Microsoft: We need a cloud security law

Cloud computing is all the rage, but security remains an issue of utmost importance and concern. Microsoft is now getting into the act, urging Congress to enact legislation that will protect consumers and provide the government with the ability to deal with cloud computing data privacy and security.

"We need government to modernize the laws, adapt them to the cloud and adopt new measures to protect privacy and promote security" Microsoft senior vice president Brad Smith said in prepared remarks to the Brookings Institution's policy forum, Cloud Computing for Business and Society. "There is no doubt that the future holds even more opportunities than the present, but it also contains critical challenges that we must address now if we want to take full advantage of the potential of cloud computing."

GovInfoSecurity reports that the legislation Microsoft proposes calls for improvements in privacy protection and data access rules to ensure users' privacy; modernization of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act so law enforcement can go after malicious hackers; and truth-in-cloud-computing principles to ensure that consumers and businesses will know whether and how their information will be accessed and used by service providers, as well as how it will be protected.

Cloud computing is a top priority of the Obama administration, but there have been concerns about cloud vulnerabilities, especially in light of Google's claim that its systems were hacked by the Chinese. Microsoft, like Google, is heavily involved in cloud computing.

For more on Microsoft's comments on cloud computing:
- see this GovInfoSecurity article

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