In its latest whitepaper "Cloud Adoption and Trends for
2012", the Cloud Industry Forum reiterates that data
security and data privacy remain the key concerns for businesses
around cloud adoption. Coupled with this is the issue of where that
data is held and, in particular, whether it's held in the UK or
at least within the EEA, the area recognised by the European
Commission as having adequate data protection laws.
It may come as a surprise then, to learn that a senior lawyer in
the UK was found to be in breach of the UK Data Protection Act.
This isn't the much criticised ACS:Law which saw the personal
details of 6,000 computer users exposed after a hack attack. This
was the theft of a laptop from Ruth Crawford QC's house which
contained information about the cases she was working on, including
details relating to individuals' physical and mental health.
The Information Commissioner warned that legal
professionals hold some of the most sensitive information available
and that it's vital they take adequate data security measures.
The Commissioner can issue fines of up to £500,000 for data
protection breaches but Crawford escaped a fine as the breach took
place before the fines came into force.
Time to encrypt and virtualise or let a cloud service
provider fix the problem for you? And don't forget
best practice recommendations in the cloud service provider
contract
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.