How is data security handled on the cloud? (Webinar Attendee Question)

In general, you have the same security controls in the cloud that you have with on-premise systems with one exception: in the cloud, there is the potential for non-employees to view your data. This is not necessarily a problem, though, as most companies routinely outsource IT operations to vendors, so the people running internal systems may also be non-employees.

You need to vet data privacy issues with your cloud vendors: start by making sure that they conform the appropriate auditing standards (e.g. SAS-70).

You can increase the level of data security by implementing encrypted files - but that is generally at an increased cost and not all vendors provide this option.