Experts have warned the security analysis of cloud services is mostly up to individual users to ensure the services’ fidelity and cloud adoption is still maturing.
Both Dave Maskell, security consultant at BUI, and Willem Malan, technical director of BUI, told News24 the technology does exist to make cloud services secure, but lack of clear regulation is making it hard to ensure safety.
Maskell said: “A lot of regulatory stuff is advertised on most of these cloud providers, but the fact that it says it on the box, doesn’t mean it’s what’s in the box.”
Malan said: “There certainly is sufficient technology to make [internet cloud] secure at every layer; the cloud is not a single cloud – it is a collection of services – everything from hardware, the network, the partitioning of the services within that – and at every layer there are plentiful security technologies.”
Furthermore, Malan said regulation can play a part in ensuring cloud service providers keep to the security promise.
With Microsoft security solutions as their main focus, BUI is in the business of cloud security and management since cloud services are becoming widespread in both business and home users and technologies have to keep up with the security trends.
Malan said a brand trusted by the user does not guarantee cloud solution security. He said the reliability of the provider is very important as more users use cloud to put important and personal information on the cloud.
“It’s easy to say ‘I trust a brand’, but does that brand really provide security that we expect?” said Malan.
According to Malan, the many people using cloud type services such as internet banking, web-based email and sharing content through social network is only the beginning.
“Society has not caught up with the speed at which technology is beamed at. It will get there, because right now, cloud feels as if it is over-hyped, but that’s just the short end of the adoption curve,” said Malan.
He added: “The next 10 years will be driven by this absolute wave of cloud technology – we’ll call it something different – but the adoption curve has not reached full maturity.”
Maskell and Malan agree that education is crucial to grasping both the risks and benefits of internet cloud services.
“It’s very simple – educate yourself, understand the options because there are options available. Understand your risks, and based on that, plan,” concluded Malan.
