[LINK] The cloud vaporises: Will you lose your online files?

[Stephen Wilson]

Rick Welykochy wrote:

> Absolutely *everything* you upload to a cloud computing site is no longer
> secure, no longer yours and no longer safe.

Why so absolutist?  Let's look at another case of 'outsourcing' that has 
gone online in recent years, and see if the absolutes are in fact a bit 
more nuanced (and manageable).  Substitute 'cash' for 'computing'.  Most 
of us happily have banks hold our money; moreover, we happily manipulate 
ones and zeros over a web interface with the effect of moving money from 
one account to another, including other peoples' accounts.  All pretty 
hairy stuff when you think about it.  Don't get me wrong -- I am not in 
the slightest bit complacent about web security.  In fact my business 
has a lot to do with developing and advocating much better ways to 
protect payments and digital identities.  But I would not agree that my 
money online is, without qualification, "no longer secure, no longer 
[mine] and no longer safe".  To some degree we all 'trust' a lot of 
important stuff online, and we 'trust' a whole ecosystem of service 
providers.  Cloud computing is not a great stretch from today's 
computing norms.  It cannot be dismissed as absolutely insecure or 
unsafe.  I do find it pretty scary (especially some of the privacy 
policies and Ts&Cs kicking around) but I do not think it profoundly 
unmanageable.

Cheers,

Stephen Wilson.

Lockstep Technologies
www.lockstep.com.au/technologies
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* ABC TV 'The New Inventors' Nov 2008
* Global Security Challenge Asia Top Five 2008
* Australian Technology Showcase 2008
* AusIndustry COMET Grant 2007