Following the recent privacy gaffe at Google, the Electronic Privacy Information Center has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. Some of the language in the complaint seems a bit hyperbolic, and the request that Google be compelled to contribute $5 million to support electronic privacy research seems a bit self-serving. Obviously, though, a cloud computing provider had better make its privacy and security standards very clear to its end users.
When considering the security of putting your corporate information in the cloud, remember to compare the security of the cloud to the security of your own on-premises systems – which for many small businesses is practically non-existent. Also consider the type of information you plan to store in the cloud. If you plan to keep electronic records containing sensitive information such as credit card numbers, social security numbers, and health records, you’ll need to pay extra attention to how that information will be transmitted to and from the cloud and how it will be stored for you.
