There is no surprise here, you are reporting on activities that have been going on since 2004. The only difference between outsourced and cloud exposure is that, when your data is in a specific datacenter, you at least know who might get access to it. If you have stuff in an IBM DC in Germany, you know who can look at it:
- US (all Federal agencies via Patriot Act)
- Germany (Bundespolizei and Bundeskriminalamt)
- EU (Interpol and 17 associated organizations).
But in the cloud, you really have no idea where your data resides, it could be sitting on a server in Shanghai, which means that any number of Chinese local and national groups could demand access, including the PLA. Once again, you have no idea if such access is happening, because the hoster is prevented from informing you.
The best of ZDNet, delivered
ZDNet Newsletters
Get the best of ZDNet delivered straight to your inbox
