Amazon called out over cloud security, secrecy

13.11.2009
Amazon's cloud computing service should not be used for applications that require advanced , the Burton Group analyst firm says in a report accusing Amazon of secrecy regarding its cloud data centers.

Amazon has helped define the cloud computing market with its Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), a service offering access to virtual server capacity over the Web. There are many things to like about EC2 and related platforms such as Amazon's Simple Storage Service (S3), but there are also numerous unanswered questions about Amazon's cloud infrastructure, according to the Burton Group.

Amazon seems to do a good job of , but overall Burton Group gives the company "low marks for enterprise availability and security" because of a lack of transparency.

"Amazon maintains a strict 'will not discuss' policy regarding specific data center details. In Burton Group's opinion, this position is unacceptable because it prevents organizations from assessing the risk posed by placing enterprise applications in EC2," states a report titled "Amazon EC2: Is it ready for the enterprise?" written by Burton Group analyst Drue Reeves.

Amazon says its data centers meet , with fully redundant power, backup power, networking and HVAC systems.