Cloud Computing Insurance: The New IT Safety Net?

Grazed from Midsize Insider. Author: Doug Bonderud.

Own something valuable? Then it should be insured. Homes, cars and even office equipment is typically insured against destruction or theft. But what about data? For many midsize companies, mission-critical data does not reside on a single stack or even with a single cloud provider. Often, data of varying importance is distributed across multiple networks to help lower cost and improve efficiency. If information goes missing, however, or is accidentally destroyed or stolen by malicious actors, are companies simply out of luck? Maybe not. Cloud computing insurance offers the promise of a new safety net for IT.

High Risk

According to a recent Information Journal article, Swiss Re’s new SONAR report "New Emerging Risk Insights" describes cloud computing security as an emerging high-risk theme. The global reinsurance company contends that the shared access inherent in cloud computing deployments "fuels risks such as data leakage, data loss and hijacking of computer resources"…

As a result, companies that are not insured could face "reputation and financial damage if confidential client data is lost." But with most insurance companies leery about utilizing cloud services for even their own data, what would cloud computing insurance look like? How could cost be effectively assessed?…

Read more from the source @ http://midsizeinsider.com/en-us/article/cloud-computing-insurance-the-new-it-sa#.U8fOUoBdWRM