Posted by & filed under Auditing, Cloud computing, Data security, eCommerce.

Cloud computing has seen a huge increase in popularity in recent years – even if we aren’t quite sure where the cloud is or what is going on there. The convenience of cloud computing, and rapidly dropping storage costs, have made it an attractive option for businesses. And with big name suppliers like Amazon and Apple providing free storage for purchasers of their devices, more and more consumers are trusting their data to the cloud.

Trust may have taken a major hit last week when reports surfaced that personal intimate photos of approximately 100 female celebrities had been stolen from  Apple’s iCloud and uploaded to an internet site by a hacker. These celebrities had apparently used iCloud to store photos taken or stored on their iPads or iPhones.

Apple acknowledged the photo hack problem on September 1st. An article on Mashable.com explored the notion of potential security weaknesses in Apple’s ‘find my phone’ feature  that may have been exploited in this rather embarrassing episode.  Responding to the concerns raised throughout the week, Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke to the security issues in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. Cook promised improvements in Apple’s iCloud security, a departure from Apple’s downplaying of the incident earlier in the week.

Meanwhile, Apple investors may be wishing that the whole situation could just disappear. Rumours have been circulating that Apple will soon announce a new iPhone. This iCloud hack may be somewhat of a distraction just in front of Apple’s big announcement of new products on September 9.

 

What do you think?

1) Do you use any cloud services? What security concerns do you have?

2) If you were the auditor of a company that used cloud computing services, what would be some of the audit  issues you might have to deal with?

3) How will this celebrity photo security hack impact Apple’s launch of new products on September 9?

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