Steve Wozniak Grills Corporate Dependence Upon Cloud
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has been noted as a critic of the cloud. He recently made candid comments at the Apps World North America convention about corporate cloud data security. In his talk, he noted that, “I think most companies, just like Apple, start out young and idealistic but now all these companies are going to the cloud. And with the cloud you don’t have any control.”
Wozniak was referring to the tendency for government agencies to try and snoop on corporations that use the cloud. The NSA was revealed to have been snooping on traffic as it was in transit between cloud datacenters. Wozniak seems to think that as long as data is in motion, agencies like the NSA will have an opportunity to intercept it and those fears concern the Silicon Valley veteran.
When commenting on the government’s lag in creating laws and oversights in regards to cloud data security, Wozniak said, “We don’t have any strong regulations or principles.” His concern seemed heightened when Wozniak mentioned, “We’re on a bad path in that direction.”
Wozniak’s comments have sparked debate in online tech communities. Some cloud experts insist that their data retention and data transfer methods are safe. Other datacenters provide encrypted channels to move information from datacenter to datacenter. Google and Yahoo claim that they had secure channels in place however the Snowden files proved that the NSA had found a way around this. Wozniak’s comments have lead tech experts to believe that Wozniak favors a more locked down approach to critical data.
A more traditional means of storing data would require a more archaic approach of being a server administrator. While the cloud has made a site administrator’s life much easier, Wozniak seems to think that as long as the NSA has free reign to do the things they have been doing, Wozniak recommends keeping your data on-site and in a facility where the proper precautions have been taken so that your data cannot be accessed by outside sources.
