{"id":16105,"date":"2013-10-22T07:44:17","date_gmt":"2013-10-22T05:44:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tfu.de\/above-the-clouds-your-company-data-in-the-cloud\/"},"modified":"2013-10-22T07:44:17","modified_gmt":"2013-10-22T05:44:17","slug":"above-the-clouds-your-company-data-in-the-cloud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tfu.de\/en\/above-the-clouds-your-company-data-in-the-cloud\/","title":{"rendered":"Above the Clouds&#8230;: Your Company Data in the Cloud"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>A guest article by Gerd Schramm, &lt;data&gt;S Data Protection and Information Security, Ulm<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>These days, it seems to be quite easy to keep software and hardware costs relatively low. For founders in particular, reducing costs related to storage capacity, servers, or dedicated software is a relief. That\u2019s why <strong>cloud services<\/strong> are so popular.  <!--more--><\/p>\n<p>A distinction is made between<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>  the outsourcing of entire hardware environments (infrastructure,<strong>\u201cinfrastructure as a service<\/strong>,\u201d or <strong>IaaS<\/strong> for short, such as Dropbox),<\/li>\n<li>  the outsourcing of software and applications (software,<strong>\u201csoftware as a service<\/strong>,<strong>\u201d<\/strong>or <strong>SaaS<\/strong> for short, such as Microsoft Office 365)<\/li>\n<li>and the outsourcing of individual services (such as<strong>\u201cplatform as a service<\/strong>,<strong>\u201d<\/strong>or <strong>PaaS<\/strong> for short), such as operating a web server with an online store or MySpace.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In these cases, your data will be processed on computer systems that may be located anywhere in the world (!). Of course, special regulations apply to these platforms and the data stored and processed there, but legal provisions such as the U.S. Patriot Act grant U.S. authorities leeway that is incompatible with our <strong>data protection regulations<\/strong> in Germany. Even your cloud data stored on European soil is not safe from U.S. access.  <\/p>\n<p>The provisions of the Patriot Act allow U.S. agencies such as the FBI, the NSA, or the CIA <strong>to access the servers<\/strong> of U.S. companies, their subsidiaries, or affiliated companies\u2014even those located outside the United States\u2014without a court order.<\/p>\n<p>Even if you might say, \u201cSo what? I have nothing to hide,\u201d the fact remains that when sensitive company data is stored in the cloud, it is not\u2014and cannot be\u2014immune to hackers. Especially via internet connections and passwords, many <strong>instances of data theft<\/strong> are highly attractive\u2014and quite lucrative\u2014to the advertising industry, fraudsters, competitors, and various governments. Furthermore, you bear responsibility for the data of your customers and suppliers and are liable for it.  <\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>What should you do? How can you take advantage of cloud features while still maintaining a certain level of security? <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>  Think carefully about which cloud features you want to use and what sensitive data you (might) be entrusting to third parties.<\/li>\n<li>Keep in mind that you must have an Internet connection available at all times to use cloud computing. No Internet\u2014no work. <\/li>\n<li>Classify your information by sensitivity<\/li>\n<li>Use appropriate encryption mechanisms<\/li>\n<li>If possible, choose a German or European cloud service provider and make sure they guarantee that data will not be stored outside the EU.<\/li>\n<li>As a general rule, exercise a certain degree of restraint in your online communication. Revealing less about yourself means more privacy. <\/li>\n<li>Use encryption methods not only for data storage but also for data exchange, such as via email <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>To wrap things up, here\u2019s an image. <strong>Cloud computing<\/strong> (cloud) is marketed to us as a wonderful summer day with scattered fair-weather clouds. Anyone who\u2019s ever been in the mountains knows how quickly the weather can change and how it feels to have to find your way through a cloud when visibility is just five meters. Cloud computing can be just as opaque and full of surprises\u2014both legally and financially. Therefore: <strong>Conduct an objective risk assessment<\/strong>.<br \/>\nWe\u2019d be happy to help you with that.   <\/p>\n<p>&lt;data&gt;S<br \/>\nDipl.-Inf. (FH)<br \/>\nGerd Schramm<br \/>\nSonnenweg 3<br \/>\n89081 Ulm<br \/>\nTel.: 0731 8023688<br \/>\nFax: 0731 8023699<br \/>\n<a href=\"mailto:info@data-S-ulm.de\">info@data-S-ulm.de<br \/>\n<\/a><a title=\"Data Protection and Information Security in Ulm\" href=\"http:\/\/www.data-S-ulm.de\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">http:\/\/www.data-S-ulm.de<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A guest article by Gerd Schramm, &lt;data&gt;S Data Protection &#8230; <\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more-container\"><a title=\"Above the Clouds&#8230;: Your Company Data in the Cloud\" class=\"read-more button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tfu.de\/en\/above-the-clouds-your-company-data-in-the-cloud\/#more-16105\" aria-label=\"Read more about Above the Clouds&#8230;: Your Company Data in the Cloud\">weiterlesen &#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":1310,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[95,104,107],"tags":[139,140,141],"class_list":["post-16105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-a-personal-note","category-security-and-data-protection","category-tips-for-self-employment","tag-information-security","tag-it-security","tag-privacy-policy","tfu-above-the-clouds-your-company-data-in-the-cloud"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tfu.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tfu.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tfu.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tfu.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tfu.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tfu.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tfu.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tfu.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tfu.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tfu.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}