Data Breaches in the Cloud: Who’s Responsible?

Grazed from GovTech. Author: Jessica Hughes.

The risk of a data breach in the cloud is multiplying and is now costlier and happens more frequently, according to a recent study by the Ponemon Institute. But this phenomenon, which is dubbed the cloud multiplier effect, can be mitigated by a strengthened security posture, according to Larry Ponemon, chairman of the Ponemon Institute.

"It’s funny, I’m a big believer in the cloud," Ponemon said. "I like cloud and I think cloud [has] improved quite a bit from a security perspective." Cloud computing is not necessarily less secure, Ponemon said, but that is the perception among many of the study’s respondents who view on-premises data breach as easier to control and less costly as a result…

"It’s kind of a level of complexity you are adding because now you’re relying on a third party to do the right steps," Ponemon said. The fact that many cloud environments are secure is a sentiment echoed by several government CIOs who commented on the security of and possibility of a breach within their own cloud environments. "From what I know, and certainly from a mid-size city characteristic, the reputable cloud vendors have better security than we have," said Michael Armstrong, CIO of Corpus Christi, Texas…

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