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What cloud computing really means. Cloud computing is all the rage.

What cloud computing really means

"It's become the phrase du jour," says Gartner senior analyst Ben Pring, echoing many of his peers. The problem is that (as with Web 2.0) everyone seems to have a different definition. As a metaphor for the Internet, "the cloud" is a familiar cliché, but when combined with "computing," the meaning gets bigger and fuzzier. Some analysts and vendors define cloud computing narrowly as an updated version of utility computing: basically virtual servers available over the Internet. Others go very broad, arguing anything you consume outside the firewall is "in the cloud," including conventional outsourcing. Beyond the Hype – The Hard Data on Enterprise Cloud Usage - Computers and Internet Articles. Skyhigh networks How pervasive is the use of cloud services?

Beyond the Hype – The Hard Data on Enterprise Cloud Usage - Computers and Internet Articles

What are the most widely used file sharing services? Which widely used cloud services present the greatest risk to my organization? Is the adoption of cloud services rampant among companies like mine or is it primarily a Silicon Valley phenomenon? These are a sample of questions we hear every day from companies of all sizes and across all industries and the raison d’être of the 2013 Cloud Adoption & Risk Report. Questions that Need Answers. Three Ways Dinosaurs Can Secure Your Cloud. With our data and applications moving to the cloud, security has become even more relevant and critical.

Three Ways Dinosaurs Can Secure Your Cloud

Here are two quotes about security from senior managers in large organizations: One typically tends to think of security as protecting from outside threats. However, organizations also need to manage internal threats arising from careless and malicious insider behavior. Organizations also need to adhere to various compliance mandates depending on the industry they are in.

Complying with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and other regulations can limit or even prohibit the use of clouds for some applications. Can cloud computing be secure? Six ways to reduce risk and protect data. OK, I admit it.

Can cloud computing be secure? Six ways to reduce risk and protect data

I wasn't always watching my kids demonstrate their athletic prowess on the field. Sometimes I had my laptop out and was working. Sometimes I was just watching the clouds go by. Secure overlay cloud storage with access. Says Offshore Providers Without a Cloud Strategy Will Risk their Long-Term Future. Egham, UK, July 29, 2013 View All Press Releases Gartner Analysts to Discuss Changes in Service Offerings and Delivery Options at Gartner Outsourcing & Strategic Partnership Summits 2013, September 9-10 in London, U.K. and September 23-25 in Orlando, Florida.

Says Offshore Providers Without a Cloud Strategy Will Risk their Long-Term Future

While the increased use of industrialized services will reduce the volume of traditional and customized services, the impact on offshore providers will be counterbalanced by new revenue from investments in cloud-based services, said Gartner, Inc. However, service providers that are slow, unable or unwilling to invest in the shift to the cloud will risk hampering offshore services revenue growth. Gartner predicts continued strong growth in public cloud services, with end-user spending on public cloud services expected to grow 18 percent in 2013 to total $131 billion. By 2015, the public cloud services market is predicted to exceed $180 billion. Mr. About the Gartner Outsourcing & Strategic Partnerships Summits 2013. How Secure Is Cloud Computing? Cloud computing services, such as Amazon’s EC2 and Google Apps, are booming.

How Secure Is Cloud Computing?

But are they secure enough? Friday’s ACM Cloud Computing Security Workshop in Chicago was the first such event devoted specifically to cloud security. Speakers included Whitfield Diffie, a cryptographer and security researcher who, in 1976, helped solve a fundamental problem of cryptography: how to securely pass along the “keys” that unlock encrypted material for intended recipients. Diffie, now a visiting professor at Royal Holloway, University of London, was until recently a chief security officer at Sun Microsystems. Prior to that he managed security research at Northern Telecom. Learn More, Earn More With Cloud Computing. April 25, 2013 It’s usually safe to say the more you know in your particular job field, the better off you’ll be, certainly in terms of job security.

Learn More, Earn More With Cloud Computing

Now it seems the more you know about cloud computing and its related ecosystems, the better paid you’ll be. Knowledge is power, and the power of knowing the ins and outs of setting up and maintaining applications and storage in a cloud environment can prove to be a smart career move. Yet even without specific experience working in a cloud environment, job opportunities abound. Cloud Adoption: 4 Human Costs. Moving to the cloud imposes changes on your IT workforce.

Cloud Adoption: 4 Human Costs

Think in terms of changed expectations, education, migration and maintenance. Just a few short decades ago, the most expensive IT resources were computers, and human operators were interchangeable. Now the roles are reversed -- technology assets have become a commodity while organizations place a premium on people. The Truths, Untruths, and Fuzzy Truths of Cloud Security. I recently wrote two articles about the growth of cloud computing: The Perfect Storm for Cloud Computing, and Enough Already!

