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UK businesses are being urged to conduct
proper due diligence on cloud service
providers, following research showing that
70% of cloud storage and backup providers
don’t reveal in which country customer data
is stored.
IT solutions provider Icomm Technologies,
which conducted the research, says businesses that
don’t know where their customer and employee
data resides could fall foul of data protection rules.
The Data Protection Act 1998 states that data
should not be transferred to countries outside the
European Economic Area unless it is adequately
protected.
Ian Callens of Icomm Technologies said:
“Companies need to ensure they know where
business critical data is being held to avoid the
risk of cyber espionage, crime, illegal copying,
sharing and selling of their data to third parties.
Our research has shown cloud backup providers
are not forthcoming in sharing even basic
geography of where data is stored. This suggests
most users of cloud backup aren’t concerned or
even asking about data location as part of their
due diligence.”
Research firm IDC advises CIOs to ensure due
diligence when selecting a cloud service provider
on the basis that 30% of suppliers currently in
the cloud market will be out of business by 2015.
0121 248 7878
Greater cloud and smartphone use
means that almost half (46%) of
corporate information now resides
outside the corporate firewall,
according to Symantec’s 2012 State of
Information Report.
Almost 23% of business information
is stored in the cloud, with another 14%
stored on smartphones and tablets (18%
in the UK). More than a quarter (28%) of
corporate information is accessed via a
mobile device.
Francis deSouza, group president
of Enterprise Products and Services at
Symantec, said: “Businesses are undergoing
a transformation unlike anything we’ve
seen before.With mobile devices and cloud
giving employees access to information
from nearly anywhere, we’re also seeing
more sensitive information living beyond
the traditional IT boundaries. This is
creating concern about how to best protect
this information.”
Information sprawl poses a number of
challenges, particularly around information
retrieval and security: more than one-
third of businesses say they have had
confidential information exposed as a
result of lost or stolen mobile devices.
To help businesses manage data in this
new environment, Symantec makes the
following recommendations:
1. Focus on the information, not the
device or data centre
.
With BYOD and cloud, information is no
longer within the four walls of a company.
Protection must focus on the information,
not the device or data centre;
2. Not all information is equal.
Firms must be able to separate useless data
from valuable business information and
protect it accordingly;
3. Be efficient.
De-duplication and archiving help
companies protect more and store less to
keep pace with exponential data growth;
4. Consistency is key.
Set consistent policies for information
that can be enforced wherever it’s located
including physical, mobile, virtual and cloud
environments;
5. Stay agile.
Plan for your future information needs by
implementing a flexible infrastructure to
support continued growth.
www.symantec.com
agenda
01732 759725
magazine
05
Everyone invited to the ball
Norwegian designer Peter Opsvik has a history of bringing out
eye-catching and radical seating designs, from the Tripp Trapp
high chair to the Capisco office chair and Balans Concept.
His latest effort, the Globe Concept chair, has been created in the
same tradition of ergonomic excellence and uncompromising design.
The Globe’s distinctive rounded seat and ball-shaped supports
and footrest are not only visually arresting; they encourage more
dynamic sitting and support the upper body and arms without the
need for any adjustment. The unusually high seat gives users better
reach and a refreshing perspective.
There are three models in Moment AB’s Globe family – the
Globe One stool and Globe Two chair for meeting rooms and
public areas; and the Globe Tree, an all-in-one, space-saving laptop
workstation with integrated tables.
www.globeconcept.org
Do you know where your data is stored?
Half of corporate data
exists outside the
firewall
Not an Antony Gormley sculpture,
but a worker in a vast vaulted
chamber deep inside a mountain
near the Swiss Gotthard massif.
Formerly the site of the Swiss Air
Force’s Command and Control
centre, the subterranean multi-
storey buildings have been
converted into a data centre
providing 15,000 square metres of
military-grade secured co-location
space. Other benefits of the
subterranean Alpine location are a
consistent, cool temperature and
an abundant supply of glacier
water for energy-efficient cooling.
The Deltalis RadixCloud data
centre (equipped with modular
data centre products from
Minkels) was shortlisted for the
DatacenterDynamics EMEA 2012
Awards in the ‘Most Extreme Data
Center Deployment’ category.