Free cloud security readiness tool from Microsoft

Grazed from ComputerWeekly. Author: Warwick Ashford.

Microsoft has announced a free tool for organisations to assess their security readiness for cloud computing. A survey commissioned by the company revealed that the top barriers to cloud adoption are concerns about the ability to deal with industry standards (61%), transparency (59%) and security concerns (44%).

“This shows companies are more concerned than they should be,” Adrienne Hall, general manager of Trustworthy Computing at Microsoft, told the RSA Conference Europe 2012 in London. On the flip side, the survey conducted in five regions revealed that companies that have adopted cloud are seeing security benefits, she said…

Some 57% of respondents said they have more time and money to focus on their core business, and 54% said they believed cloud services provided better security than the company was capable of on its own. To boost confidence in cloud, Hall said Microsoft is collaborating with organisations such as the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) and ISO to share information, drive standards and improve transparency.

Based on the CSA’s Cloud Controls Matrix, Microsoft’s Cloud Security Readiness Tool is an online survey of 27 questions that are used to assess a company’s security posture and make recommendations for moving to cloud computing…

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