Cloud Computing in the Financial Industry – A Road Paved with Security Pitfalls?

In the financial industry, Information Technology (IT) is an essential production factor, but also a major expense post. Because cloud computing promises to deliver IT services more flexibly and cost-efficiently, it potentially constitutes a “perfect match” for the financial sector. However, given the high degree of regulation, concerns regarding security and compliance requirements arise. In this work, we provide a detailed theoretical analysis of potential security problems in the context of cloud computing. This analysis is complemented by the initial results of an ongoing case study concerning the practical relevance of these problems in the financial industry. The analysis confirms that security issues pose notable obstacles for the adoption of cloud computing in practice, but also points to appropriate countermeasures

On the Relevance of Security Risks for Cloud Adoption in the Financial Industry

For financial institutions as “heavy users” of Information Technology (IT), the promises of cloud computing – most notably, increased flexibility and reduced provisioning cost – are tempting. However, moving data and applications from a confined internal IT infrastructure to an external, shared cloud poses multiple new security issues. This paper provides an assessment of the relevance of selected issues, based on interviews with 12 representatives of financial institutions. Our results indicate that despite technical advancement and legal arrangements, certain security issues are likely to remain important inhibitors for the adoption of cloud computing by financial institutions

Cloud-Computing in Banking Influential Factors, Benefits and Risks from a Decision Maker\u27s Perspective

In 2008 Gartner Group listed Cloud-Computing (CC) in its Hype-Cycle (Gartner, 2008). Since these days, enterprises in different industries discuss the utilization of cloud-computing for their own benefit. The banking industry traditionally is heavily dependent on information technology. Therefore, it can be assumed that cloud-computing could be of particular interesting for banks. This paper investigates the use of cloud-computing in German banks and the associated benefits and risks as senior management perceives them. Grounded in the TOE-Framework ten expert interviews with senior decision makers German banks have been conducted to evaluate the decision criteria pro and con cloud computing. Several factors influencing the cloud-computing decision have been detected, amongst them the technology supporting infrastructure, government regulations and security and compliance requirements. Furthermore the financial benefits came up as the most important perceived benefit and government regulation (esp. privacy/security regulations) are the most important risks perceived by senior management