{"id":13251,"date":"2014-09-15T15:20:54","date_gmt":"2014-09-15T19:20:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zonda-develop.go-vip.net\/prosales\/article\/should-cyberattacks-cause-you-to-reject-cloud-computing_o"},"modified":"2014-09-15T15:20:54","modified_gmt":"2014-09-15T19:20:53","slug":"should-cyberattacks-cause-you-to-reject-cloud-computing_o","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zonda-develop.go-vip.net\/prosales\/products\/technology\/should-cyberattacks-cause-you-to-reject-cloud-computing_o\/","title":{"rendered":"Should Cyberattacks Cause You to Reject Cloud Computing?"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the recent revelations\rabout the theft of customer data from The Home Depot, rarely has the threat of\rcybercrime reached so close to LBM dealers and distributors. This threat also\ris causing a dilemma for dealers, because it comes at a time in which dealers\rincreasingly are getting rid of their hardware and moving their data into cloud\rcomputing systems and virtual private networks.<\/p>

\r\rWill cyberattacks slow this\rtrend? Perhaps a bit, particularly among old-line dealers who resisted moving\rbecause they put little trust in letting corporate records be stored outside\rthe office. But other trends lead me to believe cloud computing will continue\rto grow\u2014along with increased awareness of the need for security.<\/p>

\r\rSpecialization is one reason\rwhy. When I was a child the same person that poured the concrete, framed the\rhouse, installed the millwork, plumbing, and electrical. They did it all. But,\ras people became specialized, it made sense to give each part to an expert.\rIt\u2019s the same with IT. Today you need expertise in database management,\rsecurity, and a host of other skills. One person at a small business rarely has\rall of those skills. We have a dealer now that we are speaking with that tried\rto install a very complicated network on its own. It now has nothing that\rworks: It can\u2019t print documents, there are speed issues, employees don\u2019t know\rwho to call, etc.<\/p>

\r\rGiven how increasingly\rcomplicated technology combines with increasingly sophisticated hacking to make\ran in-house IT department increasingly unlikely, we see cloud solutions, remote\rhosting, and IT consultants (disclosure: that includes my firm) offering ways\rto meet the challenge. But we\u2019re not entering a dump-the-problem-on-us-and-run\rbusiness environment. Dealers have a big role to play in managing their own\rsystems, and we see evidence of this change in thinking already.<\/p>

\r\rIn the old days, people told us\rwhat they wanted their passwords to be and ordered us to never change them. Now\rthey are happy we are changing every 90 days and have policies in place to\renforce strong passwords and encryption of transmission of data. When I tell a\rCEO we are going to change every 90 days, they welcome it. That\u2019s a far cry\rfrom the days when passwords were taped to terminals.<\/p>

\r\rAttitudes toward disaster recovery\ralso have changed. Dealers have long been known to do business after disasters\rbased on handshakes and a cigar box to hold the cash. Now they don\u2019t want to be\rdown for one minute, so we have been adding redundancy to our hosted systems\rand mirroring all our clients activity in another data center in real time. <\/p>

\r\rWhat\u2019s next? I see these\rtrends:<\/p>