Cloud computing has dramatically altered how IT infrastructure is delivered and managed, as well as how IT functionality is consumed. However, security and privacy concerns continue to be major inhibitors for risk-conscious organizations to adoption of cloud computing – whether infrastructure as a service, software as a service applications or email as a service.
Cloud service providers, in response, have made strategic decisions on the investment they make in directly addressing these concerns in order to encourage broader adoption of cloud-based services. By implementing controls and processes to further improve security, cloud service providers are increasingly aiming to deliver more safeguards for the cloud environment than individual customer could within on-premise environments. However, a significant consideration for many organizations as they look to best exploit the benefits of the cloud is whether they can retain ownership and control of data processed by third party services.