Using the cloud involves an element of trust between the consumer and the provider of a cloud service; however, it is vital to verify that this trust is well founded. Assurance is the process that provides this verification. This article summarizes the steps a cloud customer needs to take to assure that cloud a service provides what is needed and what was agreed.
The first step towards assuring a cloud service is to understand the business requirements for it. The needs for cost, compliance and security follow directly from these requirements. There is no absolute assurance level for a cloud service – it needs to be just as secure, compliant and cost effective as dictated by the business needs – no more and no less.
The needs for security and compliance depend upon the kind of data and applications being moved into the cloud. It is important to classify this data and any applications in terms of their sensitivity and regulatory requirement needs. This helps the procurement process by setting many of the major parameters for the cloud service as well as the needs for monitoring and assurance. Look at Advisory Note: From Data Leakage Prevention (DLP) to Information Stewardship – 70587.
Use a standard process for selecting cloud services that is fast, simple, reliable, standardized, risk-oriented and comprehensive. Without this, there will be a temptation for lines of business to acquire cloud services directly without fully considering the needs for security, compliance and assurance. For more information on this aspect see Advisory Note: Selecting your cloud provider - 70742.
Take care to manage the contract with the cloud service provider. An article on negotiating cloud contracts from Queen Mary University of London provides a comprehensive list of the concerns of organizations adopting the cloud and a detailed analysis of cloud contract terms. According to this article, many of the contracts studied provided very limited liability, inappropriate SLAs (Service Level Agreements), and a risk of contractual lock in. See also - Advisory Note: Avoiding Lock-in and Availability Risks in the Cloud - 70171.
Look for compliance with standards; a cloud service may have significant proprietary content and this can also make the costs of changing provider high. Executive View: Cloud Standards Cross Reference – 71124 provides advice on this.
You can outsource the processing, but you can’t outsource responsibility – make sure that you understand how responsibilities are divided between your organization and the CSP. For example, under EU Data Protection laws, the cloud processor is usually the "data processor" and the cloud customer is the "data controller". Remember that the "data controller" can be held responsible for breaches of privacy by a "data processor".
Independent certification is the best way to verify the claims made by a CSP. Certification of the service to ISO/IEC 27001 is a mandatory requirement. However, it is important to properly understand that what is certified is relevant to your needs. For a complete description of how to assure cloud services in your organization see Advisory Note: Cloud Provider Assurance - 70586.
This article was originally published in the KuppingerCole Analysts’ View Newsletter.