Article Written by Sally Perkins

We have all come to appreciate the benefits of using cloud technology – the reduced cost of storage, the easy transferability of data, the improved collaboration amongst team members. It has become the norm for companies and organizations to utilize cloud-based storage for projects amongst co-workers, and families are also using the cloud to keep track of all of their family files and photos.

But with all of the benefits, there is also the trickier side of cloud technology: security. Unfortunately, cloud security faces many challenges, including a lack of trust by its users and general misinformation and misuse. Due to data breaches, hijacked accounts, insider threats, and data loss from malicious attacks, cloud security is not always the most reliable.

If you are concerned about utilizing the cloud for online storage in 2017 and wish to know more about its technicalities, you should consider the facts about cloud security:

Grazed from CIO. Author: Esther Shein.

Building a technology stack from scratch in the cloud can be a dream — if you’re a startup. But if you’re an established company steeped in on-premises solutions, shifting to the cloud can mean unexpected hurdles and headaches beyond belief. Companies looking to make good on the benefits of moving to the cloud need to go in with eyes wide open.

To be sure, the much discussed benefits of the cloud — in terms of time to market, cost savings, the ability to scale resources as needed, and so on — are real. But enterprise cloud adopters say they have been surprised by some of the lesser-documented challenges migrating to the cloud brings, such as the difficulty in changing traditional mindsets, the lack of visibility into the new infrastructure, the cost of data transfers, governance issues and how licensing agreements need to be revised or new ones negotiated…

Read more from the source @ http://www.cio.com/article/3202697/cloud-computing/hidden-cloud-migration-gotchas-and-how-to-avoid-them.html

Grazed from CrazyEngineers. Author: Editorial Staff.

In a move to revamp the privacy and security measures, Google has recently stated that its free Consumer Gmail content would not be used or scanned for any ads personalization henceforth. The policy change would put an end to the practice which has been in place since the launch of Gmail in 2004.

Gmail is the world’s preeminent email provider with more than 1.2 billion users. To make up for its free services, the Tech major sifted through what the Gmail users were discussing and showing ads relevant to some of the topics. This naturally prompted privacy and security concerns amongst its many users…

Grazed from TheDrum. Author: Tony Connelly.

The fallout follows on from a report in the Wall Street journal, which revealed the US retail chain had told the technology companies it works with to stop using Amazon cloud web services and move to competitors instead. Amazon has become a dominant player in cloud-based storage and computing power with its Amazon Web Services program.

Known as AWS, it has a 44% share of the market, according to Synergy Research Group, and its clients include Netflix, Airbnb, General Electric and the CIA. In April the company reported its cloud services platform had generated $3.7bn in sales over the previous three months. Now with Walmart aggressively investing in e-commerce, it is trying to undermine its rival’s dominance in the space…

Read more from the source @ http://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/06/25/amazon-hits-back-after-walmart-tells-suppliers-stop-using-its-cloud-services

Grazed from eWeek. Author: Chris Preimesberger.

Storage maker NetApp, once described as a "nice little server company" but is now among the world leaders in storage hardware marketshare, is celebrating its 25th year in business. It has been a true survivor in the cutthroat IT products and services business. In this regard, please note: Only about 15 percent of companies that go public on the Nasdaq index last 20 years.

NetApp has been on the index almost 22 years, since December 1995. Why has NetApp forged on when others have fallen? Well, if you ask co-founder Dave Hitz, it’s probably because the company has been able to change lanes fairly quickly when it comes to seeing market trends as or before they happen and then adjust to them…

Read more from the source @ http://www.eweek.com/storage/netapp-cisco-advance-converged-infrastructure-genre-with-flexpod-sf

Grazed from MSPMentor. Author: Aldrin Brown.

The competition between Amazon Web Services (AWS) and a host of brick and mortar retailers reached a new intensity this week that could significantly impact managed services providers (MSPs) who partner with the market leader in public cloud, or with second place Microsoft Azure.

On the heels of Amazon’s announcement last week that it planned to acquire grocer Whole Foods Market, retail giant Wal-Mart revealed it has been asking some of its vendors, developers and other tech partners to no longer host applications on AWS, the Wall Street Journal reported…

Read more from the source @ http://mspmentor.net/cloud-computing/wal-mart-prods-partners-vendors-leave-aws-azure

Grazed from PublicSpendingForum. Author: Frank McNally.

A recent protest decision from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) provides several important lessons for procurement professionals who are buying cloud-enabled services as well as vendors hoping to sell them. Let’s dive in! Red River Computing Company protested the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) request for quotations (RFQ) for agency-wide enterprise computing services and cloud computing services.

Red River challenged both the technical and price evaluation, asserting that DHS’s best-value determination was flawed. GAO denied Red River’s challenge of the technical evaluation but sustained its challenge of the price evaluation. Each decision is instructive, so let’s take a closer look…

Grazed from MSPMentor. Author: Brian Womack.

Oracle Corp.’s push into cloud computing is picking up momentum, sparking a fourth straight quarter of revenue gains for the software maker. The company, which set a record closing high Wednesday for its shares, reported total sales that easily topped analysts’ estimates. Oracle’s cloud businesses grew 58 percent in the fiscal fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, new software licenses, a measure that’s tied to the company’s traditional on-premise software offerings, declined 5 percent compared with a drop of 16 percent in the previous period. Oracle’s long shift to the cloud, which lets customers access services without installing them on their own computers, is now producing more sturdy growth, indicating that the company can compete against rivals such as Salesforce.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp…

The research from Forrester Consulting, "Due Diligence is the Cornerstone of Public Cloud Migration Success," is a Technology Adoption Profile (TAP), a format in which Forrester summarizes market surveys and custom research questionnaires to show how IT organizations are using and benefiting from emerging technology and industry trends. The study polled 108 U.S. decision makers responsible for public cloud (IaaS) strategy at firms migrating workloads to public cloud.

The study reached the following conclusions:

CareCloud, the platform for high-performing medical groups, today announced that it has successfully completed its first Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements (SSAE) No. 16 Service Organization Control (SOC) 1 report. This voluntary attestation allows medical groups and their auditors to quickly verify that CareCloud has the proper internal controls and processes needed to ensure the highest quality and security of services provided.

"Our clients depend on us to deliver a quality, secure information technology infrastructure to support their financial, administrative, and care delivery processes," said Ken Comée, CEO of CareCloud. "With this independent audit, we’re giving them the external validation they need for their financial statements while reinforcing the steps we take every day to protect the integrity and security of their data."