LAST MONTH, GOOGLE EXPERIENCED A GLITCH IN THEIR SYSTEM WHICH SAW THOUSANDS OF GMAIL INBOXES WIPED CLEAN OF THEIR EMAILS AND CONTACTS. SOME USERS WERE UNABLE TO LOGIN TO THEIR ACCOUNT WHILE GOOGLE WORKED TO RESTORE ACCESS. NONETHELESS, PANIC WAS SPARKED AMONG THOSE WHO HAD WORKING DOCUMENTS STORED IN THE POPULAR WEB APPLICATION. THIS INCIDENT IS A REMINDER THAT CERTAIN PRECAUTIONS SHOULD BE TAKEN WHEN USING AN EXTERNAL PROVIDER.
“As cloud computing becomes increasingly popular, there may be a tendency to rely on one’s service provider to provide a secure and consistent service. This expectation may be beyond the service provider’s capabilities,” commented Kareem Tawansi, CEO of software development provider, Solentive Software.
“Every piece of data that is stored off-premises should be evaluated in terms of its level of importance; and a risk assessment should be placed against the outcomes associated with losing it,” continued Kareem.
“The risk of losing valuable data through a service provider may be costly. It is for this reason that I believe more hybrid models will be adopted in the future. These hybrid models should allow data owners to keep a copy of their own data on-premises. This would be a particularly valuable model for businesses to adopt,” concluded Kareem.