Cloud Computing Security in Public Clouds

We've said before that corporations need to take ownership and responsibility for overseeing and requiring compliance and security policies of their cloud vendors. Well, now it's official, the industry agrees with us. Network World published a great security checklist for the cloud, but what's really awesome is the straight-talk from a writer at IT Business Edge here. "Cloud service providers, generally, are unaware of the specific security and privacy needs of an organization" - Yes! Ding, ding, ding! And it goes on "so it's wise to have these needs explicitly documented before engaging with them." We've covered how security is the top issue related to the cloud according to numerous surveys and reports, yet only 23 percent of cloud customers require proof of compliance from their cloud vendors and only 20 percent of organizations regularly involve the security team in their cloud choices. With cloud security being such an issue, why aren't we doing more about it? At BeyondTrust, our focus is of course on administrative privileges on servers and other assets. Organizations that outsource to a cloud vendor make their choices based on price, instead of security. Often this transition involves multiplying the number of IT admins with access to the company's data several-fold and without proper admin controls. So ask your cloud vendor! Ask them how many admins will have access to your data and what policies are in place to protect it. Because trust is not a proper security measure.