With more businesses using the cloud to store data, there has been an  increased focus on security. Josh Zachry, systems security lead, Rackspace, and Jeff Reich, director of cloud security research, the University of Texas at San Antonio, will speak at 3:30 p.m. on this topic at Innotech Austin on Oct. 29. Zachry and Reich sat down with Matt Scherer to give an overview on this topic.

Question: What are the biggest challenges with cloud security?

Zachry: It really depends on the type of cloud offering (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS) and the way in which a cloud consumer or potential consumer plans to use the offering. Awareness seems to be a big challenge right now for both cloud providers and cloud consumers. Ultimately, cloud computing is a technology platform that does some things well and others not so well. It’s important for cloud consumers to make sure they are using a cloud computing solution appropriately. It’s also important for cloud providers to provide the needed information to consumers so they can make the right decisions.

Question: Is there a need for