Friday, 23 March 2012

Time to Change the Cloud ECM Data Security Conversation

One common complaint regarding SaaS for ECMS is the perceived high risk for data security. This impression has flooded the internet community with the idea that SaaS ECMS has reduced security. Their central point is that “on-the-premise data storage” is safer than on servers run by companies providing CMS.

The right question is not whether SaaS for ECMS is secure, but rather to what are we really comparing it to?

The past few years have witnessed high profile hacking stories that included breaking into the servers of supposedly secure organization such as Sony, Lockheed Martin and the International Monetary Fund. These are not unique examples. A recent survey of 583 U.S. companies conducted by Ponemon Research on behalf of Juniper Networks reveled that “90% of the respondents said their organizations' computers had been breached at least once by hackers over the past 12 months.”

The paradox is that logically businesses should seek a web hosting/ECM service company since one of their primary functions is to keep data secure for thousands of clients. In other words, why is the data centre of a consumer goods company, bank, or hospital more secure than a company providing ECM services?

Unfortunately, numerous blog posts and news articles believe security on the cloud is a major obstacle for SaaS for ECMS, making this idea an accepted fact without careful examination.
The point is not for companies considering SaaS for ECMS to ignore the security risks, but to rationally compare the security mechanisms employed in-house versus those employed by an ECM provider.

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