Cloud Security & the Application Environment
The ScaleUp Cloud is the result of over a year of work by our internet4YOU team and has been made possible in concert with 3Tera®, the leading innovator of cloud computing technology. ScaleUp leverages 3tera’s AppLogic™ cloud computing platform for our solution. AppLogic is a grid operating system which enables cloud computing for running and scaling web applications.
Better Security Through Fixed & Defined App Communication Channels
AppLogic is oriented around “Applications” which are networks of Appliances in a private address space – essentially a virtual private data center. When we build an application environment on ScaleUp, we have to define which appliance is allowed to talk (connect via network) to other appliances and which protocols should be allowed. So even though all appliances (virtual machines) are on the same cloud/network, they cannot directly talk with each other via the internal network without us defining this (all via AppLogic).
A higher level of security is achieved when using ScaleUp, because all components of an application (webservers, database servers, etc.) do not have external network interfaces. They always have to be connected to a so called gateway appliance (IN appliance), which is basically another virtual machine running a linux based firewall. Only via the IN (or OUT/NET appliances) they are able to talk to the outside (internet).
In this multi-part ‘Security in the Cloud’ series we’ll dive deeper into a number of key security, privacy & access control topics. Our next post will analyze 2 of the most common fears – a focus on Data Control & Data Privacy.
Check out the the 1st Article – The Cloud is NOT Less Secure.
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The Cloud is NOT Less Secure
There is a great deal of discussion & concern about the concept of security and cloud hosting/computing. In fact, a global survey of 500 executives and IT managers, conducted by Kelton Research and sponsored by IT consultancy Avanade, indicated security concerns as a key topic for cloud adoption for mission critical data & computing. “By a five-to-one margin, respondents feel that their own IT systems are more secure than the cloud. “Fears about security and control of data are limiting its broad adoption,” observes Tyson Hartman, Avanade’s global CTO.”
In the view of our team here at ScaleUp, the Information Week article’s description of this as a “perceived barrier” is completely accurate. It is our responsibility to help our customers & prospects understand where the overblown hype about security stops & where real business, technology & policy decisions need to start about new cloud initiatives.
As a CEO of 10 year old internet4YOU, I have a lot of knowledge/experience about remote data center management. Comparing a traditional hosted solution (using either a shared infrastructure or a dedicated infrastructure in a remote datacenter) with a cloud hosting infrastructure hardly reveals major differences in the security that can be achieved. I would even go so far to say, that using a cloud hosting is NOT less secure.
When talking about cloud computing for enterprises, people always compare running an application on some internal server infrastructure within a company with a hosted solution in a remote infrastructure. It is always mentioned that moving your data outside of the company is a big security risk
However, I would not say that having your data within your company makes it more secure. Every company nowadays is connected to the internet. Employees use USB sticks, emails and third-party application on their workstation PCs. So why should your data be less secure when you move it into the cloud (in a professional datacenter).
In this multi-part ‘Security in the Cloud’ series we’ll dive deeper into a number of key security, privacy & access control topics. Stay tuned, or better yet subscribe to our RSS or Email subscription & we’ll make sure we keep you continue to receive these articles.
