Resources for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

Cloud Draws Skepticism Today, but Could Draw Billions Tomorrow

www.gridtoday.com

When it comes to cloud computing, there are just as many questions as there are answers. Everyone knows, for example, that clouds enable on-demand provisioning, but there is some debate as to whether cloud platforms should automate scalability. And what about security: Is the cloud as safe as some evangelists proclaim, or does it inherently -- regardless of the safety measures taken -- leave sensitive data at risk? We attempt to answer some of these questions in this week's issue.

First, Dennis Barker investigates the fundamental risks of cloud computing in the first article of a two-part series. What the security experts seem to agree on is that the risks and security limitations of most current cloud offerings need to be resolved before enterprises can take a serious look at moving their primary applications to the cloud. For one, multi-tenant infrastructures expose data and applications to a greater risk of breach or lapse than do dedicated infrastructures, which tends to be a deal-breaker when millions of dollars are in question. Additionally, regulations like HIPAA and Sarbanes-Oxley place requirements on where data can be stored geographically.

View the Resource

Share or bookmarklet this web page at: