RSA launches Cloud Trust Authority to increase trust between cloud providers and customers

RSA, the security division of storage giant EMC, today unveiled its Cloud Trust Authority (CTA), a platform designed to support trusted relationships between cloud service providers and their customers.

The announcement was made at the opening of the annual RSA conference in San Francisco.

The CTA platform, which is scheduled to launch in beta later this year, will allow organisations to manage relationships with cloud service providers via a console, so as to enable easier deployments of cloud-based security.

"Surveys show that lack of trust in cloud computing is slowing broader adoption of cloud services," said Art Coviello, executive chairman, RSA.

"While cloud computing offers tremendous benefits it breaks down some of the traditional means of ensuring visibility and control of infrastructure and information. Forcing individual enterprises to develop trusted relationships with each cloud service provider is cumbersome," he added.

CTA will feature an identity service, where customers will be able to manage secure user access and user provisioning to multiple cloud providers via single sign on. This allows more secure and easier management to an enterprise and its cloud providers, RSA said.

RSA will also provide a Compliance Profiling Service, enabling customers to view the profiles of various cloud providers against a set of common benchmarks developed by the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) among other security frameworks.

"Security remains a top concern for organisations looking to leverage the public cloud more extensively," said Jim Reavis, executive director of the CSA.

"With the Cloud Trust Authority, RSA is taking another decisive step towards delivering comprehensive and innovative solutions for securing the cloud. Delivering cloud security services spanning identity, information, and infrastructure will address key concerns that limit the adoption of the cloud," he added.