When you hears about cloud technology, what comes to mind? Is it the cheesy Window's commercials? Or, better yet the grand idea of being able to access any of your files from wherever you please? While these concepts, among others, may come to mind upon first hearing the term "cloud" in a technical context, I am sure you didn't think of it as a great way to find the kid who stole your computer. However, one college student from Bentley University, named Mark Bao, was able to do just that using his cloud back-up program called Blackblaze. In short, Blackblaze is an online service that allows you to save any files you please onto it's server for $5/month.
What Bao did was set-up his cloud system so that anything he saves automatically goes to Blackblaze. This was convenient at the time, and then became the reason he caught the kid who stole his laptop. This is so because, once it was stolen, the thief kept unknowingly saving files to the cloud, leaving his e-mail address, files, and his name at the hands of Bao. Bao evidently reported the name, retrieved his laptop, and got plenty of revenge.
Not only does this event introduce a new way a cloud system can be used, it introduces indirectly addresses the security risks of the concept of cloud systems. One thing that seemed to shout out to me was how easily Kao was able to access the thief's files because he did not wipe the stolen computer well enough. This screamed out because the first thing that comes to mind is the security of having a used computer. The ease of Bao's accessing those files present the question of how easy it to do this same exact thing to someone who purchases a new computer? Hypothetically speaking, if the computer is not cleaned to the fullest extent, something that is completely plausible, then how safe is purchasing a used computer?
Also with respect to security, one of the key uses of a cloud system is to keep your files secure from being deleted and, more importantly, being accessed from other parties; especially in the event of a lost or crashed computer. This event actually questions the legitimacy of this security because if the thief was easily able to save to Bao's cloud drive, then he must have had the ability to access the drive. This presents the question: if someone was unintentionally able to have access to a cloud, then how severely can someone intentionaly trying to access a cloud drive attack someone's files.
While this story speaks to the benefits that a kid was able to reap from his cloud systems, I feel it actual presents some of the major flaws, particularly in the security aspect, of a cloud system.
Sources:
Hill, Kashmir. "To Catch a Computer Predator." Web log post. Forbes. 22 Mar. 2011. Web. 22 Mar. 2011. http://blogs.forbes.com/kashmirhill/2011/03/22/to-catch-a-computer-predator/.
http://www.backblaze.com
Cloud computing has certainly been the rage lately and its benefits have been the topic of discussion in the computing world. For anyone unfamiliar with the term, Cloud computing is known as the practice of using a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet to store, manage, and process data, rather than a local server or personal computer. The great benefits and advantages of a new technology such as this are always advertised and talked about, and the darker issues, such as security issues, are left well basically in the dark. What is important I feel about this article and Mike did a great job highlighting is the fact that although Cloud computing may be great, it can pose some serious security issues. Interesting about this article is that this security breech that is discussed was actually used in a positive way and not negative. In essence this might be a perfect example of learning from your mistakes, and I say this because A) this breech highlights a security issue within the Cloud and B) the breech was not harmful but instead used to retrieve something that was stolen. Basically as long as issues such as the one presented in this article are fixed then this Cloud computing technology will continue to be innovative and greatly beneficial to all its users.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both Mike and John in that this article did a great job of pointing out the security flaws of Cloud computing more than anything else. I personally do not participate in Cloud computing, but I do see the positive aspects of such a system. Being able to access your files from any system would make traveling while working much easier and I can definitely see the benefits. However, I can't get past the major security flaws that this systems obviously must impose. If the problem brought up in this article isn't fixed than getting to people's private files could be just as easy on the Cloud as it would be if someone stole a personal computer or laptop. If that is the case, for security purpose, I would probably just stay with personal computers for saving information because at least I would know where it would be at all times.
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