Paul Krill
Editor at Large

Security still an issue for cloud customers

news
Oct 8, 20102 mins

Cloud vendors are implementing better security measures, but potential clients still need to be reassured

Cloud computing may offer a quick and inexpensive way to build an online business, but customer fears about security still must be allayed.

Representatives of three cloud-based application companies touted their efforts Friday afternoon during an event at Google offices in San Francisco. Two of the companies, WebFilings and Simperium, were using Google’s App Engine cloud while the third, Rypple, leveraged Rackspace cloud services but used Google technologies like Google Web Toolkit.

“We have several Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies that are storing their financial information with us and on Google App  Engine, ” said Daniel Murray, managing director of WebFilings, which provides an application to assist companies with filling out U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reports. WebFilings just signed up a Fortune 30 company also, Murray said.

WebFilings, though, still has to sell the cloud concept itself, Murray acknowledged. But a lot of issues as far as security are starting to fall away, he said. Both WebFilings and Google implement layers of security, said Murray.

“You have to make you can educate your customers and help them understand how [cloud computing] can be secure and how it can be a benefit to them,” Murray said.

At Rypple, which furnishes Web-based team feedback software, the company uses Rackspace instead of App Engine because Racksapce made it easier to address concerns about security and privacy, said Tihomir Bajić, Rypple software developer. Customers, however, were more concerned about privacy of data, he said.

Simperium’s Simplenote application, meanwhile, provides a way to keep notes on the Web, a mobile device or a computer.

“Simplenote actually started as a mobile app. We built it for iPhones originally and it’s been around for over a year now,” said Fred Cheng, Simperium founder.

This article, “Security still an issue for cloud customers,” was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Follow the latest developments in business technology news and get a digest of the key stories each day in the InfoWorld Daily newsletter.

Paul Krill

Paul Krill is editor at large at InfoWorld. Paul has been covering computer technology as a news and feature reporter for more than 35 years, including 30 years at InfoWorld. He has specialized in coverage of software development tools and technologies since the 1990s, and he continues to lead InfoWorld’s news coverage of software development platforms including Java and .NET and programming languages including JavaScript, TypeScript, PHP, Python, Ruby, Rust, and Go. Long trusted as a reporter who prioritizes accuracy, integrity, and the best interests of readers, Paul is sought out by technology companies and industry organizations who want to reach InfoWorld’s audience of software developers and other information technology professionals. Paul has won a “Best Technology News Coverage” award from IDG.

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