The Truths, Untruths, and Fuzzy Truths of Cloud Security

Cloud Computing Is Here to Stay. Both articles were written with the intention of concreting the fact that businesses and IT professionals need to begin, now, to develop their cloud strategy. The articles, read by over 23,000 people at the time of this writing, opened a floodgate of comments about the security concerns of cloud computing. So now I am going to address the truths, the untruths, and the fuzzy truths of security in the cloud. ‘Lost perspectives and rediscovered gems’: An interview with Cloud Control’s Heidi Lenffer. 9 top threats to cloud computing security. Cloud computing has grabbed the spotlight at this year's RSA Conference 2013 in San Francisco, with vendors aplenty hawking products and services that equip IT with controls to bring order to cloud chaos.

9 top threats to cloud computing security

But the first step is for organization to identify precisely where the greatest cloud-related threats lie. Cloud Computing, Legacy Vendors And The Only Reality That Matters. 6 Sneaky Terms Cloud Services Bury in their User Agreements. By Expert Author: skyhigh networks When you sign up for cloud services or applications, do you read the terms and conditions before you accept them? If you are like most humans, you probably skim the T’s & C’s and quickly click “I agree” to move on. Who’s really going to read all 36,275 words of PayPal’s terms and conditions, which happen to exceed the entire length of Shakespeare’s work “Hamlet” by an additional 6,000 words? Most cloud services have good-intentioned terms and conditions meant to protect both the company and its users. However, some companies overreach by including clauses granting them ownership of your data or the ability to make private data public in order to drive ad revenue.

A beautiful example of an ugly clause. Cloud Computing Experts Detail Big Data Security and Privacy Risks. The 10 privacy and security challenges for big data and analytics systems cataloged in a new Cloud Security Alliance report. The information security practitioners at the Cloud Security Alliance know that big data and analytics systems are here to stay. They also agree on the big questions that come next: How can we make the systems that store and compute the data secure? And, how can we ensure private data stays private as it moves through different stages of analysis, input and output?

It’s the answers to those questions that prompted the group’s latest 39-page report detailing 10 major security and privacy challenges facing infrastructure providers and customers. Related Stories. Is Cloud Computing Secure? Prove It. The buzz around cloud computing is intense, but that buzz rarely addresses the question of whether cloud computing is safe-or whether you can prove that it's safe. "Is cloud computing ready for prime time? " asked Amy DeCarlo, principal analyst for managed IT services at Current Analysis. "I would say no.

There's not a lot of transparency; there's not a lot of confidence. " And, even if your data really is secure in the cloud, you may not be able to prove it, said DeCarlo. " Best Practices For Managing the Risk of Cloud Services by Skyhigh Networks - iSnare Ezine Articles. The number and variety of cloud services offered to enterprises is growing at a staggering rate, and the adoption of cloud services by these enterprises is growing just as rapidly.

Gartner says that 72% of enterprises use Software as a Service (SaaS) today and expect a Compound Annual Growth Rate for SaaS of 52.4% off the current base of $14.5B. What's more startling is how much spending on cloud services occurs outside of IT. Gartner predicted that a full 35% of IT spending would take place outside of IT by 2015 – only two years away. By the end of the decade, that figure will hit 90%. 'India has immense under-utilised talent in the cloud security space' Website security is getting increasingly challenging with ‘innovative’ attacks emerging every day. But, thankfully, as threats increase, so do the security measures. Diksha P Gupta from Open Source For You spoke to Ritesh Sarvaiya, CEO, Defencely.com, to understand the website security scene in India, and the online threats that will affect Indian SMEs and SMBs. Read on… Please share some details about what Defencely does with respect to cloud security?

Modern day attackers can plant a cookie attack, a sniffer, misleading information or anything that can put visitors or customers who visit your website, at risk. Why IT and the CIO Matters in the Shadow IT Era. Four steps to secure cloud computing. Ensuring security in cloud computing environments. True disruption occurs when an improvement in business model displaces an established one. Several shifts in business have been described as disruptive. We know that there’s another entry, which can be added to the clan of truly disruptive innovations: Cloud Computing. How Private Cloud and Public Cloud Computing Compare. In the community of cloud community services, confusion and debate continue over the definition of a private cloud.

Cloud computing. “Cloud computing” refers to delivering hosted services over the Internet. The services tend to be divided into three categories: infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS), and software-as-a-service (SaaS). Enterprises becoming more savvy with cloud service providers. Enterprises may be more savvy when it comes to cloud computing, according to takeaways from the 451 Research Hosting and Cloud Transformation Summit in Las Vegas two weeks ago. According to Louis Columbus, writing last week in Forbes, the 451 Research Summit revealed that "Enterprises are defining their own cloud strategies, their own way, ignoring vendor hype. " Research from 451 found that other than SLAs, there are several metrics or service terms that organizations think service providers should provide about their overall customer experiences. The top five identified include: Sign up for our FREE newsletter for more news like this sent to your inbox!