The "Cloud"...Why do we fear it?

I can’t tell you how many times I hear the phrase “We can’t put production in the cloud, we are concerned about security”, and I’ll bet a buffalo nickel that someone reading this has even said it at least once.  The majority of the fear I come across is the fear of change.  “You offer a flexible, simple, and secure IT environment without spending a ton of cash up front and reducing my TCO, what’s the catch”?  It’s time to start acknowledging the validity of using the cloud even for very security sensitive information.

Initially the public cloud was viewed as insecure because multiple organizations were living in the same hardware sharing resources.  Most now realize sharing resources doesn’t make the public cloud more vulnerable to security threats any more than sharing a gas station with your neighbor makes your vehicle more vulnerable to theft.  The virtualized environments are completely separate from any other organization using the shared resources.  Granted there could be other problems with the public cloud and sharing resources, but that is easily remedied by using a private cloud.  

I have heard concerns about the security of the connection to a cloud environment.  There are many secure connection options (VPN, MPLS, dedicated point to point) which make connecting to the cloud provider just as, and often more, secure as having servers on-premise.   

You can even use cloud services to protect your cloud computing environment.  Cloud IDS/IPS, Log Monitoring, Malware/Antivirus, and DDoS protection are all available and work incredibly well.  The best part is your provider can manage all of the patching and updating of your systems which is far more secure than waiting a month to install the patches because your IT personnel are busy with revenue generating activities at the end of the quarter.

Most importantly, do not be afraid to ask questions.  When your business depends on it, moving from something you know to something new is difficult. Talk to multiple providers and ask lots of questions.  This is an important relationship and while the provider should be able to help you meet your business goals, it is more important that they can show you how they will be met.  Once that happens you will have a trusted adviser, not just a vendor, and you will quickly find your fears are unfounded.