Cloud Security Carries Risk

Security in the cloud raises some delicate issues that don't exist elsewhere. The fundamental issue is that security is the responsibility of an enterprise, even when the security process is outsourced to a cloud provider. The responsibility lies with the enterprise, but the responsibility to actually carry out the security processes lies with the cloud provider.

That means the enterprise needs to ensure that the appropriate security procedures are being carried out but also needs to rely on the cloud provider to exercise those duties responsibly.

As with any outsourcing situation, the nature and strength of the agreement is critical. But the agreement can never completely remove any need for trust between the parties.

This interplay between trust and the need to verify what the provider is doing to meet its responsibilities is at the heart of an insightful article in The E-Commerce Times on Cloud Security.