If you’ve got a good idea about how to make cloud computing more secure, submit it by the end of the month and you could win $10,000.
The Global Security Challenge, which runs contests to discover new ways to address knotty problems, is launching a new competition – the Cloud Security Challenge.
The purpose is to “explore radically new ideas and game-changing solutions from around the world in order to make cloud computing more secure.”
The way it works, a panel of judges sort through the entries to pick a winner. In other GSC competitions the winners have been startup companies and in some cases individuals.
GSC posted notice of the cloud competition on a Linkedin discussion forum and has gleaned suggestions including:
= Federated identity designed for the cloud.
= Compliance management.
= Managing risks inherent in applying laws that pertain to cloud services based in specific countries.
= Authentication.
= Denial of service.
= Insecure storage.
= Browsers.
Most of these suggestions come from people who work for established companies, so the list needs fleshing out from others who might be thinking more outside the box.
To give a sense of the caliber of winners of GSC competitions, the winner of the 2008 Global Security challenge went to TRX, a Maryland company that makes systems for tracking the location of first responders at emergency scenes and can generate floor maps on the fly. In 2007 the winner was NoblePeak Vision, which makes night-vision video camera components.
In addition to cash prizes from GSC, past winners and entrants have racked up $55 million in funding from other sources. GSC says it has a sponsor (HP Labs) that contributed $10,000 for the winner of the Cloud Security Challenge.
