Cloud Computing Security Strategy Includes Cryptography

Grazed from MidSizeInsider. Author: Jason Hannula.

The movement of data and software services to the cloud has left some businesses feeling less secure. Skyhigh Networks brought together academic experts for the first industry-focused cryptography advisory board to provide insights on using encryption schemes as part of cloud computing security, Becca Lipman reports on Wall Street & Technology.

Secure Cloud Data Through Encryption

The use of encryption means control of business files and data remains with the firm, while the cloud services provider independently handles software and infrastructure. Encryption is applied at the data source, and decryption occurs only when an accessing application or user has been authenticated. The cloud service handles the encrypted data without having access to the contents…

The addition of cryptographic techniques to cloud services comes with complications and cannot be applied naively in all cases. If the wrong encryption is employed, computational overhead can increase by orders of magnitude. Encryption cannot be paired with cloud services that require detailed data access to perform required functions, such as data transformation or detailed analytics. As Lipman notes, the advisory board’s value is in avoiding inappropriate technology choices, and the focus is on selecting from existing encryption strategies rather than inventing new techniques to reduce service costs…

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