions, online video conferences, voice and video calls. All these can be used instead of physical interactions to save business time. This means employees will spend more time in the work zones, which, in turn, results in better time management and productivity.

By Walter Bailey

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Cloud Confusion: The ‘Fluffy White Thing’ And The Potential Within

A recently conducted national survey has revealed that the layman American consumer is not precisely aware of what cloud computing in actual is and how, in essence, does it function. The research survey, initiated by Citrix and carried out by Wakefield Research, incorporated responses from more than 1000 American adult consumers.

A significant percentage from amongst the surveyed lot was convinced that cloud technology is linked with weather, has kinship with heaven, is closely related to happenings in the outer galaxy and even has something to do with toilet paper (huh?).

One has to admit that the survey, at some points, was evidently crafted to bring some humorous specks to the main. Consider, for example, the inquiry that posed what the cloud is, about 29% declared it being a ‘fluffy white thing’ (a real cloud) or a close variant; a mere 16% were able to read between the lines and correlate to computer network, remote storage, data sharing and the internet.

The utterly encouraging part is that despite the evident lack of sound knowledge (and a strongly felt presence of absurd beliefs) about cloud computing, the majority of participants, 68% to be exact, frequently recognized the potential inherent to cloud computing endorsement – lowering the cost of the operations was agreed upon by about 35% of the respondents, small business promotion and growth was marked by about 32% of those interviewed. Furthermore, about 35% expressed their belief that customer relations can be bolstered by cloud adaptation.

In addition, about 60% of the respondents thought they are yet to use cloud computing. Clearly they are unaware of the fact that whether knowingly or not, 95% of those surveyed actually made use of cloud computing in one form or the other. The breakdown includes using online banking, purchasing stuff online, being socially connected, enjoying online games, saving photos online and file sharing – powered at the core by cloud computing technology.

Participants of the survey are quite sure about the changes that cloud endorsement would bring about at ventures. A hefty 59% are confident that workplace of the future would reside on the cloud in its entirety. The associated fun side of cloud computing has captivated a mammoth percentage of Americans. An estimated 40% found the ability to use the cloud as a primary work-from-home tool an enriched experience. A startling 33% found direct access to their digital content in the middle of a sunbath truly fascinating.

The question remains whether it truly is important for the general public to understand the dynamics behind cloud computing? Well, it sure does. The cloud is expected to reshape on-job responsibilities of a significant proportion of those working in the US. And this holds true nor only for IT professionals but for a broad spectrum of employment genres. The cloud continues to add novel facets to sales, operations, finance and marketing.

By Humayun Shahid

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Cloud Security: Fears And Challenges

Recent studies have shown that more than 60% of IT managers admit to security as the main stumbling block to their integration of cloud computing, with data protection and a perceived lack of regulation being their chief concerns. In another global study by IBM that involved more than 500 IT managers, it showed that 77% of businesses fear that cloud computing will necessitate privacy trade-offs, and 50% feared data breaches. Another 23% fear that cloud computing threatens corporate security. But really, the challenges facing cloud computing can be categorized into three; data protection, user authentication and data breach and damage.  Let’s study each in detail.

User Authentication

This is all about access and who accesses the data whether in transit or storage. Since cloud computing is usually done beyond the clients’ firewall, there’s always that fear of putting data ‘out there’. Traditionally, businesses store their data on physical servers in their premises and the hardware would need an on-site access to compromise or breach the data and this has been seen as a deterrent to hacking and illegal access. User authentication is still one of the main fears despite the fact that cloud providers ensure data encryption besides employing necessary safeguards to monitor access.

Data Protection

No company would ever want to expose themselves to any risk concerning their data (in transit or in storage) because the ramifications of this are too great to even imagine. Data that are often closely guarded include both internal and external data that touch on the company and client information respectively. If a company’s security process is called into question, clients will lose confidence in their services and this will affect the overall turn-over, even put the entire company out of business.

Data Breach, Damage and Loss

There’s a perceived threat to data in cloud because of varied reasons and one of them is fears of data loss, breach or damage. This is one security jitter however that has been counter-checked with cloud data back-ups and multiple server storage. In fact, data in cloud is less prone to breaches and physical damages like fire, floods, etc that are usually a risk in physical servers

Failure to comprehend the whole idea of cloud computing is also proving to be a challenge especially among businesses seeking to use the service for the first time. This is precisely why businesses and organizations are being encouraged to allay perceived security fears and try to exploit the positives of cloud computing.

But even as the fears are sustained across the business setting, professional cloud computing providers are investing colossal amounts of their budgets to implement high security solutions in efforts to lock clients’ resources in high security data centers accessible only to authorized entities.

By John Omwamba

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Moving to the Cloud, Pros and Cons

There is no doubt that the future of application consumption will be done through the cloud, but like everything else in this world there will be pros and cons. Change is always a daunting opponent, and for a business that have already established standards and processes, changing them will be daunting and if done wrong will be costly.

