Alert Logic's new State of Cloud Security Report finds that cloud computing is no less safe than enterprise data centers, but web applications are a significant vulnerability in both environments....More

Last week, as expected, Microsoft introduced the new business editions of Office 365. This launch followed closely after the Microsoft Lync Conference the previous week, so it's worth highlighting that the version of Lync Online included in the latest Office 365 editions will be Lync 2013. Perhaps the question is whether companies are ready to seriously consider the cloud for unified communications (UC) deployments -- and whether Lync 2013 in Lync Online will give customers enough to really consider it to meet their UC needs. One of the big announcements at the Lync Conference was the integration of Lync into the Skype division of Microsoft. As two major communications platforms, the move certainly makes a lot of sense. Skype has primarily been a consumer-driven product, but Skype division president Tony Bates used his part of the opening keynote to talk about how the combination of these platforms creates a communications environment centered on people that spans home and work life....More

Last week, Microsoft launched Office 365 Home Premium subscription service, the version of its cloud service aimed at home users of the company's Office suite of applications. Subscribers will get the new Microsoft Office 2013 versions of Access, Excel, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, Publisher, and Word. What got somewhat lost in the shuffle of this launch was that Office 2013 was also released for purchase in the traditional software model. I'm sure that's no mistake, as Microsoft transitions to a "devices and services" company.Microsoft also announced that the would launch with new capabilities on February 27, which is probably the bigger news for IT pros. However, the company created some hoopla around the launch of the consumer-focused Office 365 Home Premium with an event in New York at Bryant Park where visitors were able try features of the new releases, including Skype world calling -- which you won't get in the retail version of Office. In all of Microsoft's signage and press material surrounding the launch, the subscription model is highlighted and the straight software for purchase looks like an afterthought....More

When you mention cloud computing, most IT pros probably think of outsourcing their company's applications and infrastructure. Certainly, that model is appropriate in some businesses. However, there are other circumstances that might call for cloud computing in a dynamic or temporary deployment, and a recent survey suggests that more businesses are looking at this model for uses such as big data or media files. The survey was prepared by cloud security vendors CloudPassage and received input from 201 IT professionals ranging from C-level executives down to the systems administrators in the trenches. One of its key findings indicated that 70 percent more companies are planning to use public cloud environments for temporary workload or big data in 2013 as compared to 2012....More

Cloud computing and the hobbit, Bilbo Baggins? What might they have in common? On the surface, you'd have to say nothing. But I've been thinking about The Hobbit lately, with the much-anticipated Peter Jackson epic set to debut in theaters soon. Although I'm sure J. R. R. Tolkien had no notion of cloud computing, or computers for that matter, Bilbo's story can still be read as an allegory for the journey that many IT pros take when they move to the cloud -- with many of the same lessons to be learned. At the start, Bilbo is quite content in his little hobbit hole, Bag End, in the Shire. Think of that as IT pros in the traditional mode of on-premises deployments. Had he been left to himself, that's exactly where Bilbo would have stayed. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your point of view), Gandalf chose Bilbo to accompany the dwarves on their quest across the wilds to the Lonely Mountain. We can say Gandalf is like a CIO or CEO or some conglomeration of super powerful execs. And the dwarves? We'll call them end users that Bilbo has to successfully move along to the cloud....More

What's holding back cloud computing? If you're a fan of The Simpsons, as I am, your first thought might be that it's all down to the Stonecutters secret society, which seems to control just about everything. After all, few people doubt that the concept of cloud computing makes sense and can provide business benefits in terms of increased agility, scalability, and cost savings. What reason could explain the slow uptake of the cloud other than a vast conspiracy? Perhaps I overstate. In reality, businesses and IT pros have legitimate concerns about transitioning to the cloud, and although these concerns have a number of specifics, I'd say they can all be boiled down to one basic underlying reason: lack of trust. Can the cloud provider's security match on-premises security? Is data in the cloud safe and protected and accessible in the event of litigation and e-discovery requests? Can the company meet its regulatory compliance goals with a cloud service? What's does the business do if they can't reach the service, whether from a failure within the service or some other Internet or communications outage?...More

Email services have long been one of the first places companies have looked for outsourcing to the cloud. It makes a lot of sense: Few companies are in the business of providing email (with the exception of service providers), although email is essential to almost every business. Therefore, why not let someone else manage this function and free up your IT resources to focus on projects more central to your company's mission?However, with as easy a decision as moving email to a hosted service might seem, you could run into significant problems if you don't plan carefully before any migration. If you're using Microsoft Exchange Server, or another groupware provider, do you know all the third-party products or add-ins that tie in with that system? For instance, you might have a group in the company that uses a program to email automated reports weekly or monthly to key members of staff; if email domains change, someone's important information might not appear in their Inbox as expected. And what about machines such as printers that can email scanned documents to your users -- how will they work after you transition?...More

A few weeks ago, Dropbox made the kind of headlines no cloud service wants due to a security breach and compromised customer data. This event put the spotlight on the security of personal file-sharing sites, particularly if they're being used to share business data. Employees have many reasons for using sites such as Dropbox, Microsoft SkyDrive, or Google Drive, which is why it's necessary for IT departments to be aware of the security liabilities and how they can alleviate the problem -- at least as much as possible....More

Does your company use a cloud service to store sensitive or confidential data? If so, where does the responsibility lie for keeping that data secure? These are a couple of the questions addressed in a new study released by Thales e-Security. The study, titled "Encryption in the Cloud," also focused on data encryption with cloud solutions and where such encryption is applied. One of the big surprises in the survey data comes from how many companies are using the cloud for sensitive or confidential data: nearly half, 49 percent, of respondents do so currently, and another third said their companies likely would do so within the next two years. With that amount of sensitive corporate data going to the cloud, data security must be a primary concern -- or so you might think....More