Information security issues occur throughout government and business on an increasing pace. As an illustration, volunteers for the Open Security Foundation track data breaches by reading news accounts and through Freedom of Information requests to state governments. The group reported 165 data breaches occurred this year through July 31, 2009, involving 4,076,924 records. According to the organization's data loss database, the most common form of breach in 2009 as of July 31 has been stolen laptops with 45 incidents reported.;With the ongoing recession, information technology executives report that data theft by laid-off employees is their biggest security threat, according to a worldwide survey sponsored by McAfee Inc. Of the 1,000 executives who were surveyed, 42% of the respondents said they were concerned about security risks of laid-off employees, and 36% of the respondents said they were also concerned of security problems caused by employees in financial stress. (McMillan, 2009).;With data loss threats heightened by economic uncertainty, cloud computing has grabbed the attention of industry analysts as a potential solution to greater data control and lower costs. This research project reports the outcome of analysis of the current state of concerns regarding cloud computing to determine its viability in today's business environment. A survey of Minnesota companies was also included in the project to ask representatives if their firms are using cloud computing, what applications they use and the benefits they perceive from cloud computing.
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