Season’s Greetings from the CSA!

By Zenobia Godschalk

2009 has been a busy year for the CSA, and 2010 promises to be even more fruitful. The alliance is now 23 corporate members strong, and is affiliated with numerous leading industry groups (such as ISACA, OWASP and the Jericho Forum) to help advance the goal of cloud security. Below is a recap of recent news and events, as well as upcoming events. We have had tremendous response to the work to date, and this month we will release version two of our guidance. Thanks to all our members for their hard work in our inaugural year!

RECENT NEWS

CSA and DMTF

The CSA and DMTF have partnered to help coordinate best practices for Cloud security. More details here: http://www.cloudsecurityalliance.org/pr20091201.html

Cloud Security Survey

The Cloud Security survey is still open for responses! Here’s your chance to influence cloud security research. Survey takes just a few minutes, and respondents will receive a free, advance copy of the results.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=VqH8jHHwc9GhANj3EzDl1g_3d_3d

Computerworld: Clear Metrics for Cloud Security? Yes, Seriously

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9141010/Clear_Metrics_for_Cloud_Security_Yes_Seriously

The Cloud Computing Show (featuring interview with CSA’s Chris Hof)

http://cloudcomputingshow.blogspot.com/2009/11/cloud-computing-show-20.html

For more cloud security news, check out the press page on the CSA site.

RECENT EVENTS

State of California

At the end of October CSA was invited to present to Information Security professionals of the State of California. During this 2-day state-sponsored conference we provided education and transparency into CSA's research around Cloud Security and how the federal government is using cloud deployments.

CSI DC

Also at the end of October the CSA participated at a Cloud Security workshop during the annual CSI Conference in DC.

India Business Technology Summit

In November Nils Puhlmann, co-founder of CSA, presented to an audience of 1,400 at the annual India Business Technology Summit. Not only did he address the audience in a keynote but delivered the CSA message and learnings in a workshop at the India Institute of Science and Technology in Bangalore. Puhlmann also participated in a follow up panel in Mumbai at the India Business Technology Executive Summit.

Conference of ISMS Forum

In December CSA was represented at the 6th International Conference of ISMS Forum in Seville. Nils Puhlmann delivered a keynote and moderated a panel looking into the future of information security and how new technologies like cloud computing might affect our industry.

CSA and ISMS also signed an MOU to cooperate more closely together. The event and CSA's participation were covered in the prominent Spanish newspaper, Cinco Días, the business supplement of El País.

ISMS and CSA also started activities to launch a Spanish Chapter of CSA to better address the unique and local issues around secure cloud adoption in Spain.

UPCOMING NEWS AND EVENTS

Guidance V2

The second version of the security guidance for critical areas of focus in cloud computing is coming soon! Watch for the next version of the guidance to be released this month.

SecureCloud 2010

Registration is now open for SecureCloud 2010, a joint conference with ENISA and ISACA being held in Barcelona, March 16^th and 17^th.

http://www.cloudsecurityalliance.org/sc2010.html

Cloud Security Alliance Summit

In addition, the Cloud Security Alliance Summit will be held in conjunction with the RSA Conference in SF March 1. Further details are below, and check back on the CSA website for more updates coming soon!

Cloud Security Alliance Summit

March 1, 2010, San Francisco, Moscone Center The next generation of computing is being delivered as a utility.

Cloud Computing is a fundamental shift in information technology utilization, creating a host of security, trust and compliance issues.

The Cloud Security Alliance is the world’s leading organization focused on the cloud, and has assembled top experts and industry stakeholders to provide authoritative information about the state of cloud security in the Cloud Security Alliance Summit. This half day event will provide broad coverage of cloud security domains and available best practices for governance, legal, compliance and technical issues. From encryption and virtualization to vendor management and electronic discovery, the speakers provide guidance on key business and operational issues. We will also present the latest findings from the CSA working groups for Cloud Threats, Metrics and Controls Mappings.