When the idea of Cloud Storage was first introduced, I immediately cringed and looked into it.   IN it's infancy, Cloud Storage was a real hot commodity but was not delivering the levels of security an in-house IT department could.  In time, levels of encryption were introduced and this seemed to make Cloud Storage more enticing.  However there is always one question that could not be answered.  Who holds the keys to the encryption of data in the cloud?  The provider in most to all instances, holds the encryption keys.

So lets see, you have the keys and my data sitting on your infrastructure in the cloud, what sort of guarantee do I have that someone there at your organization or external entity can't steal the keys or be looking at or stealing my data?  It's always been an issue of trust.  Is it cheaper to store petabytes in the cloud than internal to your organization?  In a more secure environment than at a vendors site?

hmm...

Ok, now add in this article concerning that the NSA has been looking at your data in the Cloud. (Read Article Here)

Answer me this oh pundits of Cloud Computing, where is the security and trust that my data is safe in the cloud ?   We can argue the pros and cons of allowing the Government to look at our data, but even the Gov has been proven to be insecure.  They STILL are arguing the up and downsides of Cyber Security, for what now? 6 or 8 years now ?  So the GOV aka through the NSA has opened the vaults.   Can anyone see the REAL Cloud Bursting effect that this will have ?  If trade secrets are placed in encrypted vaults within the cloud and the NSA has full access to these vaults, WHO ELSE has access to these secrets ?   Do you really think that the NSA or any branch of the GOV is secure?

Rude awakening time coming.   I've been saying for years that Cloud Computing is not safe and has serious downsides that everyone seems to be ignoring. Companies, Federal and State agencies have been flocking to "the cloud". I can't wait for the day, and it is coming, that the snake gets out of the bag and starts biting everyone who jumped onto the Cloud bandwagon.

Reading into this article, this is really nothing more than the "fox IS in the hen house" or the old childrens tale of "The Emporers New Clothes".  Welcome to the real world people. Your data data vaults are open and there is nothing you can do about it while you stay in the cloud.

Enjoy and please remember to compute safely.  Even though your storage doesn't !