Federal Government Focuses On Cloud Security
With many organizations and individuals, security is an option that is taken seriously after an incident has occurred. As the government ramps up their utilization of cloud computing, there are those who are pushing for stronger strategies in data protection before the government moves into an area that weakens their position.
Gregory Wilshusen, the director of information security within the United States Government Accountability Office, gave the House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee his opinion. “Through cloud computing we can develop a number of data security risks. They relate to a dependency on the data practices of provider and sharing of computing systems.” It is the view of the White House Office of Management and Budget, along with other agencies to provide overall government information security that is more secure than the security schemes vendors can give, many departments are transporting their data to the cloud without considering the consequences of not having a stronger system in place.
Gregory Wilshusen noted ninety one percent of twenty four major United States agencies have brought forth issues dealing with the necessity for a stronger security within cloud computing. A report issued by the Government Accountability Office contained reasons including the ineffectual practices of security from vendors, government departments and agencies unable to possess control over how vendors mitigate security from an application standpoint, the issue of cyber criminals attacking data intensive clouds, and the matter of government departments and agencies unable to access the data they possess if or when they or a vendor ends their working relationship. Then there is the matter of actual cloud computing security.
California Representative Darrell Issa states, “I am interested in information as how organizations think that they can put in place guaranteed security in a cloud atmosphere. As all of you are aware, we can not guarantee security. We have data intrusions every day.”
California Representative Diane Watson feels the United States Government would save finances as well as obtain a quicker access to the advances in new technology, but there are many risks in security that isn’t known at this time. Also, how much control will users have with their own information in the cloud. Representative Watson also noted the vendors of clouds have to provide the government detailed documentation how they will adhere to and meet the federal information standards of security.
The associate administrator of the Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies in the United States General Services Administration, David McClure said agencies are banding together to handle the various issues concerning security, and there is a platform named the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Pilot, whose function is to create standards of certification and security.
The director of Google Federal, Mike Bradshaw, believes security will improve within the cloud. Mike explains how cloud vendors keep information on multiple servers, spread across multiple regions and physical locations, which creates a harder obstacle for cyber criminals to attack. Multiple locations also protects against information lost to various disasters. “The cloud improves security by allowing data to be stored in one central locations with full network protection. When security holes are discovered they can be managed quicker. Cloud security responds to attacks faster by decreasing the time to install security fixes on thousands of individual desktops and servers.”
Projections indicate the many United States departments and agencies could see a savings between twenty five to fifty percent of current IT costs if they transfer their data to the cloud.
The Chief Information Officer within our current government’s administration, Vivek Kundra sees the total amount of IT data centers decreasing. Over the past ten years the government increased their data centers from four hundred and thirty to approximately eleven hundred. Vivek Kundra said, “Cloud computing isn't about financial costs. It is about insuring we are providing better service that chief information officers are focused on for better service.”
CISSP training courses are the exact type of certification training focused on providing professionals the best training in preparation to meet the growing threat of data security intrusion head on. As sources including GCT Learning UK presents the information security training, the demand for expert, certified professionals can be filled. Organizational security, application development security, access control, security risk management, network security, environmental security, and telecommunications are some of the important issue conducted in the training courses.
About Us: Miva Training is an excellent resource of online IT training and CBT training courses. Microsoft Office 2010 training courses dissect and highlight the newest additions to the most utilized workforce application. Online training videos bring convenience to your learning experience with the best expert and certified instructors available. Miva Training is your Microsoft Office training location.