The economics of enterprise cloud computing -- the shifting of IT resources from proprietary data centers and licensed software to outsourced facilities and pay-by-the-drink software -- created a groundswell in its favor. But rising levels of high-stakes cybercrime may cause customers to reconsider.
The arrest of 60 people in connection with an international Internet crime syndicate, reported today in the Wall Street Journal, illustrates the pervasiveness of cybercrime and the significant threat these activities pose to national infrastructure and business concerns alike.
Consider:
- According to Agence France Presse, super worm Stuxnet has moved from Iran and onto China, demonstrating the ability of hackers to attack national infrastructure -- let alone outsourced data centers.
- TMP TechWeb writes that while the federal government is increasing funding for Web services, it is cutting spending back on cloud computing;
- Warren's Washington Internet Daily reports security experts are concerned that a new plan to allow Internet tapping could increase the network's vulnerabilities;
- The Australian reports that, according to consulting firm Gartner, worldwide spending on security software will top $16 billion, with cloud security still seen as a wild card;
SaaS and cloud-based vendors have seemingly won the argument that their model is less expensive to own and maintain and more customer-friendly than traditional on-premise systems. But given the emergence of a more dangerous security landscape, they will have to prove yet one more benefit to IT managers: that outsourcing systems and software is also safer than maintaining it in-house.
