Innova - Innova in expert panel on Cloud, Trust and Privacy: Towards the Internet Cloud, at the 6th CPDP international conference, 25 January 2013, Brussels (Belgium)

Innova in expert panel on Cloud, Trust and Privacy: Towards the Internet Cloud, at the 6th CPDP international conference, 25 January 2013, Brussels (Belgium)

Innova is part of a large IP research project, TCLOUDS, on trusted Clouds. Partners include OxfordUniversity, IBM, Sirrix and many more. The aim is to develop the next generation of secure and trusted Cloud environment. Special focus is given to the needs of SMEs, as they represent 99% of European companies. Only if the demand side is aggregated, a competitive price can be reached and thus adopting secure cloud environment can be fostered.

Similar to what happened in Software, Open Source tools can bring a new kind of Open Source approach to Cloud Privacy and Trust, thus giving Europe a chance to develop new offerings, that are secure, guarantee privacy and are economically competitive at the same time.

In relation to the TClouds project, Aleardo Furlani, INNOVA’s CEO was an experts’ panel member on the topic Cloud, Trust and Privacy: Towards The Internet Cloud organized within the 6th CPDP (Computers, Privacy & Data Protection) international conference on 25th January 2013 in Brussels (Belgium).

The panel session was participated by a wide range of interested parties from data protection authorities and officials, academics, civil liberties’ organisations, magistrates, barristers, legal consultants, lobbyists to representatives of ICT and security companies.

The panel focused on the intersections between Cloud computing (and especially the new paradigm of Cloud of Clouds) and Trust and Privacy.

The discussions related to the state-of-the-art cloud computing that enables seamless access to services and global availability of information, but where inherent risks still severely limit the application of this technology. The TCLOUDS project focuses on three fundamental trends in ICT whose risks mutually reinforce each other:

the push towards an Internet of Services - most services are provided on the web as a platform;
cost pressures drive a migration of ICT into so-called Infrastructure clouds;
growing importance of ICT as the critical “nervous system” for socially relevant “smart” infrastructures – such as healthcare, energy, environmental monitoring, or mobility.

Considerations were shared on the importance of protecting data and services in the cloud for governments, organisations and enterprises across all industries, including healthcare, energy utilities, and banking. The perceived security and dependability risks of cloud computing are currently still limiting its application.

The TCLOUDS project specifically targets cloud computing security and minimisation of the widespread concerns about the security of personal data by putting its focus on privacy protection in cross-border infrastructures and on ensuring resilience against failures and attacks. The project is believed to strongly promote further take-up of cloud computing.