aNewDomain.net — The U.S security industry fears that it stands to lose $22-$35 billion over the next three years. This as a result of the PRISM effect abroad, especially in the European market. The American computing industry has been the leader in providing cloud computing. However many voices in the EU are questioning the transparency of these services, thanks to the Guardian revelations concerning PRISM.
Senior ICT officials in EU say that the EU should catch up. “We should create an NSA safe cloud service.” At stake are $200 billion for the cloud-computing market, based on predictions for the year 2016.
Our Dino Londis comments: “This could be a game-changer for a lot of IT folks who are worried for their jobs moving to the cloud.”
See the report by ITIF. It got the attention of several of the leaders of the American security industry, and their internal survey came up with clear results. The days of reckoning about the Patriot Act and NSA budgeting are here. The challenge is, can the security establishment offer transparency? This is almost hearsay for a very secretive corporate environment and culture.
The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) announced in late July the result of an internal monkey survey.
You can read more about that survey here.
NSA/PRISM Survey
Survey Question 1: Did the Snowden incident make your company more or less likely to use US-based cloud providers?
The CSA received 207 responses from self-identified non-US
residents.
1-56% less likely to use US-based cloud providers
2-31% no impact on usage of US-based cloud
providers
3- 10% cancelled a project to use US-based cloud
providers
4- 3% more likely to use US-based cloud providers
Survey Question 2: (For all respondents) How would you rate your country’s processes to obtain user information for the purpose of criminal and terrorist investigations?
The CSA received 440 responses.
1- 47% Poor, there is no transparency in the process and I have no idea how often the
government accesses my information
2- 32% Fair, there is some public information about the process and some
instances of its usage, but it is not clear
how prevalent these activities are.
3-11% Unknown, I do not have enough
CSA initiated this survey to collect a broad spectrum of member opinions about this news, and to understand how this impacts attitudes about using public cloud providers. This survey was conducted online via SurveyMonkey from June 25, 2013 to July 9, 2013.
Survey Question 4: (For all respondents) If you have concerns about this recent news, which of the following actions do you think would be the best course to mitigate concerns?
The CSA received 423 responses.
1-41% The Patriot Act should be repealed in its
entirety.
2-45% The Patriot Act should be modified to
tighten the oversight of permitted activities
and to provide greater transparency as to how
often it is enacted.
3- 13% The Patriot Act is fine as is. Identifying
terrorists is a very difficult job .
These results led to a great deal of debate and soul searching about appropriate access to an individual’s digital information, both within the United States of America and any other country.
Maybe these are days of redemption for the captains of the Industry?.
Why is there such a fear among all cloud users especially with the Internet of Things happening see
Cloud Security Alliance-Who Are they?
“With over 48,000 individual members, and 70 chapters globally, the CSA has become the global authoritative source for trust in the cloud,” contends Dave Cullinane, chairman of the CSA Board of Directors.
In late 2011, the CSA introduced STAR, a first step in improving transparency and assurance in the cloud. Major cloud players include Amazon Web Services, Box.com, HP, Microsoft, Ping Identity, Red Hat, Skyhigh Networks, Symantec and Terremark, who submitted entries into the registry.
CSA also has published results of its recent survey on government access to information. The survey received almost 500 responses from CSA members around the world. It found that 56 percent of non-U.S. residents were now less likely to use U.S.-based cloud providers, in light of recent revelations about government access to customer information. An overwhelming 90 percent of respondents, said that companies which have been subpoenaed through provisions of the U.S. Patriot Act should be able to publish summary information about the amount of responses they have made.
Even before the NSA/PRISM leak there were other worries about Cloud Security. See below visualisation.
Based in Australia, David Michaelis is a world-renowned international journalist and founder of Link Tv. At aNewDomain.net, he covers the global beat, focusing on politics and other international topics of note for our readers in a variety of forums. Email him at DavidMc@aNewDomain.net.
