Cloud Computing: Principles and Paradigms

Chapter 23. DATA SECURITY IN THE CLOUD

SUSAN MORROW

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE IDEA OF DATA SECURITY

Taking information and making it secure, so that only yourself or certain others can see it, is obviously not a new concept. However, it is one that we have struggled with in both the real world and the digital world. In the real world, even information under lock and key, is subject to theft and is certainly open to accidental or malicious misuse. In the digital world, this analogy of lock-and-key protection of information has persisted, most often in the form of container-based encryption. But even our digital attempt at protecting information has proved less than robust, because of the limitations inherent in protecting a container rather than in the content of that container. This limitation has become more evident as we move into the era of cloud computing: Information in a cloud environment has much more dynamism and fluidity than information that is static on a desktop or in a network folder, so we now need to start to think of a new way to protect information.

Before we embark on how to move our data protection methodologies into the era of The cloud, perhaps we should stop, think, and consider the true applicability of information security and its value and scope. Perhaps we should be viewing the application of data security as less of a walled and impassable fortress and more of a sliding series of options that are more appropriately termed "risk mitigation."

The reason that I ...