This is not about your local fire department preventing a fire from spreading out of control.  It is about public cloud computing potentially creating a platform for a security firestorm.  Elinor Mills’ look at the trend of cloud-related malware and cybercrime gave me a better understanding of how to think through a simple fear: will cloud turn into a security firestorm?

Sure, cloud computing in the public or hosting sense does offer a candy store of new hacking ideas–from simply being a new challenge to these high tech malfeasants to malware operators trying to find and access new big bank accounts.  

There is no question malware is a real threat today and is guaranteed to be a major concern for a long time. It would be irresponsible to completely predict future cloud security threats; however, when we consider cloud security, we must be careful not to think about cloud as only one homogeneous idea. That thought could not be further from the truth.  Every cloud service provider to some extent will have its own differentiation in its technology stack, so no two clouds are alike in every way.

That premise alone reduces the likelihood of one catastrophic security threat.  And perhaps I won’t lose sleep over a looming firestorm just yet, but it’s definitely something to keep an eye on in the weeks and months ahead.