8 Great Cloud Storage Services

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I was in Frankfurt, Germany, last week speaking on cloud security. In keeping with the attendance on the sessions, the ecu IT community is simply as inquisitive about security as American IT. My talk had two parts: one on securing the storage itself through encryption, especially flash storage, and another on securing the users. Interestingly, user security, notably their use of consumer file syncing and sharing programs, drew the foremost interest.

The issue with file syncing and sharing is that users have a taste for it. It solves a true problem they’re suffering from: the right way to make certain all their data is on all their devices and the way to share large files with colleagues with no need to email it to them. In other words, the “cat is out of the bag.”

Although the meaning of that phrase got lost within the translation to my mostly German audience, they eventually understood the purpose. IT planners have three options now on the subject of providing a file syncing and sharing service. They are able to prefer to ignore it and hope it goes away. i do not believe it’ll; it’s here to remain. They’ll attempt to block its use, which in my experience is amazingly hard to do. Users are excellent at working out ways around such things as that and sometimes their workarounds cause more headaches than not blocking it in any respect. Or third, they may be able to embrace file syncing and sharing and check out to present an easier service that’s safer.

[ Examine Microsoft’s foray into storage: Is Microsoft Able to Be A Storage Player? ]

Most IT professionals have decided the third option is the correct one for his or her data centers and their organizations. Thus, the hunt for an enterprise class file syncing and sharing solution is in full swing at many data centers. There are three general sorts of solutions: an absolutely private one, which uses your individual storage assets; an entire-cloud solution, which uses just a cloud provider; or a hybrid approach.

In my next column I’ll cover the professionals and cons of every of the implementation methods, but from an enterprise perspective there are some specific capabilities that you really want to ensure are in place regardless of which solution you find yourself going with. The 1st of those is the flexibility to encrypt data as early and as completely as possible. At a minimum, the provider of this solution ought to be encrypting data while at rest and while in transmission. Progressively more providers even have the flexibility to encrypt data it’s at rest at the user’s endpoint device besides.

The second one capability is IT oversight and control. You have to be ready to see what data is being shared, by whom and with whom. Many solutions have expanded to also provide end-point backup. If you’ve decided to assume this out of your solution you furthermore mght have the desire to make sure that devices are being protected. Finally, you almost certainly want some sort of remote wipe capability so data it is cached on a user’s devices might be erased after they leave the corporate.

In my next column I’ll cover the professionals and cons of different implementation styles, but for now, IT planners must take a tough take a look at the file, sync and share problem. Users expect it and while you don’t deliver, they may burst off and do it on their lonesome, putting corporate data in danger from both accidental deletion in addition to specific external hacks.

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