Securing the Cloud—Governance, Risk, and Compliance Issues Reign Supreme

While acknowledging the many benefits that cloud computing solutions bring to the world, it is important to note that recent research and studies of these technologies have identified a myriad of potential governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) issues. While industry clearly acknowledges their existence and seeks to them as much as possible, timing-wise it is still well before the legal framework has been put in place to adequately protect and adequately respond to these new and differing global challenges. This paper seeks to inform the potential cloud adopter, not only of the perceived great technological benefit, but to also bring to light the potential security, privacy, and related GRC issues which will need to be prioritized, managed, and mitigated before full implementation occurs.