Summary
1. Cloud computing, while offering seemingly manageable security measures cannot be secured sufficiently to protect data from spillage. 2. Competitive intelligence demands sources, and your data is the prime source. 3. Big brother frightens me. Cloud computing, without sufficient laws, could be the largest nightmare the online community could ever face. 4. It does not meet trade secret standards.
Analysis
I have examined cloud computing. I also feel that I am facing in the opposite direction. Cloud computing may be the greatest thing for a technology company that serves as a search engine but what happens when Google's users security is breached by an event that inevitably will occur? Who is to be held account when the system has a "cloud burst." I have invented protective measure for technology. I also know from first hand experience that mistakes happen and that no one technology is fool proof.
Cloud computing makes business sense. It does in the fact that as a competitive intelligence professional I want you to place all of your data out there for me to mine. The next generation threats are already rearing their heads and part of them are transparent to traditional security software. This means that while the server may see your part of the cloud, I can exceed the design and view your data. Search engine vendors regularly sell the data you place into their "engine" as it is, I cannot imagine the market for your more sensitive data.
Now, the scary part. What happens when another election occurs and we have a president that is a little more reactive? What happens when we have another terrorist event? The PATRIOT act was passed in weeks. What will the next version be like? Imagine when every piece of your data can be viewed without legal due process. I even heard the CEO of Google say that "... if people have something to hide, we don't want them on Google to begin with..." I do not buy that.
I have trade secrets. I go to extremes to protect these secrets. Part of the process is to ensure that my systems exceed Title 18 standards. What happens when everyone has their trade secrets in a cloud and someone shatters these "virtual" walls in those systems.
I reserved my judgment until I had completed my research. My research is done and I do not trust cloud computing with my secrets. Sure, it has its place. Even fun in some aspects. What it is not is even slightly secure.
