Security Integrators Need to Keep Data in the Cloud, Eyes on the Contract

Cyber attorney David Willson suggests a few things electronic security contractors should consider when helping clients who are seeking to utilize cloud-based services.

Newcomers to Colorado anxious to spend the day exploring the Rockies are often advised by locals that mountains create their own weather patterns. Forecasts for the mountains can be somewhat unreliable where “a change of weather can be just a short walk away.” Oftentimes visitors to this ecosystem are caught unprepared as differences in temperatures on mountain slopes affect cloud formation, turning a leisurely sunny hike into a hasty retreat from stormy skies.

Just as it is important to be prepared for any kind of weather and the quick change, so too should business be prepared to weather storms when it comes to technology, data storage programs and the speed at which technology changes. In the business climate, ‘the cloud’ offers consumers many benefits such as mass storage of data offsite and access to that data wherever and whenever. However, along with these conveniences comes a new biosphere of risks. Legal challenges associated with cloud security risks are not always widely understood by consumers and can land them in a storm of legal squabble if they are not adequately prepared.

David Willson, cyber attorney and CISSP for Titan Info Security Group and Azorian Cyber Security, counsels clients on cyber legal issues including using cloud-based services. Whether you own and control your own cloud or use a cloud provider, there are risks you need to anticipate and actions you need to be prepared to execute. Willson suggests anyone seeking to utilize cloud-based services should consider:

  • What happens if a customer suffers an electronic breach causing damages, theft, and/or loss of intellectual property or proprietary data?
  • Who is liable?
  • Who is responsible to perform the investigative tasks or digital forensics?
  • What if the cloud provider suffers a breach?
  • How soon will you be notified?
  • Will you have access to their network in order to conduct incident response and digital forensics or be provided all the data you need?

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