• Cyber risks for users of cloud computing

    Home computer users and businesses are being warned to consider more closely the risks associated with cloud computing, as well as its many advantages.

  • New ways to store data securely with untrusted cloud providers

    Cloud storage security is an especially important issue for anyone dealing with large amounts of data that are supposed to be stored for a long period, such as archival and backup data. Researchers received a top honor for their ideas on better ways to ensure the integrity and long-term reliability of data stored at potentially untrusted cloud storage providers.

  • MIT, DARPA developing self-healing cloud network

    Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Pentagon’s advanced research arm DARPA are working together to create a self-healing cloud computing network that can defend against cyberattacks

  • Quantum physics makes possible perfectly secure cloud computing

    Computer data processing and storage are increasingly done in the cloud; the challenge in cloud-based system is to ensure that clients’ data stays private; researchers have now shown that perfectly secure cloud computing can be achieved with quantum computers

  • Quantum technique for secret messaging

    Quantum cryptography is the ultimate secret message service; new research shows it can counter even the ultimate paranoid scenario: when the equipment or even the operator is in the control of a malicious power

  • New cloud continuity solution for SMBs

    Research by Contingency Planning, Strategic Research Corp., and DTI/PricewaterhouseCoopers found that the effect of downtime and data and application loss on small to medium enterprises caused 70 percent of small firms to go out of business within a year of the event; a new cloud-based continuity service addresses this problem

  • Better cloud security

    Researchers have developed a new, experimental technique better to protect sensitive information in cloud computing — without significantly affecting the system’s overall performance

  • DHS begins move to cloud

    Last week, federal officials announced that DHS had made its first move to begin consolidating and migrating many of its public websites to cloud servers to reduce costs

  • Hackers using cloud networks to launch powerful attacks

    In a disturbing new trend, hackers have begun harnessing the vast computing power of cloud based servers to carry out powerful cyber attacks; cloud computing services piece together large strings of online servers and storage systems to provide users with enormous processing power and terabytes of storage space; earlier this year, a German researcher, demonstrated that a cloud server could fire 400,000 passwords a second at a secured Wi-Fi network; in the recent attacks that shut down Sony’s online customer networks in April, hackers used cloud based attacks to disrupt service to roughly 100 million users worldwide

  • DARPA building stronger cloud cyber defenses

    Pentagon researchers are seeking to develop cloud-based computing networks that can remain operational even while under cyber attack; the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Department of Defense’s advanced research department, is working on a project called Mission oriented Resilient Clouds (MRC) which aims to build resiliency into existing cloud networks to preserve “mission effectiveness” during a cyberattack; the project is still in its early phases of development

  • U.S. reducing number of data centers, moving to the cloud

    The U.S. government operates 2,100 data centers; these centers, together, occupy more than 350,000 square feet; to cut cost and increase security, the government plans to close 137 of the centers by the end of the year, part of a broader plan to close 800 data center within the next five years; in addition, 100 e-mail systems serving about one million government employees will be moved to the cloud

  • Ceelox unveils fingerprint authentication for cloud networks

    Ceelox, Inc. recently announced the release of Ceelox ID Online which is a biometric solution designed specifically for cloud computing applications; users can now use their fingerprints to securely authenticate their credentials, minimizing the threat of having their user name and password stolen or compromised; stolen passwords and online identity theft has risen dramatically in recent years; from mid-2005 to mid-2006 alone, roughly fifteen million Americans were the victims of fraud related to identity theft; with Ceelox ID, users also have the flexibility to use one password for all their accounts to increase flexibility and convenience, while maintaining security

  • Keeping digital data safe

    The recent Epsilon data leak incident was serious, as it exposed a large number of people to an attack called “spear phishing,” in which an attacker targets specific users or organizations with attempts to steal personal information; this incident could have been much worse: many third-party organizations have aggregated large amounts of our personal information in one place, making us increasingly vulnerable to the type of attack we saw with Epsilon — and attack in which a single breach can result in the compromise of a large amount of user data

  • ISC West panel to focus on cloud computing security threats

    As businesses increasingly turn to cloud computing solutions, security professionals have become concerned with the challenges of securing data that is stored off-site in light of growing numbers of cyber security attacks; while cloud networks offer smaller businesses low cost technology solutions and remote access to data anywhere, this also leaves data beyond a company’s span of control; To discuss securing data on cloud computing networks, a panel at the upcoming ISC West conference will focus on security solutions and risk management plans; the ISC West panel will be held on 6 April 2011

  • Brivo: using the Internet to control, secure devices

    Cloud computing offers efficiency and economy — but the Achilles Heel of the technology is security; Brivo uses software as a service (SaaS)-based physical access control systems (PACS) to leverage the power and versatility of the Internet to provide real-time device control for organizations that need to protect buildings and facilities