Grazed from TechGoondu. Author: Aaron Tan.

Contrary to popular perception, cloud computing does not make companies more susceptible to cyber attacks.

In fact, the dynamic nature of cloud computing architectures makes it more difficult for hackers to break into corporate networks, said Jim Reavis, co-founder of the Cloud Security Alliance. He was speaking at a panel discussion held on the sidelines of the CloudSec 2012 conference last week.

Citing the experience of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Reavis noted that the CIA, which faces advanced persistant threats from foreign governments and other perpetrators, is able to move data across its cloud architecture to mitigate any risk arising out of a cyber attack…

Grazed from CloudTweaks. Author: Humayun Shahid.

Prompted by the infamous Mat Honan hack attack, cloud computing has been exposed to severe criticism over the last couple of weeks, pouring in from even those like Steve Wozniak and company. The (needlessly excessive) denigration has, however, served little to diminish the cloud demand prevalent at the end of ventures and individuals alike. Following the footsteps of Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and top IT leaders, Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) have started exhibiting complete faith in cloud computing, a recent Google-backed study reveals.

The main research objective was to dig deep into how CFOs typically felt about cloud computing to see if the financial geniuses actually understood the cloud computing philosophy in its entirety. How beneficial would the cloud transition eventually be? To seek answers, Google reached out to about 800 CFOs originating from ventures located within Europe and the United States…

Grazed from Business Weekly. Author: John Seelmeyer.

The word “cloud” appears nowhere on xogenous.net, the Web site of a Carson City company whose growth these days is fueled largely by companies that are moving their computing to the place-that-dares-not-speak-its-name.

The reason to avoid the word? No sense scaring potential clients who already are nervous enough about moving their computing off-site, says Ron Husey, the founder of Xogenous Ltd.

The company’s four-person sales staff has been so successful in calming the fears of executives of small- and mid-sized businesses in northern Nevada that Xogenous today employs a staff of 17 engineers to oversee its data center in Carson City, and it’s looking for more…

Grazed from CRN. Author: Rick Whiting.

Solution providers are wrestling with the best way to add cloud computing to their areas of expertise, and Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) offered attendees at UBM Channel’s XChange 2012 conference in Dallas some advice on how to make the transition.

Microsoft, which is in the midst of one of the biggest new-product launch years in the company’s history, also offered XChange 2012 attendees an exclusive look at some of the capabilities in the upcoming Windows 8 and Office 2013.

"The impact of the cloud on our business is that it’s changing the conversations with our customers," said Jeff Turner, Microsoft’s director of U.S. SMB channel marketing, in a keynote address Sunday. "It’s no longer about selling IT value. It’s about selling business value."…

Is This a Cloud or is it Fog?

Welcome to the cloud!

I know what some of you are thinking – but I’m not in the cloud. I’m here to tell you that you are. People are making use of what I’ll call “personal” cloud services to enable services that your IT department can’t support. Large files are being shared on Dropbox, SkyDrive or Google’s GDrive. Cloud-based email is being sent from your users with information, or even attachments, that contain work related information. You may even be guilty of creating these “temporary workarounds” yourself to facilitate business getting done better, faster or, at least, more conveniently. I admit it… I’ve done it too!