Email security could be at risk through cloud computing

Grazed from The Silhouette. Author: Rachel Faber.

The recent popularity of cloud email systems has some Canadian universities concerned about the level of security of their email servers. Discourse suggests that with these U.S. based companies, the U.S. government or NSA may be able to gain access to secure information and intellectual property through American cloud services such as those offered by Google and Microsoft.

Richard Godsmark, the senior manager of Security, Technology and Risk at McMaster University pointed out that this is a security concern, however it is a difficult issue to address due to a lack of information on the subject. To improve customer service, Google is attempting to sue the U.S. government, to ensure that they will have to go through actual court proceedings before accessing information. However, in order to really address Internet security, Godsmark believes that it will require a global policy on the matter. “[Information] crosses borders without any kind of passport, and so traffic is always going to end up in other countries,” said Godsmark…

Therefore, unauthorized monitoring is always going to be a concern because information. However, there are a lot of policies in place to ensure that people are not violating privacy for unnecessary reasons. It is highly unlikely that the NSA would look into a person unless they were considered a real threat, such as suspicion of terrorism. In this instance, it would not matter if you were a U.S. citizen or not. The U.S, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Britain are all members of the “Five Eyes.” This is an intelligence agreement meaning that each state has agreed to release information that is considered dangerous…

Read more from the source @ http://www.thesil.ca/email-security-could-be-at-risk-through-cloud-computing