The biggest problem with cloud computing isn’t necessarily the delivery model as much as it is the lack of visibility into what people are doing with those cloud resources. Not only are there a raft of potential security issues, but, from a compliance perspective, the usage of external cloud computing resources often creates an untenable situation.
To help IT organizations gain visibility into what’s actually happening inside their cloud computing environment, CipherCloud recently unfurled CipherCloud Cloud Data Discovery, an extension of the company’s data loss prevention (DLP) gateway that resides on a corporate network that now includes end-user monitoring capabilities.
CipherCloud CEO Pravin Kothari says CipherCloud Cloud Data Discovery directly addresses the single biggest barrier to cloud adoption in the enterprise, which are security and compliance issues. Kothari says the basic idea is to provide a single platform for managing all the security and compliance issues associated with deploying applications in the cloud.
In addition to being able to monitor user activity, CipherCloud Cloud Data Discovery accomplishes this by also being able to detect malware in cloud applications and encrypt data.
As a deployment model, cloud computing has become a major source of security concern. But given all the productivity and costs benefits, cloud computing is too compelling to ignore. As such, the next logical thing for IT organizations to focus on is not so much how to prevent the use of cloud computing, but rather making sure it’s as secure as possible to use the cloud in the most economically efficient way possible.
