The Inequality of Cloud in Europe | Hacker News Reader

The Inequality of Cloud in Europe

mimecast.com

10 pointsbensummers11 comments

So why aren’t they? Because of a perception – not a reality – that their data will not be safe if held on a data center outside their own local jurisdiction.

I'm not really convinced just yet. If you have the data on-premises, you have control over the physical hardware. There can be reasons to trust your local authorities to not simply seize it, or spy on it in name of your competitor, but not those of the remote country. Also, jurisdiction is not that uniform in Europe.

Really?

My experience is Cloud Security is better than local in 99% of cases. And when it's been compromised it's been users / social engineering rather than the cloud service- think HBGary.

Jurisdiction might not be that uniform in Europe, but there the datacentres tend to be it's pretty good (UK, Ireland, Germany, Holland, etc).

Justin

I agree about digital security. I'm pretty sure a cloud provider can do a better overall job at monitoring the network. And with VPNs, you can make it almost like the machines are on your local network.

It's the physical/political part that cannot completely be discounted yet. It still a pretty new area of globalization and I guess time will well.

I'm more SaaS than IaaS, but yes that is also true.

To be honest though, we have a very strong heritage of protecting peoples data in the EU and have strong regulatory and legal controls around it too. We wouldn't let a government agency take data without the proper permission, as would be the case on site. I don't see any difference.

Justin

To some degree, I agree. What with PATRIOT acts, FBI wiretaps and ACTAs, no one can claim that any data in the US is safe from government eavesdropping. This is certainly more true in the US than in Europe. Then again, for all I know European governments might just be better at hiding.

Hence, there can not be any data security in the cloud. However, Europe mandates that every company must delete your data if you ask them to. Whether companies actually comply with this and whether this is feasible at all with internet technology is a different matter, but at least this shows some good will. Things like this could make a difference.

I think he/they were targeting the wrong companies. I know of big government companies that are moving to the cloud with their mail infrastructure in Europe. It's not so much trust, it's more about who will take the first jump. Lead and follow. "This big company is doing it, why shouldn't we?" But then again, maybe I'm wrong ;)

Hey Cemetric

I'm really interested to know who the big government companies are because I've been on the inside of a few deals that have gone nowhere because of data location...

Justin

Hey Justin,

Sorry to see your reply only now, I don't know if you'll see this answer, but I'm happy to give you some examples of 'big' (to belgian norms) companies that are moving/have moved to the cloud with some applications. Let me know if you're still interested.

What do people think?

Justin

Just in case you commented to "save" the article: you can find all articles you upvoted at http://news.ycombinator.com/saved?id=justinpirie.

Thanks- I hadn't- but I didn't know about that page :)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com