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A new survey conducted by the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) details the negative impact that news of the NSA’s Prism intelligence-gathering program is having on the cloud computing industry. Companies outside the U.S. are canceling contacts, and most are now reluctant to do business with American vendors.
Computerworld’s Jaikumar Vijayan reported, “A Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) survey found that 10% of 207 officials at non-U.S. companies have canceled contracts with U.S. service providers following the revelation of the NSA spy program last month. The alliance, a non-profit organization with over 48,000 individual members, said the survey also found that 56% of non-U.S. respondents are now hesitant to work with any U.S.-based cloud service providers.”
Jonathan Brandon with BusinessCloud News observed, “This is interesting because apart from security solutions vendors and Neelie Kroes, head of the European Commission’s Digital Europe agenda who earlier this month made statements echoed by the survey’s findings, few seem to believe that the PRISM scandal will actually cause enterprises to abandon plans to tap US-based cloud service providers. But the survey clearly suggests that widespread US intelligence gathering is starting to have an impact on international appetite for US-based cloud services.”
In a press release, Jim Reavis, co-founder and executive director of the CSA, stated, “Transparency has always been a significant part of the CSA’s vision, and today this objective is more critical than ever. Our goal with our research efforts, and with the CSA STAR program, is to continue to encourage transparency of security practices within cloud providers. By educating both consumers and providers of cloud services, we strive to provide the tools needed to make informed decisions that take advantage of all the benefits cloud computing has to offer.”
Web Host Industry Review’s Chris Burt noted, “This survey comes as Congress is expected to vote on an amendment that would prohibit the NSA and other agencies from using Section 501 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to collect records including telephone call records, unless they pertain to people subject to investigation.”
