In a recent question and answer session for the Washington Post, IT security expert Francis deSouza offered a number of opinions and explanations related to cloud computing security.
Early in the session, deSouza was asked by several users to explain the concept of cloud computing. He answered by describing cloud computing as a technology that "covers a lot of areas."
According to deSouza, cloud computing is essentially an approach to IT in which many users access shared computing resources. These users, who may be situated in multiple geographical locations – or even different companies – no longer need dedicated servers in their own offices to manage data.
DeSouza noted that the cloud can be used to enable the sharing of a variety of services, including applications, storage capacity and even servers themselves. Its key benefits, he explained, include the reduction of IT expenses and a greater degree of flexibility.
When asked about [how companies should prepare for] cloud computing security, deSouza referred to the fact that a number of cloud computing security breaches have taken place in recent months.
"There have been a number of high-profile incidents recently where some of the largest cloud providers have had outages and some even lost data," he wrote. "This underscores the fact that, if you have important data, it is important to build in backup, security and disaster recovery capabilities."
In order to ensure the security of data and applications stored in the cloud, a variety of methods can be used, deSouza explained. While some may choose to utilize on-premise backup solutions to ensure data is never lost, others may decide to utilize another cloud solution or provider as a backup measure.
The results of a recent Open Group survey may indicate confidence in cloud computing security is increasing. The survey found approximately 92 percent of companies either have adopted cloud computing or plan to do so in the future.
