Canada.com announced it this way: “World’s top tech fair opens under a cloud”.
The clever headline drew on the buzz at the world’s largest information technology tradeshow and the coincident announcement by Google that 150,000 email accounts had been lost.
Background: the CeBIT expo held this week in Hanover, Germany promoted the theme “Work and Life with the Cloud”.
“Cloud computing” describes software and data that is stored other than on the user’s hard-drive or server. In fact, in most situations the user of the information does not know or control the physical location or configuration of where the data is stored. So think of the “cloud” as a metaphor for the internet.
Most of us have used the “cloud” concept. Posting video on Facebook or Twitter, using online photo albums, or web-based video games are all examples of data being stored elsewhere. And it’s the current rage among computer geeks: the ability to retrieve data from anywhere and share with anyone, all without building and maintaining costly data storage facilities.
But there is inherent risk as evidenced by the timing of Google’s announcement. Awkward, yes; avoidable, no.
Gmail users complained last weekend that emails, folders, and contact lists going back years were no longer accessible. On the 5th day, some users were still reporting service was down. (Google subsequently revised downward the estimated number of accounts affected to 40,000 of the total subscription base of 200 million.)
“The good news is that email was never lost and we’ve restored access for many of those affected,” a Google VP wrote in the company blog. “Though it may take longer than we originally expected, we’re making good progress and things should be back to normal for everyone soon.”
All of which raises the security issues associated with the “cloud” concept. If a player as sophisticated as Google can lose – er, misplace – data, then what are the security ramifications of storing any of your data on the web?
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PL
March 4, 2011 at 12:55 pm
What would our great-grandfathers think of this today?
Technology is becoming so advanced-
KH
March 10, 2011 at 9:37 am
There is always a risk when it comes to technology. There seems to be more and more sophisticated ways to steal or hack into confidential information. It’s a sign of the times, I guess.
LR
March 10, 2011 at 9:56 am
Technology is becoming so advanced these days and you will always have hackers trying to get any confidential information one way or the other.
HG
March 10, 2011 at 9:56 am
This is a world of technology. There is always a risk when you share information or store information on your computer. Computer geeks are getting smarter and computer programmer are working every day to invent better programs to ensure the safety of our information that is stored on the computer.
MB
March 10, 2011 at 10:19 am
It’s so strange to think that we have so much dependence on such a fragile thing as technology. When it works it’s great; when it’s down it’s the end of our world.
GK
March 10, 2011 at 4:42 pm
I prefer snail mail & steel filing cabinets.
Heather
March 12, 2011 at 1:40 pm
I have been used the cloud-based (free) Google tools like Google Docs, Google Calendar, Google Reader and others for many years now – even back when they had lots of idiosyncracies and didn’t always work flawlessly or intuitively (as they do today; thank you Google!)
I store tons of personal as well as client information for my business in Google Docs; I feel it is safe as it is password protected, and I trust that Google has more important things to do than read/use my files!
I know there is some risk using cloud-based technology, but I weigh it against the (huge) risk I used to run when I stored my valuable files on my desktop, and the computer would crash, and I hadn’t backed up my hard drive recently (which required extra hardware, extra time)…
Not to mention that I can share all my Google Docs, Calendar, Reader, etc. with my family friends and business clients – and we can view and edit them simultaneously! No more ‘version control’ nightmare of each of us having different versions on our own desktops, without real time collaboration, and somehow trying to merge them into one document!!
I feel the tradeoffs are all worth it, and thank Google and other tech geniuses every day for the huge increase in productivity I have gained!
Heather
Heather
March 12, 2011 at 1:41 pm
I have been used the cloud-based (free) Google tools like Google Docs, Google Calendar, Google Reader and others for many years now – even back when they had lots of idiosyncracies and didn\’t always work flawlessly or intuitively (as they do today; thank you Google!)
I store tons of personal as well as client information for my business in Google Docs; I feel it is safe as it is password protected, and I trust that Google has more important things to do than read/use my files!
I know there is some risk using cloud-based technology, but I weigh it against the (huge) risk I used to run when I stored my valuable files on my desktop, and the computer would crash, and I hadn\’t backed up my hard drive recently (which required extra hardware, extra time)…
Not to mention that I can share all my Google Docs, Calendar, Reader, etc. with my family friends and business clients – and we can view and edit them simultaneously! No more \’version control\’ nightmare of each of us having different versions on our own desktops, without real time collaboration, and somehow trying to merge them into one document!!
I feel the tradeoffs are all worth it, and thank Google and other tech geniuses every day for the huge increase in productivity I have gained!
Heather
sl
March 15, 2011 at 10:14 am
One aspect of cloud computing is that for a business, cloud computing is a huge benefit and huge cost saving by eliminating manpower that would normally have to handle problems arising from desk support, I imagine some staff has become redundant and large IT departments are opposed to this”cloud computing”.
jb
March 18, 2011 at 11:37 am
When it comes to cloud computing, I’m most concerned about the infrastructure (and the requirement for flawless coordination of a growing number of systems) that needs to be in place for me to even access my documents. I once worked for a company who lost internet access for a full day. This was painful considering that not only was our email unavailable (for referencing past emails), but our knowledge base (documents on google docs) were unavailable as well.
Yes, it is convenient to have access to your documents anywhere on the web, but from another perspective, it’s also crucial that that information is available to you when you need it. This is where we may discover an Achilles’ heel with using the cloud. Not only are we now dependent on the continuous flow of electricity to do business, but we are now making our business more dependent on the world’s networking infrastructure and thus rendering us susceptible to any “kinks” that may occur on the logical line between you and the rest of the world’s routers, servers, softwares etc.
I suppose that with this new use of the internet comes more urgency to backup your stuff!!! Although this is only where data is concerned. There’s also risk for businesses who have made web based services like google maps or google translation part of their own service offering and rely on Google not only for storing data, but for returning critical information required for their stuff to work at all.
Here’s an article about how Google’s search engine was compromised because of one small human error. We really are exposed to more risk than we think!
http://news.techwhack.com/9823-google-went-down