An open letter to Marvel’s Jessica Jones: Go to the dang cloud already
Dear Ms. Jones,
A colleague recently informed me of your misfortune vis-à-vis a S.H.I.E.L.D./Maria Hill-related explosion. Allow me to extend my condolences on the resulting crispy nature of some of your case files.
As you’re no doubt aware, securing files in a digital capacity is the best way to protect them against such unforeseen misadventures (or foreseen, for our friends with foresight). I understand your reluctance to embrace this course of document protection. And I do not find it surprising, given your laissez-faire approach toward perimeter security and your penchant for breaking your own door.
You are also not alone in your voiced concern over cloud security:
I know I should go digital, but then they want you to use that cloud thing, and what is that cloud but someone else’s server? Why would I keep MY stuff on someone ELSES’s server? Doesn’t SOUND secure, that’s for [email protected] sure.*
Epic battle: A generic cloud vs. a good cloud
You are hardly alone in your skepticism. At its core, the cloud is indeed someone else’s server.
The cloud is not inherently more secure than a hard drive stuffed under a mattress (especially under the mattress of someone with super strength), spun up in a web or magically shunted to a pocket universe.
But a GOOD cloud? A well-managed, secure, audited cloud with a proven track record of security and specific credentials?
That kind of cloud is far more secure than keeping documents on ones’ own server. Even if the server in question belongs to a former Defender.
Pour yourself some Jim Beam and allow me to expound upon this a bit.
Hosting your secure information, content and records in an enterprise information management system in a GOOD cloud means your information is readily accessible, from wherever you are (safe room, dojo, while held hostage) using a secure internet connection. It is protected in the case of theft, natural disaster or, um, explosion of questionable provenance (inevitable, in your line of business).
Whereas data stored on-premises could be compromised, stolen or destroyed, if it is stored in a secure cloud, it’s always safe and always available to you. This gives you peace of mind in addition to operational efficiency.
Imagine not even having to leave the bar to access your mission-critical files. It’s damage control without Damage Control.
So if you’re thinking of hosting your private and privileged information in the cloud, how do you know you’re selecting a good cloud? What makes a GOOD cloud good? What makes a GOOD cloud more secure than your own server or even your own filing system?
> Read more | How to build a successful cloud enablement strategy
How do you know you’re selecting a GOOD cloud vendor?
You want to look to a vendor that has a solid reputation, first and foremost. I’m all for supporting the entrepreneurial spirit of our country, but I’d really recommend not going with “Joe’s House of Serverz” for your hosting needs, even if they do have a card table set up in front of a bodega in Hell’s Kitchen.
Look for a company with a strong reputation for protecting its customers and their data.
You should also look for a cloud that is managed by highly skilled, highly trained cloud experts. These folks are heroes in their own right, and they’re carefully screened and hired to ensure they’re trustworthy and up to the task of keeping the infrastructure humming and your info on lock.
Additionally, you want a cloud with managed service models, and you want that management team to have credentials and ongoing audits to prove transparently that they’ve got the goods to back up their claims.
In other words, these are Stark or Richards kinda people.
> Read more | Fundamentals of cloud data security and protection
What makes a GOOD cloud good?
A GOOD cloud offers transparency into precisely where your data is stored and who has access to it (should be no one but you and your authorized users). The infrastructure should also keep your data totally separate from anyone else’s data.
No comingling and brushing elbows; data storage isn’t a cocktail party.
The data centers, where “someone else’s servers” reside, need to be audited and certified to be secure. There are international third-party organizations that offer regulatory standards, and if a cloud meets their exacting standards, you know you’re looking at a GOOD cloud. Data centers should offer both digital and physical security, to protect against attacks both virtual and in-person.
> Read more | What to look for in a cloud services provider
Why is a GOOD cloud more secure than a person server?
The security protocol leveraged by the managing team and the hosting technology work together to protect information better than most private entities can afford.
Equally important, a GOOD cloud provides backup.
Say a pumpkin bomb hits your office and takes out your files. (Who flung the pumpkin bomb? The Green Goblin? Hobgoblin? Red Goblin? Beside the point. You’ve just got a smoking hole in the ground now and no dang files.) You are Out. Of. Luck.
Say one of those Goblins hits a cruddy cloud server, resulting in the now-familiar smoking hole in the ground. You’re still SOL, my friend. But if you had your information stored in a GOOD cloud that employs N+1 redundancy? (That means there was at least one current, active backup of your data and your solution could rollover right away to use that data.)
Your investigation wouldn’t be interrupted in the least.
Disasters happen (especially, if you’ll pardon my saying so, around you), and protecting your data with the cloud equivalency of super strength just makes good sense. A GOOD cloud has got your back.
In conclusion, storing your information in the cloud is majorly more secure than securing it on your own premises, on paper or in digital format — providing you select a GOOD cloud to be a part of your team.
Yours most sincerely,
Tori Ballantine
*As read In Marvel’s Jessica Jones “Blind Spot” No. 1
Hyland and cloud computing
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