Trend Cloud Security Blog – Cloud Computing Experts

Got Cloud Confusion? Check out these resources…

Frank Gens of IDC says 2010 will be a transformational year for IT, driven in part by cloud computing.  Although cloud computing is a hot topic, a lot of IT folks remain confused and unsure about a host of issues from vendor selection and control to security and compliance.  We’ve tried to help by compiling a list of great resources to help you navigate these issues.  If you find others that are worth sharing, please let us know.

There are several industry organizations and groups which help facilitate understanding of the cloud, provide best practices and enable standards:

• The Cloud Security Alliance is a non-profit organization that promotes best practices for providing security assurance and general education about the best uses of cloud computing.  They’ve got both an active Google Group and LinkedIn Group where you can ask questions or check out the issues facing other IT folk.  Follow them on Twitter at @CloudSA.
• The Jericho Forum is an associated dedicated to advancing secure business in a global open-network environment.
• Cloud Computing Interoperability Forum is a non-profit association formed to drive the adoption of cloud services.  Join their Google Group to learn more.
• Open Cloud Computing Interface Working Group is working on an API specification for remote management of cloud computing infrastructure.
• Distributed Management Task Force:  Open Cloud Standards Incubator addresses management interoperability for cloud systems.
• The European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) has compiled a Cloud Computing Risk Assessment which examines the security benefits and risks of cloud computing.

There are also several online discussion groups:

• Cloud Computing (Google) and Cloud Computing (LinkedIn)
• CloudCamp (Google) and CloudCamp (LinkedIn)
• A6 (Automated Audit, Assertion, Assessment, and Assurance API) Working Group aims to provide a common interface that allows providers to automate the audit, assertion, assessment and assurance of their environments.
• The VM People Virtualization & Cloud Group on LinkedIn is targeted at Virtualization & Cloud Computing professionals to network and discuss industry related topics.

The industry is lucky to enjoy a good number of experts who discuss the cloud via blogs, tweets and podcasts:

• Craig Balding:  Cloud Computing Security, @craigbalding, Cloud Security Podcast with Christofer Hoff
• Christopher Hoff:  Rational Survivability, @Beaker, Cloud Security Podcast with Craig Balding
• David Linthicum:  Cloud Computing (InfoWorld), Cloud Computing Podcast, @DavidLinthicum
• James Urquhart:  The Wisdom of Clouds, @jamesurquhart, Overcast podcast with Geva Perry
• Geva Perry:  Thinking Out Cloud, @gevaperry, Overcast podcast with James Urquhart
• Randy Bias:  Cloudscaling, @randybias
• Kevin Jackson:  Cloud Musings, @Kevin_Jackson
• Sam Charrington:  Cloud Pulse, @samcharrington
• Reuven Cohen:  ElasticVapor, @ruv
• James Watters:  SiliconANGLE. @wattersjames
• Jay Fry:  Data Center Dialog, @jayfry3
• Jeff Barr:  Amazon Web Services Blog, @jeffbarr
• Chris Wolf:  Chris Wolf’s Virtualization Tips and Ramblings, @cswolf
• Chenxi Wang:  Chenxi Wang’s Blog
• John Willis:  IT Management and Cloud Blog
• Chirag Mehta:  Cloud Computing
• George Reese:  @GeorgeReese
• Stuart Miniman:  @stu
• Lori MacVittie:  @lmacvittie
• Simon Wardley:  @swardley
• CloudAve, @krishnan
• Plug Into the Cloud (Information Week)
• Inside Enterprise IT (Dell)