“Is my data more secure in the cloud than it is on premises―or less secure?” That’s one of those million-dollar questions, isn’t it? Fortunately, we can easily answer that question in a single blog post…
Ok, not really. But it’s an important question that every insurer undertaking a core system replacement project is faced with answering. The benefits of the cloud are well established and well documented already, so this post isn’t going to address that. But how do CIOs go about performing the due diligence necessary to answer this question specific to their own business? To start, Guidewire recently partnered with Celent to provide research and guidance in the form of a new report: Security for Core Insurance Systems in the Cloud.
Authored by Donald Light, Research Director at Celent, the report aims to equip the reader with an objective look at the key considerations of security for core systems—whether deployed on premises or in the cloud. Applications, data, intellectual property, and physical risks all exist independent of where the core system resides. Donald describes in detail each of these four key categories and the specific risks associated with each. He then examines the various models of cloud deployment to help CIOs understand if a cloud environment will increase or lessen the severity of these risks.
While every insurer—and the security infrastructure it brings to bear—is unique, this report serves to help guide insurers in understanding security as it relates to the cloud so that informed decisions can be made. We’re also hopeful that this report can help answer the question posed in its title.
A complimentary copy of this report is provided by Celent and Guidewire here. My colleague Ephraim Baron also wrote a blog post about the topic last week, "Information Security in the Age of the Cloud." And learn more about what Guidewire is doing in the cloud here.