A new piece of research from security providers Stratsec has inferred that some cloud providers are unable to block malicious attacks, which could lead to cyber hackers being able to infiltrate systems in a botnet-styled attack.

As a result, according to the research at the Stratsec Winter School, there was an alarming number of reasons why attacking cloud systems was a good idea, such as being relatively easy to set up, costing less, and taking significantly less time to build.

Instead of a traditional botnet setup whereby an attacker would need to know various programming languages in order to hack into a system, in order to set up a botCloud – defined by Stratsec as a group of cloud instances controlled by malicious entities to initiate cyber-security attacks – the attacker only needs to know the cloud provider’s API and requisite sysadmin knowledge.

Worryingly, the researchers stated that based on their …

I enjoyed reading Nicholas Carr’s “The Big Switch” when it came out a few years ago. It compared cloud services to water and electricity, and set me on course to write about cloud computing and its potential on a regular basis.

Now, as I consult with three different software development teams to develop and deploy their ideas via cloud computing, I have to ask, “when can I simply turn the spigot on and off?”

With public-cloud options, we still face buying instances, aka chunks of compute power. There are gaps we have to leap as we approach the limit of a specific instance, with proportional price jumps.

One blinding revelation I got from putting on my Captain Obvious hat was that buying compute power is more like construction than manufacturing; there are precious few economies of scale. So, one project, as we project growing from 100 users to 1,000 and then 100,000, our cost/customer barely drops.

With private-cloud options, we face the normal IT challenge of captial expenditure. We don’t have an existing datacenter, so we’d be buying iron and software licenses the same as in the past. Sure, we should get higher usage from our resources, but we’d also need full-time people to keep our virtualization, stack, and UI running in joyful harmony around the clock.

One of our projects involves a presentation-driven business that has facilities that are open only a few hours per month. Why even put in a broadband connection at almost $1,000 a year if we can provide almost the same experience to our customers with a laptop, monitor, and DVD? Then after that, provision cloud on an irregular basis?

When can we simply turn the spigot on and off, and get a good “laminar flow,” as the engineers say?

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Generally speaking, up until now, the IT department’s responsibility has been to maintain the organisation’s infrastructure regardless of cost.

With IT providing the backbone to any thriving business, it is no surprise that MDs have favoured security over cost any day – but the advent of cloud computing has changed all of that.

As the economic outlook remains pessimistic, companies are looking for ways to cut costs – often leading to a reduction in staff. With this in mind, IT staff are quick to label the cloud as a passing fad in the fear full adoption could lead to unemployment.

Realistically speaking though, cloud computing doesn’t mean the end of the IT department, in fact; it means the start of a more productive workforce.

The more enlightened members of staff will recognise that the role is changing. Gone are the days of spending all day in the computer room …

A few big industry changes happened this week. Windows 8 and Microsoft Surface are now part of our world; the two Apple executives who were committed to, respectively, poor customer service in Apple’s stores and an even poorer Maps product are no longer part of our world.

The Surface was previewed with a clumsy “kickstand” that drew a few hoots and catcalls from the peanut gallery. Doubling down, Microsoft now brings new meaning to the phrase “it’s a feature, not a bug” by making the kickstand the central feature of the Surface’s initial advertising campaign.

Windows 8, meanwhile, has drawn praise for its all-new look and condemnation for an interface that seems better designed for mobile rather than laptop/desktop systems. Again doubling down, Microsoft shows people pointing at Windows 8 on traditional systems, bringing back the disastrous notion of gorilla arms.

It’s hard to know what to make of all this. A few basic questions:

What was the highest level at which Maps was tested? Did Tim Cook see it before it launched? Did Scott Forstall? Who knew what about Maps and when did they know it?
What was Tim Cook thinking in hiring a downmarket slash-and-burner to run Apple’s stores? Will John Browett’s replacement come from Walmart?
Will Microsoft’s “kickstand” some day take its place in the IT Hall of Shame alongside IBM’s “chiclets”?
Why would Steve Ballmer revive a definitively failed idea like pointing at computer screens? Is Microsoft Bob 2.0 next?

The good news for the cloud computing industry is that the real innovation continues to come from the dozens, perhaps hundreds, of companies who are building out stacks, frameworks, and enterprise ecosystems.

As I prepare for Cloud Expo next week in Santa Clara, I’m glad that the awkward peregrinations of the current failures of industry’s two most iconic consumer brands has little effect on what’s really going on in the IT industry today.

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C12G Labs has just updated its public and private training sessions offering, to adjust to customers and users demands.
Public training sessions will be offered on a regular basis. A schedule for public classes at C12G Labs Headquarters in Madrid has just been published. The first scheduled one, due next 11th of December, is called “OpenNebula Fundamentals: Cloud Operator and Architect Course” and covers the process of installing, configuring and operating private, public and hybrid clouds using OpenNebula. Other locations in Europe and United States to hold the training are also being considered. Please contact us if your would like to request training near you.

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