Cloud computing is a term that can be referred to on many levels of technology and business models within organizations. There are many different types-some restricted, others publicly accessible, etc. The real question that we must ask ourselves is physical security moving to the cloud where it can be accessed on demand by anyone anywhere? There are a few different clouds that exist:
- Public-Available for anyone and everyone-it's public information.
- Private-Restricted to those within a company or defined group and often enforced through a network access control.
- Community Cloud-In between public & private, with access restricted to multiple sets of users who have something in common.
Service models refer to the level or types of services provides by the cloud system.
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)-Provides basic computing services such as disk storage and server capacity, with application installation and maintenance left up to the customer.
- Platform as a Service (PaaS)- Provides one more service layer, usually in the form of programming, but leaves the application development and behavior up to the end-user.
- Software as a Service (SaaS)-Turnkey solution providing a complete application process. This is the typical kind used today.
So, which one is best? There are a few factors to take into consideration and each organization is different. It's assumed that the number of physical security solutions using public clouds will continue to grow. Companies need to look at their security policies and determine what's best for them.
How The Cloud: Secure Enough for Security | 2011-07-18 | SDM Magazine.