How Safe Is The Cloud?

There is a huge debate regarding the application of cloud computing in the business community, and it appears that the main concern is with regards to data safety.

It does make some people nervous that the data they have worked hard for so long, or important dates and appointments they have stored, are all placed in external servers. It can create even more nervousness when they have no control whatsoever regarding the place the data was stored, or the personnel who can access such records. There's also the fact that with some services provided by cloud computing firms, you don't have a personal back-up of your files.

Just imagine how much fuel was added to the debate when Microsoft announced October last year that their subsidiary, Danger, Inc., had a system failure which affected hundreds of thousands of T-Mobile Sidekick users. It was reported that all the personal contacts, photos, and calendar dates stored by Sidekick users have been erased from the company's database. This has been often cited by many critics of cloud computing as an example of risking your data on a virtual network.

And this risk extends to even service providers that has taken advantage of the affordability of cloud computing. Last year, the FBI raised a ruckus in the internet community when they raided two buildings in Texas that offer co-location services. The reason was that they wanted to get evidence regarding a fraud complaint filed against one of the companies using the facilities. What was shocking during that time was that the agents confiscated all the equipment and servers found there, which adversely affected the operations of hundreds of other companies and businesses that were in no way connected to the guilty party. Their only fault was that they happen to share the same ISP address and building. According to one source, millions of dollars worth of revenue were lost, and that many of the affected firms were forced to close.

Stories such as these, despite the horror it generates, are simply what we call teething problems of this system. After all, all major companies today, and websites that we now trust, have experienced such problems in one way or another. Cloud computing is in now way immune to that. We can expect this technology to continue developing itself in the years to come. At the rate it's going, it won't be surprising if it becomes the major force to be reckoned with.