Secure Cloud Computing

In the run-up to the next Cloud Expo, 7th Cloud Expo (November 1–4, 2010) being held at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Silicon Valley, it's time to give my earlier list a complete overhaul. Here, accordingly, is an expanded list of the most active players in the Cloud Ecosystem. I have increased it from the 'mere' 150 I identified back in January of this year, to 250, testimony – as if any were needed! – to the fierce and continuing growth of the "Elastic IT" paradigm throughout the world of enterprise computing. Editorial note: The words in quotation marks used to describe the various services and solutions in this round-up are in every case taken from the Web sites of the companies themselves. Omissions to this Top 250 list should be sent to me via Twitter (twitter.com/jg21) and I will endeavor to include them in any future revision of this newly expanded rou... (more)

The Impact of the Cloud on Digital Forensics - Part 1

Digital Forensics is not an elephant, it is a process and not just one process, but a group of tasks and processes in investigation. Examiners now perform targeted examinations using forensic tools and databases of known files, selecting specific files and data types for review while ignoring files of irrelevant type and content. Despite the application of sophisticated tools, the forensic process still relies on the examiner's knowledge of the technical aspects of the specimen and understanding of the case and the law - Mark Pollitt. As has been established from articles by var... (more)

Cloud Expo 2011 East To Attract 10,000 Delegates and 600 Exhibitors

SYS-CON Events announced today that the 8th International Cloud Expo will take place June 6-9, 2011, in New York City. The International Cloud Computing Conference & Expo series is the world's leading Cloud-focused event and is held three times a year, in New York, Silicon Valley and in Europe. Over 200 corporate sponsors and 10,000 industry professionals have participated in Cloud Computing Expo since its inception, more than all other Cloud-related events put together. Cloud Computing Expo 2011 East Call for Papers Deadline November 30, 2010 - SUBMIT YOUR SPEAKING PROPOSAL TODAY... (more)

Cloud Security Series | SQL Injection and SaaS

Security #1 Concern for Cloud Adoption An analysis of several CIO Surveys about cloud adoption reveals two things: There is a growing adoption of cloud computing But Security Concerns remains on top of CIO's minds So either as a SaaS provider or a IT services provider who develops applications on PaaS platform, we should address the security concerns,  and this series of  article aims at  addressing various security concerns. This concern is aptly shown in the study,  Courtesy ‘Microsoft : The Economics Of Cloud'. SaaS and SQL Injection Like other web-based systems, cloud applicati... (more)

Giving Thanks for the Hackers, Crackers and Thieves

This holiday season, give your friendly neighborhood hacker (black or white hatted) a nice pat on the back.  ‘Why?’ you may ask.  ‘Aren’t they responsible for the nasty botnets, malware, SQL injections, stolen identities, government infiltration, Stuxnet, and all the malicious things you warn against in this very blog?’  Yes, but over the years it’s been the very same folks attempting to and successfully gaining access to systems to infect, steal, snoop and causing general havoc that have made security better.  All the new variants of worms, viruses, trojans or the all encompas... (more)