Security warning a positive, not negative, says cloud company

The Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority recently published a warning that cloud-computing services are not regulated enough. However, Salesforce.com, a cloud computing provider, responded to the letter, saying that it is a sign that cloud computing is maturing and growing.

APRA’s letter warned that cloud computing posed risks that adopters were ignoring. “The initiatives are not being subjected to the usual rigour of existing outsourcing and risk management frameworks, and the board and senior management are not fully informed and engaged,” wrote Puay Sim, the regulator’s general manager of its supervisory support division.

However, in a recent statement, Salesforce.com called APRA’s warning “a welcome development that signals a new era for the IT industry in Australia.”

According to the cloud computing company, APRA’s letter acknowledged the rapid rate at which companies around the world are adopting cloud computing. They said companies need to be “judicious” in their deployment of cloud services, but that the trend towards cloud computing is a positive one for Australia’s financial services industry.

Not all experts think that cloud computing poses a security risk. In a speech at a cloud computing conference in Sydney, Timothy Pilgrim, Australia’s privacy commissioner, said cloud computing has the ability to enhance enterprise privacy.