In a recent Op-Ed, Gen. Michael Hayden, former director of both the NSA and CIA, commented on the federal government's strategy of using cloud-computing to increase cybersecurity. In noting that the internet's fundamentally open structure favors hackers, Gen. Hayden believes that cloud-computing can be built from the ground up with more structured security principles. These security principles, often too expensive for individual users or small networks, would be more affordable because more users could access the Cloud. Likewise, these security principles would be better utilized on larger server systems maintained by cloud service providers, ultimately "holding the promise of high-end security even for routine data transactions."
However, Gen. Hayden notes that the Cloud has drawbacks. Putting vast stores of data and computing power all into one place gives hackers and nation states a very attractive target. As the data becomes more concentrated, the threat of catastrophic security failures rises. Gen. Hayden described the difference between breaching individual networks and breaching the cloud as the difference between "breaking into an individual home and breaking into a large, theoretically secure building filled with unlocked condominiums."
Of course, Gen. Hayden's comments are timely with regard to Gen. Keith Alexander's recent thoughts on cloud-computing as a possible alternative to UN regulation of the internet.
The source article can be found here.
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