Today, I was just speaking with a colleague about one of the “victims” of the NSA data “scandal.”  It is the cloud providers.  All of these cloud-based providers have got to be ‘just thrilled’ with the negative publicity online services are currently receiving with this concern over privacy and government monitoring.

I will be honest; it is made me even a little more cautious about my review and selection of cloud and SaaS providers because I too am concerned about where my data resides and who can access it.  I will not just allow corporate or my personal information to go anywhere that I do not know who can gain access to it.  Do I have anything to hide?  Of course not.  However, that does not negate my duty to my company and family to ensure that our privacy is respected.

If I was a cloud service provider, I would feel more than a little uncomfortable in the current situation, and I think the cloud industry will be set back a little by this affair.  After all, it is raised the ugly specter of “is my information secure” in the cloud or other online environment. That will take a little while for people to regain their comfort level.  On the upside, encryption should be making some nice gains as more companies look to encrypt their cloud environments for added security.