Despite an exponent growth in the world of digitalization, cloud computing has given rise to plenty of legal issues. It has transformed our entire lives, enriched the passion to use technology at our convenience, and outsourcing has been made easier than it was ever before but still there are some issues lingering around. Cloud computing has come to light with multiple staggering issues regarding the law for data use, legal persecution of the user data, location where the data is stored, manipulation with third-party vendors that use consumer data without their will to do so and some other issues.
It also includes the data privacy laws and otherwise a variety of security systems that are put into place for guarding that data. When dealing with digital computing you have to face two things such as the cloud and legal issues, both of them can’t be ignored and must be dealt with separately. Cloud needs to be upgraded with the latest security concerns and legal issues surrounding the usage and interpretation of cloud services need to be managed properly. Following are some of the legal issues that are faced in cloud computing along with their possible solution.
Legal Issues in Cloud Computing and Their Solutions
Security procedures
There are multiple cloud computing vendors and companies out there which have implemented cloud computing services and systems in place but don’t have any security procedures or policies in place. Various other shortcomings such as not having the appropriate security checks for the approval and evaluation of security procedures is imminent more than ever. Various security procedures and likewise options that must be used as a compliant system to avoid legal data mishandling charges may include;
- General data security training
- Multiple levels of security
- Rigorous and continually upgraded security procedures
- Validation of data during data copy or transfer for its encryption
- Strict use of company-issued and secured encrypted devices for connecting with the network
In order to maintain a steady workflow, these security procedures must be inaugurated and established right away.
Third-party security and access issues
Providing access to consumer data without their consent to various third-party organizations can pose a serious threat and revokes various legal systems put in place to avoid this from happening. Many third-party cloud vendors use the same administrative interface and thus can get easy access to the data you have made available to your cloud for personal or corporate use. That is why you need to make sure that you use a variety of different multi-factor authentication systems and protocols in place to enhance your overall security.
Make sure that you hire cloud providers that are HIPAA compliant and sign a BAA or business associate agreement with your third-party vendors that have access to protected health information or PHI. This would not only secure your company data wise but also legally. It is convenient too to sign up with your cloud service provider and sign a BAA for increased overall security, not only of your data but the procedures you use during the course of cloud computing. Also, make sure that you duly read the terms and conditions sections before signing up with a particular cloud provider.
Intellectual property rights
The intellectual property rights differ from country to country and that is why it is very difficult to set up on a list of particular rights that apply to a cloud intensive environment. Make sure that you are practically aware of all the intellectual property rights that apply to your intellectual work based on the country of operations. Before indulging yourself into signing a deal with a particular cloud computing provider make sure that they understand how to protect the intellectual property they store onto their servers in order to avoid any particular data or otherwise intellectual property infringement scenarios.
Confidential data theft attacks
The data that is stored within the cloud is more vulnerable than the data that is stored in-house or within data centers. You can't do anything about it when the cloud is going to be breached by hackers or cyber criminals because once that data is breached it is not worth to you even a little grain of sand. It would either be destroyed, edited/changed, or brought into use by these hackers that initiated the breach in the first place such as selling it on to the dark web. To make sure that doesn’t happen the cloud providers offer the users different subsets of security which they can use to improve the integrity of the data stored within the cloud.
Various types of technology can be used such as encrypting the data to prevent data theft or the use of monitoring the data access within the cloud. This way it would be revealed such as who is accessing the data within the cloud without proper authentication and further actions can be taken to avoid such treachery in the future. The key thing that you need to understand is that you should investigate dearly about the breach disclosure policy of the cloud and how quickly you as a user of the cloud would get to know about the potential breach that has happened on the cloud.
Where do you stand?
You being the use of cloud computing vendors should always try to update yourself about the ever-changing rules and regulations cloud compliance authorities continue to make. Suppose that you fall short on one of these updates and continue to act not knowing then you will be setting the sail of your company into the deep waters if something out of the ordinary is carried out your end by simply being unaware. Many of these legal issues and the methods to inform about them must be mentioned within the service level agreement. You must realize the terms of the user agreement as depicted by the cloud providers and objectives of your enterprise before signing any such document or agreement.
Linux training is essential for you as someone trying their best dealing with legal and data compliant issues and also how to cater them approach.