The Cloud Security Alliance and Hewlett-Packard will release research today at RSA Conference that identifies the top threats to cloud computing. The document is a companion to the CSA's "Security Guidance for Critical Areas in Cloud Computing," which was updated in December.
Chris Whitener, HP's chief security strategist, said companies are eager to jump into cloud computing to reduce capital costs, reduce the need to manage computing infrastructure and leverage the on-demand capabilities of utility-type computing offered by the cloud. But they often fail to do so without assessing cloud computing security risks.

"The No. 1 thing you shouldn't do is approach this with complete ignorance," Whitener said. "And unfortunately, this is something that a lot of people do. Understand and limit your risk profile. If you approach this with complete abandon, you're asking for it."

The Top Threats to Cloud Computing document released today ranks seven threats that apply across all of the different cloud computing models: infrastructure as a service, platform as a service and software as a service.

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