Cloud computing - also known as "grid computing", involves the use of a third-party's system or servers in order to store, access, and manipulate data. The New York Times recently used Google Apps to create a searchable PDF database of old issues, something that would have taken them years to accomplish using their own systems. Google Apps did it in a day.
However, while the benefits of the cloud can be concrete, security issues abound. On July 15th of 2009, a hacker broke into an e-mail account belonging to a member of Twitter’s staff. Once inside the account, he was able to view a significant amount of password data which was stored on a cloud computing system, in this case Google Apps.
Any time data is stored or complied off-site by a third party, a company's control of their data is partially lost, and there are a number of specific concerns that arise. First is the question of simply who is accessing your data and why - who are the administrators of the cloud, and what are their qualifications? How secure is the data itself? Second, just where is your data going? Is it stored locally? Internationally?
One way for a company to proactively protect their interests is with a data capture strategy. By knowing what data is accessed and collecting it on a local level using a separate, non-hardware, non-software dependent capture program, a company can both track its data use and plug potential leaks before they occur.
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