Cloud: Is It About Data Security and Privacy or Classification?

For many people in government, or even when just talking about government, cloud computing is something quite scary.  "Why," they ask, "would we put our country's information in data centre in another country?"

On the surface that seems to be a good question.  But is it really?  Or is it an excuse dressed as a credible question... a diversion that stops people focusing on the issue?

As I mentioned in a previous blog, we all use cloud all the time.  Many of the same people who hate the thought of using cloud in government use cloud services at home all the time.  They trust cloud providers with some of their most intimate details, yet they don't want the government to store, in some cases, the same information in the same cloud. 

I was therefore very pleased to drink coffee with a fellow IT professional who is, at the moment, working for a large government department.  He reflected back to me something I have been saying for months.

His organisation is talking about data classification, not cloud security.

The issue with citizen data and the cloud is not an issue of privacy or security.  It is an issue of classification.  The primary reason why the New Zealand public sector organisations can not yet fully leverage the benefits of true public cloud is because their data has not been  classified - they can't separate the sovereign data from all the other data. 

It is good to know that inside more and more public sector organisations data is being properly categorised and classified. The tidal wave of true cloud adoption will continue to build. The cost and performance benefits are just too great for NZ Inc to not leverage for cost savings, service improvement and competitive advantage.

Cheers!