Cloud Hosting Security: Don’t Be Afraid of the Cloud
Cloud hosting is growing rapidly and the cloud is widely considered the future of IT.
According to Gartner’s 2011 CIO Agenda survey, 43% of CIOs say that most of their IT should be running in the cloud in just four years.
As fast as cloud computing services are growing, that growth could be even faster given the substantial benefits in terms of cost, scalability and flexibility. So what’s holding some organizations back?
Fear.
On one level, CIOs and other IT decision-makers are simply fearful of losing control over their world that they have always controlled so completely. Outsourcing IT to a 3rd party cloud hosting provider can feel like a loss of control.
That’s why it’s important to seek out a cloud hosting company like EarthLink Cloud with a proven track record that you can trust, a company that’s also going to give you the access and tools – such as our Cloud Control Panel – to stay in control even though your new cloud servers are remote and virtual.
At a higher level, the fear is about security in the cloud. Will our data be secure? Can customer privacy be maintained? What about hackers? What about power loss, fires, natural disasters?
Of course, those are all valid questions. So what do the experts say about cloud security? According to the Cloud Security Alliance:
“If architected and configured properly, utilizing security best practices both a private or public cloud can securely host and protect your information system and sensitive data.”
The CSA advises that the same security best practices that IT professionals have traditionally used in their dedicated standalone information systems should also be used in cloud-based architecture with virtual machines (VMs).
Specifically, they recommend that cloud customers isolate their VMs on their own network to keep them isolated from other customers in the same data center and to implement firewalls in front of their VMs just as they would on their dedicated in-house networks.
To allow this level of cloud security and control, EarthLink Cloud’s cloud architecture gives you root access to the Xen hypervisor running your VM.
Other forms of cloud hosting security are delivered by our state-of-the-art SAS70 Type II Certified Enterprise Class Data Center with a 100% uptime guarantee and 24/7/365 monitoring. Some of the security features of our cloud hosting data center include an automatic IP-based Surveillance System, Biometric Security access, employee background checks, dual diesel generators, redundant 200 Ton Liebert Cooling Units, hot aisle/cold aisle containment, a fiber network with 6 diverse underground fiber paths, Multiple Gigabit Backbone Providers, 100% redundant routers and switches, FM 200 Inert Gas fire suppression system, redundant 300KVA UPS, instant power failover, and more.
For most businesses, the level of security provided by a top-tier cloud hosting company such as EarthLink Cloud is a big step up, not something to worry about.
Even for the largest, most technologically sophisticated companies, cloud servers can be made just as secure as dedicated in-house servers by implementing the right architecture, using the same best practices, and choosing a trusted cloud provider with a fully secure data center.
