Evernote is just one of several high-profile companies that have had their usernames and passwords stolen in the last few years—Linkedin, PlayStation, and Google are some of the other companies that come to mind.
Each cyber attack leads to a media frenzy. The Evernote incident alone caused a swarm of password-safety reminders: use different passwords for every web service you use; don’t use English words; always include numbers, but don’t use 3 for E or 1 for L… With reminders growing increasingly more strict, it makes you wonder if we’re making passwords safer, or just harder for humans to remember.
But, the real dilemma we’re facing is how are we going to clean up this mess in the future? How can we make sites easy to access, but secure at the same time? And, is anything really secure online?
Businesses are questioning their security standards too, especially with so many of their employees using web-based services to store documents, collaborate and so forth. IT teams across the globe are debating whether to use cloud computing or restrict employee data to behind-the-firewall.
Several businesses that use enterprise social networking question this as well. For example, while many tibbr customers choose cloud, some prefer the on-premise deployment model because it gives them the ability to control things better: how they implement security, who has access to what. When you think about it, for medical, legal, financial and other sensitive records, it seems natural to keep this sensitive data local.
Gartner estimates that the on-premise delivery model still takes priority for most businesses, yet the market for cloud computing is showing strong growth with many companies preferring cloud for it’s speed and cost effectiveness. With the debate ongoing, perhaps a hybrid-model is the only way to provide the best of both worlds.
