Whitfield Diffie is a cryptographer and one of the pioneers of Public Key Cryptography. In 1976 he introduced a new method of distributing Cryptographic keys solving one of the fundamental problems of Cryptography….key distribution. This method became known as the Diffie-Helman Key Exchange (D-H…. you might have heard about it).
Technology Review had an interview with him about the security of Cloud Computing, you can read the full interview here. He has a nice insight on Cloud Computing, especially this one:
The effect of the growing dependence on cloud computing is similar to that of our dependence on public transportation, particularly air transportation, which forces us to trust organizations over which we have no control, limits what we can transport, and subjects us to rules and schedules that wouldn’t apply if we were flying our own planes. On the other hand, it is so much more economical that we don’t realistically have any alternative.
This one is also nice:
A serious potential danger will be any laws intended to guarantee the ability of law enforcement to monitor computations that they suspect of supporting criminal activity. Back doors of this sort complicate security arrangements with two devastating consequences. Complexity is the enemy of security. Once Trojan horses are constructed, one can never be sure by whom they will be used.
