Cloud Tech News

Over and over again, we are pummeled with statistics on how risk is growing in disproportion to security readiness. 91% of companies have experienced at least one IT security event from an external source. 90% of all cyber crime costs are those caused by web attacks, malicious code and malicious insiders. These are staggering numbers - but what is causing this universal security paralysis?

CIOs engaged in cloud initiatives have identified one of their top goals - a need for a cloud strategy. The reason; cloud initiatives not only directly impact technology, but the effect extends significantly to business processes and organisational resources. A strategy that aligns process, technology and business service delivery is critical to the future returns on the initiative.

Starting from data model design, MaaS might guide the DaaS (Database as a Service) lifecycle, providing data granularity and duty rules: as a consequence, MaaS implements the new concept of Small Data.

Cloud services policies are being developed and iterated in all jurisdictions. Having reviewed a number of draft policies in recent months, we believe policy-makers need to work harder to create a level playing field for cloud services adoption, mindful of the potential for a type I procurement error or a type II procurement error.

Through 2012, many CRM outsourcers struggled to adjust to ongoing economic uncertainty, as well as shifting requirements from clients in terms of supporting mobility and social media solutions. However, there were encouraging signs from the standpoint of financial performance, with a number of the sector's major players managing to moderately increase revenues and maintain profitability.

Cutting through the hype of cloud vendors starts by evaluating how ready their cloud services, enabling technologies and professional services are to serve customers today. Nine different companies have been analysed: Amazon, Google, HP, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Salesforce.com, SAP and VMware.

Remember when Twitter went out for 40 minutes last July? Twitter released a statement saying that it was "investing aggressively in our systems to avoid this situation in the future". Glitches like this have consequences - many of which aren't immediately obvious, and often aren't public.

If you're like most, cloud is going to be a big part of your life in 2013. So to help you start the year off right, we've prepared the following tips for securing your cloud servers.