NSA scandal 'impacts on business cloud decisions'
NSA scandal 'impacts on business cloud decisions'
UK and Canadian businesses have been put off storing their information in cloud computing data centres in the US and other countries because of the recent spying scandal, according to a report.
Data hosting company Peer1 Hosting polled 300 British and Canadian companies about their views on data storage after revelations about information being accessed by the US National Security Administration (NSA). It found that in a quarter of the businesses surveyed, plans were already underway to remove stored data from the US. Some 96 per cent said they were acting because of security concerns and 82 per cent cited privacy for planning the move.
At the moment, the US is the most used country by UK and Canadian businesses when choosing to store data in the cloud outside of their own countries. However, the survey revealed that last year’s spying scandal has left many businesses concerned about overall cloud security, not only in the US but in other overseas countries. Nearly seven in 10 said that the revelations about NSA has increased their suspicions about how securely their information is being held.
As a result, more than half (57 per cent) said they are now less likely to store information in a public cloud. In addition, the scandal has changed IT managers’ priorities when I comes to choosing a data company to host their information off-site. Nearly eight in 10 of those polled said that they would choose a data centre offering high security in preference to one that offers the top speeds but a lower level of protection. Just nine per cent said they would opt for fast speeds over high security
And a third of those quizzed said that the NSA issue will have an impact on their future decisions involving cloud computing, the Techzone 360 website reported.
Businesses looking to move services into the cloud, should evaluate the performance of their existing network and consider setting up a leased line or MPLS network.
