Australia mandates* cloud use by government agencies Australia's Department of Finance has updated its Cloud Policy to say “... agencies now must adopt cloud”. Those italics are the Department's, and it also has some qualifications for the edict, namely that cloud should only be adopted “where it is fit for purpose, provides adequate protection of data and delivers value for …
@John
The medium makes it hard to untangle your post because I can't see if your tongue was in your cheek while writing this.
Please tell me it's not a revelation that our government* doesn't really know what it's doing and just hits some catch-phrases and important-sounding jargon . . .
* - Before the Coalition supporters (I'm looking at you Fluffy Bunny) get their heckles up, I mean government in general, without reference to which team of clueless, self-interested spivs are in.
They do seem to be in a bit of a pickle cloudwise in Australia.
They should take a lesson from the UK, where "Cloud First" is the rule for central and local government.
And where we have the CloudStore, an on-line supermarket for cloudy products and services.
Admittedly no-one knows what "Cloud First" means and very few people have heard of it. Also, the CloudStore was meant to close down on 30 September but it's still limping along because someone can't get the replacement Digital Marketplace to work.
"Someone" is the Government Digital Service (GDS) and their advice to central and local government is "Don't procure. Commission". No-one knows what that means either.
The Government cloud programme (G-Cloud) has its own Twitter account, @G_Cloud_UK, and that's where we Brits go to find out what's happening. The Australians could usefully pay a visit.
Cloud computing depends on trust frameworks. Everyone knows that. Then a few months ago Chris Chant started Tweeting on @G_Cloud_UK about how trust can never be achieved, what you really need is truth. "24hrs to go" he said on 30 July 2014, "until @RainmakerCXO totally disrupts UK Cloud security capability. Truth better than trust. truth.rainmaker.solutions @G_Cloud_UK".
It wouldn't matter what he says if it wasn't for the fact that he's the principal architect and advocate of G-Cloud. And what he's saying is that you're wasting your time holding out for trust. What you need is GuardTime, an Estonian product marketed by Rainmaker Solutions. Let the Australians take note.
Some of us Luddites are a bit anti-cloud.
It's something to do with the OECD saying "cloud computing creates security problems in the form of loss of confidentiality if authentication is not robust and loss of service if internet connectivity is unavailable or the supplier is in financial difficulties ...". And ENISA saying about cloud that "its adoption should be limited to non-sensitive or non-critical applications and in the context of a defined strategy for cloud adoption which should include a clear exit strategy ...". (ENISA is the EU's Network and Information Security Agency).
What with that and Kim Dotcom and Edward Snowden and Bruce Schneier, it's a relief to see that local goverment in the UK is generally forswearing the cloud.
The other day, a journalist tried to snap these fuddy-duddies out of the 18th century and wrote "Council IT teams overstating cloud security concerns". But he didn't really mean it and was last seen on @G_Cloud_UK asking "why is cloud any less secure than a server sitting under a desk?".
Then yesterday, when Bruce Schneier's #IPExpoEurope comments on the cloud were reported – "We’re losing control of our data because of the cloud" – the CEO of Omnis Systems leapt to the cloud's defence on @G_Cloud_UK: "Actually it's because of public #cloud hosted in other countries. Host them in UK/EU & you'll have no issues" before adding 17 minutes later "#Cloud is not safer or cheaper for many use cases but it sounds good so who cares, they say".
That shared understanding of the cloud that we have in the UK, the confidence in its security, that's what Australia needs. Just ask that lady whose pictures were leaked the other day. She'll tell you.
@D Moss Esq
I enjoyed that post immensely.
The big problem with 'cloud', is not the cloud, per se, but the expectation that some people have, which is in no way helped by cloud vendors.
Cloud, it seems, is too often seen as a way to make everything better - you save money and hassles and once you move your stuff there, life is easy and you don't have to worry anymore. Wrong. 'Cloud' is not removing the need for infrastructure, just moving the infrastructure from one location, that you can control, to another, that you can't.
Some concerns are removed, some new ones are added but most still remain, albeit slightly changed.
In some ways, I see cloud IT services like a VoIP system. I know many companies that have implemented VoIP because they wanted to reduce their call costs. This is fine, but they had been sold on massive savings and just jumped, without doing any real trials or considering what the implications might be. They never took stock of what their existing system offered or what their requirements were.
What happened, of course, was that the VoIP system just did not meet their needs for stability, call quality, functionality and availability. They had also chosen rather cheap phones because that's what they had been quoted and they liked the price, having been shown that the handsets would pay for themselves inside a few months (they were renting their old ones).
Cloud marketing and sales pitches can be like that - overly ambitious ROI tied to unreasonably low TCO numbers. In truth, while the numbers are correct, they don't take into account all that has been lost in the rush to the 'cloud' and that will, eventually, need to be replaced.
@dan1980
"Some concerns are removed, some new ones are added but most still remain, albeit slightly changed."
Spot on. And now we are trying to figure out how to manage these concerns through contract management processes instead of through technical controls and we real beginners in this space.
– Was it Larry Ellison himself who said: "The interesting thing about cloud computing is that we've redefined cloud computing to include everything that we already do, The computer industry is the only industry that is more fashion-driven than women's fashion. Maybe I'm an idiot, but I have no idea what anyone is talking about. What is it? It's complete gibberish. It's insane. When is this idiocy going to stop?"
– D'you know, I think it was.
Lines from "Cloudbursting" illustrate both the initial uninformed enthusiasm of cloud evangelists:
"Ooh, I just know that something good is going to happen.
And I don't know when,
But just saying it could even make it happen"
and the by product for those of us using it in everyday life
"You looked too small
In their big, black car,
To be a threat to the men in power.
<snip>
I can't hide you
From the government."
I realise now they've probably also been listening to "Experiment IV"
Many businesses and many public sector organisations are frankly rubbish when it comes to IT.
They don't know how to make things secure, they don't know how to fix stuff when it goes wrong, they don't know when and how to upgrade, they don't know how to install IT infrastructure and they don't know how to make things resilient. They also don't order enough to get decent discounts.
And after all, why would a shop or a hospital even want to know about that?
That's where outsourcing your IT to somebody else comes in. It costs you less and works better.
Now you may all argue that the cloud isn't secure. But let's face it nothing connected to the internet will ever be 100% secure, especially when it's being used by people. Personally, I would much rather IT was being handled by people who know what they're doing.
What do you think happens to a company trying to negotiate a cloud services contract when they know nothing about the subject? They pay top dollar. That's what. And when the cloud service goes down, they're last in the queue for attention.
As the percentage of in-house IT departments closed down tends towards 100, the cost of cloud computing will tend towards or go through the roof. Bang goes the cost advantage.
Long before that happens, it will be cheaper to replace the shop and hospital IT staff you say are so hopeless with competent personnel.
It will also avoid the disappointment of discovering that the cloud suppliers' staff are just the same.
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