The banking analogy: we use it all the time here at CloudLock, but we’ve never put it in print.
In every conversation about the move to the cloud, the topic of security comes up. And by security, I’m referring to:
- The security of the infrastructure provider itself
- How that provider can keep the outside world away from customer data
- Keeping the provider’s own employees from looking at customer data
And sure, those are important, but it’s not the right security conversation that needs to take place.
Think of the cloud as a bank. As you’d expect, the bank has state-of-the-art security to keep your money safe. But if you give your debit card number and PIN out to everyone, you couldn’t really blame the bank when you find out that your account has been cleaned out, right? It’s the same thing with cloud providers. Google, for example, has a pretty stellar track record protecting data stored in Google Apps. How many times have they lost customer data? Exactly zero.
It’s not about the security of the infrastructure, it’s about how users share data both internally and externally. All the security certifications in the world become irrelevant if an employee shares the salary spreadsheet with everyone in the company or customer credit card info with anyone on the internet.
Once again Joel Kennedy has created an awesome graphic:
Click for full size
CloudLock For Google Apps helps Google Apps administrators secure access to their Google Docs and Sites. 7 day free trials are available on the Google Apps Marketplace.
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