Policy in the Cloud: Congress Looks at the Federal Role in Cloud Computing

While the idea of shared or outsourced network infrastructures and services may be old hat in the IT community, Cloud Computing represents a revolutionary technological leap forward for policy-makers in Washington and in the states,

who must grapple with new issues related to security, privacy, law enforcement and more using an increasingly outdated structure of laws and regulations.

Not the least of these issues is the potential that Cloud Computing offers governmental agencies to enhance their mission-oriented services while reducing IT-related costs in a time of significant budget constraints.  Enthusiasm for the Cloud, however, is tempered by concerns about the potential vulnerabilities of sensitive government functions and data hosted in a Cloud environment.

To learn more about opportunities and challenges brought by cloud computing and its security implications, please read the article in the November issue of IEEE-USA Today’s Engineer.