Google to Let Cloud Customers Use Own Keys to Encrypt Data

Google is adding another layer of protection for its cloud computing customers.

“Security is as a lot about management as it’s about knowledge safety”, Google product supervisor Leonard Law writes immediately.

It’s a security boost, effectively allowing for the decentralization of encryption keys and preventing them from being hacked in a security breach on Google’s servers.

While Google doesn’t routinely monitor buyer knowledge on the Google Cloud, as Turner might have insinuated, the choice of…

For most people, handling their own security keys is probably overkill – and if you ever lose your encryption keys, you won’t be able to recover your data.

The option will also allow organizations to streamline their encryption infrastructure, allowing them to use one set of keys for both Google Cloud and in-house operations.

“Google Compute Engine gives us the performance and scale to process high-volume transactions in the financial markets”, said Neil Palmer, CTO of Sungard Consulting Services.

Customer-Supplied Encryption Keys are now available in beta in select countries, and accessible through Google’s API, Developers Console, and command-line interface gcloud. “With Customer-Supplied Encryption Keys, we can independently control data encryption for our clients without incurring additional expenses from integrating third-party encryption providers”. Google already encrypts data on the platform, but it manages the keys itself, leading to concern among some that the company could be compelled to decrypt the data without the user’s permission. “This control is critical for us to realize the price/performance benefits of the cloud in a highly regulated industry”.

He commented that Google’s platform is not agnostic and uses its own engine to create the keys as well as protect the data.