21 May 2010
Cloud computing and privacy- developing some strategies
- a government perspective
Clifton ChanCROWN COPYRIGHT ©
What is cloud computing?
Undefinition
“The network is the computer”
-- John Gage, Sun Microsystems, 1982
“... computing may someday be organized as a public utility ...”
-- John McCarthy, 1961
Definition
“a computing capability that provides an abstraction between the computing resource and its underlying technical architecture (e.g., servers, storage, networks), enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.” -- NIST
Characteristics
On-demand self-service
Broad network access
Resource pooling
Rapid elasticity
Measured service
-- NIST
Services
Software as a Service
Platform as a Service
Infrastructure as a Service
“Stack” of services
Types
Public clouds
Community clouds
Private clouds
Hybrid clouds
Potential Benefits
Fast deployment – low entry barriers
• Self provisioning/de-provisioning
• Pay for what you use
Minimum/no capital
• No large capital investment
Quality/value-for-money
• Access large economies of scale
• Access sustainable centres of practice
• Access better services
Paradigm
It is a form of outsourcing.
Why the fuss?
We outsource all sorts of things, e.g.:
Mainframe bureaus
Payroll bureaus
Watering plants
Office cleaning
Helpdesks
Fuss:
Data is likely to be overseas
• Outside your organisation
• Outside NZ jurisdiction
Multi-tenant
• 100’s – 1000’s of organisations
• 1,000,000’s of users
The network is often the Internet
Accountability
When you outsource you are still legally accountable
Strategies
Outsourcing
Risks and costs vs benefits
Privacy is a risk
• Different profile with cloud computing
Are you ready for outsourcing?
Privacy
Privacy Impact Assessment
Classify and value your data
Status of data
NZ law / NZ provider
Align cloud type to risks/data-value
Favourable terms of Exit
Monitor usage / contract
Stay informed
Questions
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