The Cloud refers to a data centre with servers and network equipment run by a third-party company. The Cloud is generally separated into three major categories, but with technology and companies wanting to be the latest and greatest, there are other terms that might be thrown around to describe their services.
Our website is hosted in the Meet Modern Inc. data centre, where we have access to the virtual server that the web application runs on, but we don’t manage it. In this case, we are utilizing a Platform as a Service (PaaS) Cloud.
Terminology:
IaaS – Infrastructure as a Service
- When systems are hosted in the cloud.
Azure, OracleCI, AWS
SaaS – Software as a Service
- When software is hosted in the cloud.
Gmail, Dropbox, Wix
PaaS – Platform as a Service
- When a Platform is hosted in the cloud.
Azure Kubenetes, AWS Lambda, WordPress.com
Location:
When considering utilizing a Cloud Service, one of the simplest ways to figure out how private it will be is simply its location. Location determines which laws the cloud provider has to follow, regardless of who is utilizing it. For example:
If your Cloud provider is in Canada, as ours is, it must follow the Canadian Government's privacy laws.
There are some exceptions to this regarding European laws like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Laws – these are in effect if you want your service to be accessed by European citizens. – Read More: https://gdpr-info.eu/
Location
The 5 / 9 / 14 Eyes Alliance is a coalition of intelligence sharing between these countries. A major factor to consider when choosing a service and where it is hosted.