MSPAlliance CEO Says More Focus Needed on Cloud Security and Privacy

The recent news about privacy concerns surrounding the National Security Agency has caused the CEO at MSPAlliance, Charles Weaver, to comment on the need for greater security and data protection, particularly in the public cloud.

Weaver said that data breaches, theft and security vulnerabilities are the bigger concerns with the public cloud, stating: “In comparison to private cloud, [public cloud poses] a very real danger.”

Reference was made to a recent study by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation which suggested that the U.S. cloud industry may lose around $35 billion by 2016 due to privacy and security concerns related to the NSA’s data collection practises. Weaver added that this could potentially lead to “a public cloud world where we have zero expectation of privacy.”

Weaver also said: “This is not an indictment on private cloud or traditional managed service providers. The public cloud industry in the U.S. could lose up to $35 billion. It's not theoretical; it's an actual loss of revenue.”

MSPs and cloud service providers must gain a better handle on security and data protection, especially in light of recent events, and should also build their own industry standards and regulations, before that is done first outside of the industry.

MSPs around the world have been certified and audited around the world for over 10 years, yet the advent of cloud computing has heightened the significance of certification and industry standards.

Weaver stated: “Ten years ago, MSPs on our advisory board came to us and said we should have our own standard. There are significant gaps in all the standards compared to what we do, and they were not designed with the cloud provider and MSP in mind.”

MSPs need to become properly certified in order to gain credibility in the market, Weaver said. He commented: “Certification is a good way to show that it's signed by a public accountant, and that translates into any type of language. I don't see we have enough qualified MSPs to do the work.”

Large banks are often protected whereas small and medium-sized banks are usually left behind, according to Weaver; yet this also presents an opportunity for MSPs.

He noted: “More on the positive side, I think the opportunity in the long term is that service providers can generate revenue through cloud computing that secures and makes customer data private. MSPs have a valuable role to be a triage.”

Over the last five years, the cloud has paid a lot of attention to simplifying use and not being too pricey, rather than placing focus on security.

According to Weaver, “If there is one positive thing for MSPs and CRN readers, it's that there is a ton of opportunity out there. We are going to be joining MSPs and vendors to work on and spearhead this concept of how we get security and privacy back to cloud.” (CY) Link