Google is backing its security front but the pre-weekend shuffle might have failed to notice its presence. A new certification is revealed which gives Google App Engine the opportunity to open its door to many enterprise customers. This certification is SSAE-16 cloud security certification. This announcement from Google would be important as both the Google App Engine application platform and the Google Apps cloud productivity and collaboration suite have got this certification.
To make things really clear, SAS 70 Type II audit has an evolution in the name of SSAE-16. This audit has been basically recertified by Google Apps since 2008 on an annual basis. So, in actual terms, its more like ‘an old wine in a new bottle’. Google Apps along with its customers would be well-versed with the certification.
Google App Engine has routed for many approvals, but this is the first instance when it has got the approval stamp of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) from the Auditing Standards Board. AICPA looks out to handle certifications relating to credit processing centers, cloud hosting companies and for similar requirements. There is more to the certification list. Google Storage for Developers and Google Apps Script even had an inclusion in the auditing cycle. This means that the said certifications would have an expanded base for these too even.
Google blogged the claim that it was one of those first companies in its category to get this update of SSAE-16 certification. It looks like it would be just a step forward towards many academic changes which would standardize it to come to the level of the international ISAE 3402 cloud security standard.
However, the process of this certification would cover each and every aspect which might be to make sure that only staff which are pre-cleared are accessing the data of the customers, data center’s physical security, to evaluate redundancy of Google and reporting an incident.
Gogle on its part, it the blog did leave no stone unturned to hype the fact that it keeps security at a really high level and for ‘cloud’ even the “Security First” approach was being followed. The extract of the blog post said that the audits by third party was a part of compliance and security benefits of Google App Engine and Google Apps products on the whole. It further stated that they work hard to protect the data of their Apps customers. For this protection act, they have employed the foremost security experts. Additionally even have executed many safety processes rigorously and implemented cutting-edge technology.
Talking about SSAE-16, it came into effect on 15th June, 2010, but its testing cycles were lengthy enough which allowed many companies to be compliant from 1st July onwards of the respective year.
Looking deep in the matter, one can know that there are many enterprises who have a requirement for their cloud providers to comply with such standards which is now known as SSAE-16. Google App Engine indirectly has aimed at a completely new customer base and would be confident of getting many on the list too. Google has rivals in this field too and a step from their side would even be awaited.