IT security problems shift as data moves to 'cloud'

The Internet "cloud" has become the hottest topic in computing, however the trend has created a new range of security issues that need to be addressed.

Microsoft, Google, Amazon and others are major players in the cloud, which seeks to transfer some of the data storage issues to more sophisticated data centers. Firms like Oracle, SAP and Salesforce.com offer cloud services for business.

"If past is prologue I don't think any system is thoroughly secure," said Stelios Sidiroglou-Douskos, a technology scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Innovation's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

Number of cloud security breaches have raised concerns

A number of cloud security breaches have raised concerns, including attacks on the Sony PlayStation Network, LinkedIn and Google's Gmail service. One hacker recently claimed to have stolen credit card numbers from 79 major banks.

"Crimes target sources of value. Large company networks offer more targets to hackers," says Nir Kshetri, a professor of economics who studies cybercrime at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Kshetri said in a paper submitted to the journal Telecommunications Policy that when questions come up, "the cloud industry's response has been: Clouds are more secure than whatever you're using now. Nevertheless many users do not agree."

Marcus Sachs, former director of the Sans Research Institute's Internet Storm Center, said the cloud may be more secure however also opens up new questions.

Still, the cloud market is burgeoning, with companies and government agencies moving to either "public" clouds that are easily accessed or so-called "private clouds" that are segregated from the Internet.

Some analysts say other issues need to be resolved about cloud computing, just as who is liable if data is lost, and how data can be accessed for government investigations.

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