Cloud Guidance Released by NIST

The National Institute of Standards and Technology recently released a set of guidelines meant for companies to follow in order to better leverage the public cloud. According to a recent BankInfoSecurity report, the best practices could be especially beneficial for financial services organizations.

NIST Special Publication 800-144: Guidelines on Security and Privacy in Public Cloud Computing provides a distinct overview of all the details organizations should know about the technology.

For example, the security and data privacy aspects of the cloud should be planned for before implementing a hosted service, and the nuances of a public cloud environment must be understood by the organization. Furthermore, a company should stray from its own security and privacy requirements when leveraging the cloud.

"[A]ccountability for security and privacy in public cloud deployments cannot be delegated to a cloud provider and remains an obligation for the organization to fulfill," NIST computer scientist Tim Grance said, according to the news provider.

Much of the debate surrounding the use of either the private or public cloud has been centered on their ability to secure data. As the NIST's guidelines show, a safe environment can be had with a public cloud model.