The cloud computing paradigm has made it easy to transition business processes into the cloud, and have made it especially easy and cheap because the expertise requirement will no longer be the burden of the organization. But before taking the leap, you have to know what you are getting yourself into.

Here are the pros of moving your business to the cloud:

1. Set up cost is almost zero. When setting up your business for cloud computing, all the expenses that you would have incurred if the system was setup in-house are non-existent. There will be no hardware purchases for servers and no over spending on the man-hours that it would take to setup everything. Service providers may even wave installation fees.

2. Great scalability which eases expansion. Because of its nature, cloud services scale dramatically from very small needs of home businesses to huge corporate demands. Because of its pay to use model, clients will only need to pay for what they need and scale up if ever their needs grow.

3. There is no need for technological or security expertise. Users of cloud applications require no expertise behind the technology because the provider already takes care of all the technical babble and all the user need would be proficiency in using the applications.

4. Accessibility and collaboration. Since cloud applications can be accessed from anywhere and at any time, it would be easier to collaborate with employees who are not in the same geographical location and makes it easier to manage a global workforce.

Of course there are downsides to all good things.

1. Fear of unavailability. As the industry of cloud computing is still evolving, most vendors are still upstarts and it will be hard to determine whether they will be around a long time. There are also fears of takeovers and buyouts. Because of this, the integrity and availability of your data may still be in question.

2. Data ownership and data exchange. When your provider kicks the bucket or you decide to terminate your service, what would happen to your data then, will you be able to take it back and any copy erased from the provider’s databases? If you decide to change providers, how easy would it be to transfer all your data, will they be compatible with the new provider’s systems? These are certainly valid concerns and should be greatly considered when choosing vendors.

3. Control. Since clients have little or no control of how their data is being handled, all they can do is trust their providers and maybe ask a few questions, which will most likely be answered by “Don’t worry, it’s in good hands”.

In the eyes of this proponent of all things technology, the benefits that cloud computing brings to a business far outweighs the downside and concerns. So if you are contemplating on moving to the cloud, then do it.

By Abdul Salam

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ROI (Return on Investment) from Cloud Computing

A business organization often measures the value of investments or any move that requires money in terms of the return on investment (ROI). Perhaps it is the only reason that top management will agree to any proposal, especially bold ones like adapting the relatively new and untested cloud computing paradigm. Businesses have a habit of only embracing what is proven and tested while disregarding the possibilities and rewards of embracing new systems and methods. Though, I have to admit that more and more organizations are becoming bolder and starting to embrace new technology, especially the relatively new and smaller ones who are just getting into the business. These are the ones that have less to lose because they have not invested in older systems which are considered as lost investment when abandoned, and they can start fresh with new systems not weighted down with the familiarity of old ones.

Though it is quite difficult to calculate ROI from using cloud computing, we can start by finding returns in the three major benefits area for adapting cloud computing: Productivity enhancement, cost reduction and revenue transformation.

• Cost savings from using cloud services – after doing categorization on the organization’s applications, they can estimate potential savings by shifting to cloud services. One way is migrating ERP resources into a public/private cloud infrastructure. Through virtualization and consolidation, they can reduce the number of servers running in-house and reduce the number of racks used significantly. This can generate up to 70% ROI for a Tier 3 workload and about 50% for Tier 1.

• Cost Savings from Labor and software – Huge savings can be had through the labor reduction brought by reducing hardware infrastructure. This includes savings from the development and maintenance of applications and hardware. There is also a highly reduced need for installed software as cloud-hosted software can be made available to any workstation with an internet connection, which significantly lowers the required budget for software.

• Cost savings from hosting – the spending budget for hosting infrastructure is made evident quickly. Hosting in-premises means acquiring your own hardware which is considered as a capital expenditure and could be quite large. While availing of cloud hosting is considered as an operational expenditure because of its subscription or pay-per-use model.

But often, the ROI is not simply measured through the savings in terms of monetary value. The best measurement of the ROI of cloud computing is simply in its VALUE. ROI doesn’t always look very enticing especially when cloud computing is concerned. That is why administrators and CIOs should be looking at the apparent values that come in many forms when employing cloud computing. What they should be asking is “What do I expect to get if I use this service?” and similar value related questions, not monetary related ones. You can set up metrics to determine the apparent value that cloud computing services are able to provide.

Take for example the following:

• The speed of adaptation and deployment of the cloud service versus the maintenance and upgrade costs and downtimes of the old system.
• The general ease of use and dynamic usage afforded by the new system. How flexible will the new system be in terms of coping with the ever changing business needs and goals?
• What are the risks involved with processing and storing data offsite and not having to worry about the back end of the systems?
• The support and other value added services offered by the provider. Are there any at all?
• What are the environmental impacts of sourcing our IT services from the cloud? Is there a positive outcome to more and more organizations having co-location of infrastructure?
• What about the apparent savings and the hassle in paying utility bills?

It is true that ROI is important, but the monetary side should not be the only basis for ROI. The value add offered by cloud services should also be highly considered when contemplating the use of cloud computing, even if it is sometimes intangible.

