Thinking About Cloud Computing and Cyber-Security?

By John L. Watkins

Many businesses are thinking about using cloud computing providers for all or part of their IT infrastructure. Cloud providers promise scalability, off-site IT management, availability and security. As with all new technologies, there are many legal issues.

My law firm, Barnes & Thornburg LLP, has recently established a Cloud Computing and Cyber-Security practice team that cuts across many legal disciplines. My partner, Roy Hadley, and I are the leaders of the new team.

Roy is a true information technology specialist. Roy has practiced for many years in the technology space, including serving as general counsel and chief privacy officer of technology companies. I bring the litigation, insurance coverage, and general business perspective. We have many other members on the team specializing in different disciplines, including intellectual property (which is very strong firm-wide at BT), information technology, insurance coverage and recovery, international law, tax, and general business, among others. The collective experience our colleagues bring to this initiative is pretty amazing. The firm will be launching a blog on cloud computing and cyber-security topics shortly.

Roy and I were recently asked to write a primer on the legal issues for the Georgia State Bar’s Technology Section. Click here to read the article. I hope you find it useful. Caveats: This is a general overview written from a general U.S. point of view. There are additional issues in Europe. As a general statement, Europe seems to be ahead of the U.S. in dealing with these issues.