Friday, 2 November 2012

Unique Content Article on software, applications, business, finance, sales

Cloud Computing Security Issues Subscribers Should Know Of


by Marcy Becker


With most small businesses subscribing to cloud-based services, it is vital for them to have an idea of what kind of threats their data is exposed to. You may be signed on private or even public clouds; all subscribers risk the possibility of their data being accessed by unwanted internet users. Below are some of the common cloud computing security issues those signing in for the service should beware and ask how their providers handle the concerns.

Every data you are accessing in a cloud travels via the internet. This makes it necessary to check your channel of transfer to ensure it is secure. Always connect your browser with URLs that begin with https when accessing any information from your provider. Besides, data encryption and authentication by protocols used to ensure secure internet traffic is a necessary measure.

Subscribers need to know about the software interfaces their providers use in this technology. A good choice of interface will allow high data integrity, excellent connectivity and confidentiality. A weak interface is greatly detrimental to your business operations as it can allow easy access of hackers to your data, a scenario that can cause you to face legal charges because of having compromised customer information.

Find out what measure your service provider has taken to make sure that the data stored in their servers is secure. Issues of data retention policy should be of concern to you for when you terminate your contract with them. Ask how long they will hold that information after termination of the contract and their ways of disposing it.

There is a great possibility of information stored in the clouds being accessed by employees who do not need it. Some of it is about high level management details that low ranking employees not need to know. This can put at risk any operational strategies of the company and thus businesses using this cloud-based service should consider the kind of data to be stored in the clouds. In addition, the company can ask if their provider is able to provide different access levels for employees depending on their rank in the organization.

Firms using cloud-based technologies, share resources with other organizations. Sometimes there could be cases where users access data of different firms irrespective of the services provider efforts to separate information for clients. It is important to know what techniques you provider uses to ensure that no one else access you information.

Though there are various challenges facing this technology as mentioned above, it is very beneficial to the users. Businesses can steer their growth through this technology. Businesses enjoy reduced operational costs as they do not have to purchase and install computer network. It gives an opportunity to small and medium businesses to operate in superior networks that are common with large companies. These can therefore compete at the same level.

The technology is highly portable. In this case, workers can do their job at home saving the company great resources used on office space and other utility expenses that come with open workspaces. One can counter the cloud computing security issues mostly by ensuring secure login by employees and other users. Strong passwords that are updated periodically can also improve protection of information stored in those clouds.




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