/* The following article is extracted from the "Information Security Newsletter" published by the JUCC IS Task Force. */

The innovation of cloud computing has changed the way IT operations are deployed in various organisations around the world, including universities. Its benefits in cost saving, operational scalability and flexibility surpass the conventional platform and quickly become the center of attention for the next generation computing style.

The outsourced and resource concentration nature also shifts people's focus on the new security vulnerabilities and concerns that come with the cloud computing. It creates a dilemma for cloud customers and service providers to differentiate their responsibilities toward data privacy, malicious cyber attacks, regulatory compliance and IT governance.

As of today, cloud computing is still an emerging technology. Cloud platform cannot offer the full spectrum of certain applications architected in traditional on-premises environment, especially when the applications are highly specialised (not commonly used) or the universities require exclusive control over their IT functions.

[Previous section]