EU Agency Releases Report on Governmental Cloud Computing Security in EU

The main goal of the report is to support governmental bodies in taking informed, risk-based decisions regarding security of data, resilience of service and legal compliance on their way to the cloud.

  • Feb 08, 2011
The EU's cybersecurity agency, ENISA, has launched a new report on governmental cloud computing that targets at senior managers of public bodies who have to make a security and resilience decision about how to “go cloud,” if at all. The main goal of the report is to support governmental bodies in taking informed, risk-based decisions regarding security of data, resilience of service and legal compliance on their way to the cloud. It also highlights security and resilience pros and cons of community, private and public cloud computing services for public bodies.

"The new report presents a decision-making model for senior management to determine the best cloud solution from a security and resilience point of view,” said Daniele Catteddu, author of the report, which details and explains the different steps of the decision-making model, and applies the model to four sample services (electronic healthcare services, electronic administrative procedures, e-mail and human resources applications). Analysis and conclusions are mainly based on three scenarios, which describe the migration to cloud computing of a healthcare authority, a local public administration and the creation of governmental cloud infrastructure.

The Agency concludes that private and community clouds appear to be the solutions that best fit the needs of public administrations if they need to achieve the highest level of data governance. If a private or community cloud infrastructure does not reach the necessary critical mass, most of the resilience and security benefits of the cloud model will not be realized.

The executive director, professor Udo Helmbrech, said, "Public cloud offers a very high level of service availability, and is the most cost-effective. Yet, currently its adoption should be limited to non-sensitive or non critical applications, in the context of a well-defined cloud adaptation strategy with a clear exit strategy."

The report makes several recommendations to governments and public bodies, including:

National governments and the EU institutions should investigate the concept of an EU Governmental cloud.
Cloud computing will soon serve a significant portion of EU citizens, SMEs and public administrations. National governments should thus prepare a cloud computing strategy and study the role that cloud computing will play for critical information infrastructure protection (CIIP).
A national cloud computing strategy should address the effects of national/supra-national interoperability and interdependencies, cascading failures, and include cloud providers into the reporting schemes of articles 4 and 13 of the new Telecom Framework Directive


Featured

  • Gaining a Competitive Edge

    Ask most companies about their future technology plans and the answers will most likely include AI. Then ask how they plan to deploy it, and that is where the responses may start to vary. Every company has unique surveillance requirements that are based on market focus, scale, scope, risk tolerance, geographic area and, of course, budget. Those factors all play a role in deciding how to configure a surveillance system, and how to effectively implement technologies like AI. Read Now

  • 6 Ways Security Awareness Training Empowers Human Risk Management

    Organizations are realizing that their greatest vulnerability often comes from within – their own people. Human error remains a significant factor in cybersecurity breaches, making it imperative for organizations to address human risk effectively. As a result, security awareness training (SAT) has emerged as a cornerstone in this endeavor because it offers a multifaceted approach to managing human risk. Read Now

  • The Stage is Set

    The security industry spans the entire globe, with manufacturers, developers and suppliers on every continent (well, almost—sorry, Antarctica). That means when regulations pop up in one area, they often have a ripple effect that impacts the entire supply chain. Recent data privacy regulations like GDPR in Europe and CPRA in California made waves when they first went into effect, forcing businesses to change the way they approach data collection and storage to continue operating in those markets. Even highly specific regulations like the U.S.’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) can have international reverberations – and this growing volume of legislation has continued to affect global supply chains in a variety of different ways. Read Now

  • Access Control Technology

    As we move swiftly toward the end of 2024, the security industry is looking at the trends in play, what might be on the horizon, and how they will impact business opportunities and projections. Read Now

Most   Popular

Featured Cybersecurity

Webinars

New Products

  • QCS7230 System-on-Chip (SoC)

    QCS7230 System-on-Chip (SoC)

    The latest Qualcomm® Vision Intelligence Platform offers next-generation smart camera IoT solutions to improve safety and security across enterprises, cities and spaces. The Vision Intelligence Platform was expanded in March 2022 with the introduction of the QCS7230 System-on-Chip (SoC), which delivers superior artificial intelligence (AI) inferencing at the edge. 3

  • Connect ONE’s powerful cloud-hosted management platform provides the means to tailor lockdowns and emergency mass notifications throughout a facility – while simultaneously alerting occupants to hazards or next steps, like evacuation.

    Connect ONE®

    Connect ONE’s powerful cloud-hosted management platform provides the means to tailor lockdowns and emergency mass notifications throughout a facility – while simultaneously alerting occupants to hazards or next steps, like evacuation. 3

  • AC Nio

    AC Nio

    Aiphone, a leading international manufacturer of intercom, access control, and emergency communication products, has introduced the AC Nio, its access control management software, an important addition to its new line of access control solutions. 3