Helios ERP Systems: Cloud Computing & its Threats.

Cloud computing systems are collections of server and mainframe computers, sometimes over 1 million, made into a single collective via software that disperses data and computing chores among them. Because there is less waste and more flexibility in this sharing, the computing whole is far greater than the sum of its computer parts.

Many clouds are privately owned and controlled, inside corporate and government facilities. The biggest and fastest-growing systems are "public clouds," from the likes of Amazon, Google, Microsoft and many telecommunications providers.

Both kinds of clouds share information across many points, both inside their own networks and with external devices like smartphones. Much of the older software being moved from regular servers to the cloud were not designed for use there, making the transition particularly vulnerable. In addition, conventional security precautions, such as firewalls that establish a perimeter around a company's resources, are far less useful in a cloud.