Hackers vs Cloud computing
 

"Cloud computing" seems to be the latest direction of business software,
and since I really don't know what it is, it sounds like the "big computer in the sky".
But that's being sarcastic and it's not my intention here.

If businesses do shift over to "cloud" environments, is there significant worry about the impact of "hackers" ?

My naivete makes me assume that hacker attacks,
such as the recent Denial of Service (DDoS?) war on MasterCharge, PayPal, etc.,
could just well be on whatever business system is using the "Cloud" environment.

Is that the case ? If so, why would business elect to go that direction ?

1st, cloud computing means your technical support are the best in the business. 2nd the support has access to superior tools. 3rd, those who solve problems also have access to other information or concurrent attacks. 4th, those problem solvers have access to mirror sites to quickly divert data access to other venues. 5th, a backbone providers will work with the cloud computer facility faster than with some local data center. And 6th, solutions are easier to implement when the data pipeline to that server facility is so much larger.

I think of it as that old adage, don't put all of your eggs in one basket.

I also I think of it as a tag cloud but I don't know if that confounds a hacker or gives more opportunity for information to be hacked.

The advantage of cloud computing for me is the ability to access files and info that is stored there, sort of like a hard drive you can get to anywhere and anytime you can get to the internet. I use Google's Cloud. I guess any major system is subject to being hacked. As history has shown us that is a risk that I don't think will go away anytime soon.

A bit of irony....

Google is/has dropped all computers with MicroSoft OS due to hackers.

MicroSoft announced they are going to emphasis sales to their "cloud" software.

apples/oranges

The cloud
 

First of all, "the cloud" was known as a Service Bureau or Managed Service Provider back before marketing got their hands on it and tried to make it something new.

People have been doing this for years. IBM was offering this service in the 1960's, as was Unisys. The only difference now is that the provisioning process is significantly easier due to advances in technology.

TW is right...just that he didn't mention the fact this is nothing new.

and BTW, why would Google want to encourage use of a competing OS when they make significant contributions to Linux already? Android and Chrome are both modified versions of it.