Can Trust Clouds Be Trusted With Government Information?
Vivek Kundra, an early adopter of cloud computing, has an interesting, but potentially risky, proposal to consider as he steps into his new job as federal CIO. Cisco and Swan Island Networks are promoting the idea of “trust clouds” as a way of sharing sensitive information among government agencies. Just one day before Kundra’s appointment was announced last week, Cisco and Swan Island published a white paper that makes the case for so-called trust clouds. Swan Island CEO Charles Jennings expects the Obama administration to be receptive to the concept of using collaborative computing clouds as an alternative to government IT silos. “A lot of people get it, particularly in the new administration,” Jennings told me in an interview yesterday. The idea is sure to raise eyebrows, if not howls of protest. The proposal is aimed specifically at sensitive government information that falls under a federal policy, enacted by presidential order last May, known as “controlled unclassified informati
