On 24/08/15 18:59, ToddAndMargo wrote:
> 
> Be careful. The "Cloud" is marketing "weasel speak" for
> "client / server" with a really, really crappy, unreliable
> connection between the two.

Yes, some abuse "cloud" for what you describe.  But the cloud is
actually far more than just a service available via the Internet.

Cloud does more often refer to a platform, where virtualization often
plays a crucial role.  But where you can provide services, such as PaaS
and IaaS, in a transparent way to your users/customers.  And then you
have tools for managing this platform, such as RHEV,
CloudForms/ManageIQ, oVirt, OpenStack, etc, etc.

> And "Cloud" backup makes my skin crawl.  You have to take
> everything for granted that the vendor purports, as in is
> your data really encrypted and safe from prying eyes,
> employees or otherwise, not to mention and what happens
> to your data when they "fly-by-night".  And when do your
> backups stop actually backing up?  I have had a former
> customer burned by this really badly.

As with any Internet provided service, you need to pay attention to the
fine print and the hidden details.  You need to consider if and how much
you trust their service, and further consider to implement additional
security layers before using their service.  IMO, blindly trusting that
an Internet service is safe is mostly stupid.

In my setup, I have an internal backup service which encrypts all backup
data before it is saved to a local disk.  And then I use CrashPlan to
backup that encrypted data.  So even if CrashPlan fails on the
encryption provided by their service, the data is still encrypted.  And
if everything works as announced, it is at least "double encrypted".  As
always, security is best served in layers.


-- 
kind regards,

David Sommerseth