Prosecutor: Cloud computing is security's frontier

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10284361-83.html

By Elinor Mills
Security
CNet News
July 10, 2009

FORT BAKER, Calif.-- As data moves to the cloud, attackers and thieves 
will follow, a federal prosecutor said on Friday.

The days of tracking down software counterfeiters in other countries who 
are selling pirated CDs are numbered as companies increasingly 
distribute software and store data online via hosted computing services, 
Matthew Parrella, an assistant U.S. attorney based in San Jose, Calif., 
said at Symantec's Norton Cyber Crime Day.

"That model of importation of software is becoming obsolete because 
we're seeing on the horizon cloud computing where so many of these 
operations are pushed from a user's PC or a user's computer onto Google 
Docs or Salesforce.com," he said.

Looking ahead five years, "I'm thinking the attack is going to be on 
cloud computing centers," said Parrella, chief of the computer hacking 
and intellectual property unit at the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The immediate threat will be attacks to steal data from the servers they 
are stored on, either remotely or by an insider or someone who gains 
access to the data center, he said. Later on it's likely any stolen data 
could be pirated, he said.

[...]


_______________________________________________      
Attend Black Hat USA, July 25-30 in Las Vegas, 
the world's premier technical event for ICT security experts.
Network with 4,000+ delegates from 50 nations.  
Visit product displays by 30 top sponsors in 
a relaxed setting. http://www.blackhat.com