Cloud Computing

On 14 February 2013, ENISA announced the release of a new report titled “Critical Cloud Computing – A CIIP Perspective on Cloud Computing Services”. The report sets out new cyber-security measures for cloud providers and users to implement when protecting “CII systems” against outages, disruptions and cyber-attacks.  “CII systems” are described as IT systems that are either a) critical infrastructure themselves (such as e-health platforms), or b) essential for the operation of other critical infrastructures (such as emergency call centres).

The report, which complements existing cyber-security and critical infrastructure documents published by the EU and Commission, including the Commission’s CIIP Action Plan and the EU’s new Cybersecurity Strategy, focuses on measures to protect financial, health, eGovernment and cloud service provider critical infrastructure.  The report recommends:Continue Reading The European Network and Information Security Agencies (ENISA) Releases New Cyber-Security Cloud Computing Recommendations

The first meeting of the new Steering Board of the European Cloud Partnership (“ECP”) was held this week in Brussels.  The meeting, and the formation of the Steering Board, represent some of the first concrete steps towards the implementation of the European Commission’s plan to develop Europe’s cloud computing market, as set out in the Commission’s summer 2012 Communication on “Unleashing the potential of Cloud Computing”.

The Board is chaired by the President of Estonia, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, and is made up of representatives of public authorities and senior CEOs and ex-CEOs of the IT industry.  It will now prepare “strategic advice” for the Commission on how to leverage the public sector’s buying power in order to shape the market for cloud services (for example, by promoting standards for interoperability).Continue Reading European Commission Establishes European Cloud Partnership Steering Board

On September 27, 2012, the European Commission released its Communication strategy paper on cloud computing.  The strategy, in development for over a year, advocates a range of new measures to help Europe capitalise on the growth of cloud computing and increase Europe’s rate of cloud adoption.  See further below for some of the major new policies.
Continue Reading European Cloud Computing Strategy Raises Questions Over Future of Private Copy Levies

By Mike Nonaka

On July 10, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) issued risk management guidance for depository institutions’ use of cloud computing.  The guidance defines cloud computing generally as “a migration from owned resources to shared resources in which client users receive information technology services, on demand, from third-party service providers via the…
Continue Reading FFIEC Issues Risk Management Guidance for Cloud Computing