TechWeek Readers Prefer Dedicated Hardware To Cloud

Cloud hosting on shared hardware is not secure enough for sensitive data, according to a poll of TechWeek readers.

The move to the public cloud seems inevitable as the services offered by large operators, based on shared hardware, can be very price-competitive. But recent events, such as the revelations by Edward Snowden of government access to cloud providers’ customer data, have combined to reduce trust in these services.

Keep out of their cloud?

An overwhelming 87 percent of TechWeek readers said they trusted a service based on dedicated hardware more than a cloud service using shared hardware in a poll which asked which hosting setup they trust more for storing sensitive data.

The dedicated hardware option could include servers provided and operated by a third party, or in-house IT services. The cloud hosting on shared servers would include providers such as Google, Amazon and Microsoft.

The perceived security of any host, whether on dedicated or shared hardware, depends on where it is. With the US intelligence agency, the NSA, at the centre of Snowden’s revelations, North American hosting providers have suffered a reduction in trust.

Providers with dedicated servers were not surprised by the result. “While cloud hosting with large IT suppliers can represent a cost-effective option for data storage, businesses may instead pay the price with security,” said Mateo Meier, director at artmotion.eu, a service provider in Switzerland. “We have seen a noticeable increase in oil and gas, financial and retail global companies storing their data with our dedicated servers since the NSA and GCHQ crises.”

But what about the rest of the world? Different countries have varying privacy policies, and inspire different levels of confidence. Our next poll suggests a list of countries, and we want you to tell us which one you believe has the most effective privacy laws, making it a good home for your sensitive data. If we missed out the place you want to put your data, click “other” and tell us in the comments.

(if you voted “Other”, l;et us know which country you prefer, in the comments!)

What do you know about Edward Snowden and the NSA? Take our quiz!