By Abdul Salam

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Taking the bull by the horns—Secure Identity, Information, and Infrastructure

Continued From Part 3

Public cloud computing requires a security model that reconciles scalability and multi-tenancy with the need for trust. As enterprises move their computing environments along with their identities, information and infrastructure to the cloud, they must be willing to give up some level of control. To do that, they must be able to trust cloud systems and providers, and verify cloud processes and events. Important building blocks of trust and verification relationships include access control, data security, compliance and event management—all security elements well understood by IT departments today, implemented with existing products and technologies, and extendable into the cloud.

Securing the Public Cloud

Identity security

End-to-end identity management, third-party authentication services, and federated identity will become key elements of cloud security. Identity security preserves the integrity and confidentiality of data and applications, while making access readily available to appropriate users. Support for these identity management capabilities for both users and infrastructure components will be a major requirement for cloud computing, and identity will have to be managed in ways that build trust. It will require:

• Strong authentication: Cloud computing must move beyond weak username-and-password authentication if it is going to support enterprise. This will mean adopting techniques and technologies that are already standard in enterprise IT, such as strong authentication (multi-factor authentication with one-time password technology), federation within and across enterprises, and risk-based authentication that measures behavior history, current context and other factors to assess the risk level of a user request. Additional tiers of authentication will be essential to meet security service level agreements (SLAs), and utilizing a risk-based authentication model that is largely transparent to users will reduce the need for broader federation of access controls.

• More granular authorization: Authorization can be coarse-grained within an enterprise or even a private cloud, but in order to handle sensitive data and compliance requirements, public clouds will need granular authorization capabilities (such as role-based controls and information rights management (IRM)) that can be persistent throughout the cloud infrastructure and the data’s lifecycle.

Information security

In the traditional datacenter, controls on physical access, access to hardware and software, and identity controls all combine to protect data. In the cloud, this protective barrier that secures infrastructure is diffused. To compensate, security will have to become information centric. The data needs its own security that travels with it and protects it. It will require:

• Data isolation: In multi-tenancy situations, data must be held securely in order to protect it when multiple customers use shared resources. Virtualization, encryption and access control will be workhorses for enabling varying degrees of separation between corporations, communities of interest, and users. In the near future, data isolation will be more important and executable for IAAS, than perhaps for PAAS and SAAS.

• More granular data security: As the sensitivity of information increases, the granularity of data classification enforcement must increase. In current datacenter environments, granularity of role-based access control at the level of user groups or business units is acceptable in most cases, because the information remains within the control of the enterprise itself. For information in the cloud, sensitive data will require security at the file, field, or even block level to meet the demands of assurance and compliance.

• Consistent data security: There will be an obvious need for policy-based content protection to meet the enterprise’s own needs as well as regulatory policy mandates. For some categories of data, information-centric security will necessitate encryption in transit and at rest, as well as management across the cloud and throughout the data life cycle.

• Effective data classification: Cloud computing imposes a resource trade-off between high performance and the requirements of increasingly robust security. Data classification is an essential tool for balancing that equation. Enterprises will need to know what data is important and where it is located as prerequisites to making performance cost/benefit decisions, as well as ensuring that data-loss-prevention procedures focus on the most critical areas.

• Information rights management (IRM): IRM is often treated as a component of identity, a way of setting broad-brush controls regarding which users have access to what data. But more granular, data-centric security requires that policies and control mechanisms on the storage and use of information be associated directly with the information itself.

• Governance and compliance: A key requirement of corporate information governance and compliance is the creation of management and validation information—monitoring and auditing the security status of the information with logging capabilities. Here, not only is it important to document access and denied access to data, but also to ensure that IT systems are configured to meet security specifications and have not been altered. Expanding retention policies for data policy compliance will also become an essential cloud capability. In essence, cloud computing infrastructures must be able to verify that data is being managed according to the applicable local and international regulations (such as PCI and HIPAA) with appropriate controls, log collection and reporting.

Sensitive data in the cloud will require granular security, maintained consistently throughout the data life cycle.

Infrastructure security

The foundational infrastructure of a cloud must be inherently secure, whether it is a private or public cloud or the service is SAAS, PAAS or IAAS. It will require:

• Inherent component-level security: The cloud needs to be designed to be secure, built with inherently secure components, deployed and provisioned securely with strong interfaces to other components, and, finally, supported securely by vulnerability-assessment and change-management processes that produce trust-building management information and service-level assurances. For these flexibly deployed components, device fingerprinting to ensure secure configuration and status will also be an important security element, just as it is for the data and identities themselves.

• More granular interface security: The points in the system where hand-offs occur—user-to-network, server-to-application—require granular security policies and controls that ensure consistency and accountability. Here, the end-to-end system needs to be either proprietary, a de facto standard, or a federation of vendors offering consistently deployed security policies.

• Resource life cycle management: The economics of cloud computing are based on multi-tenancy and the sharing of resources. As customer needs and requirements change, a service provider must provide and decommission those resources—bandwidth, servers, storage, and security—accordingly. This lifecycle process must be managed for accountability in order to build trust.

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