Top Ten risks of using Cloud Computing
Summary
What are the risks associated with moving your business infrastructure, services and data storage into the cloud? This article highlights the top ten risks.
Top Ten risks with using Cloud Computing
- Security - You are relying on your cloud service provider to maintain good security practices and to protect your data.
- Privacy - Someone else is looking after your infrastructure and data and can easily monitor the traffic accessing your data should they wish to.
- Availability - What are the SLAs, and what is the past performance of the cloud service provider in terms of up time and recoverability from any downtime? How do they handle maintenance and upgrades? What level of support can you expect?
- Performance - Can the cloud service meet the demands of your business and scale as you do?
- Access - You need internet access in order to access your data. If your office loses internet access for a day and you cannot access your online infrastructure, can you continue to operate until it returns?
- Compliance - Regulatory compliance, complying with standards such as PCI DSS, green issues, data protection laws, and so on. Does or can your chosen cloud services provider comply with all the standards that your business has to?
- Recovery - What happens in case of a disaster? How is your data backed-up, stored, and recovered after a major disaster?
- Costs - It may look like you will make a saving at the start but how do the costs scale as your business grows and you require more volume in terms of services and support?
- Legal - What are the legal implications of using a cloud service? Is your data stored in a foreign country? Does the service include investigative support should a security concern occur?
- Continuation - How likely is the cloud computing services company to be around in three, five, ten, or more years? What happens if they get swallowed up by a larger company?
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Article date: 7th February 2011
