Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow:
There is nothing easy about the adoption of cloud computing. It demands new information-technology (IT) and developer skill sets. It also challenges organizational structure and work practice. But that does not mean, as Bruce Schneier says, that “it’s complicated” or a “maybe”. Companies should make the adoption of the cloud a strategic imperative because it is a vastly superior way to deliver reliable, secure, scalable computing—which is needed to fuel business.
Mr Schneier highlights the potential risks of the cloud, but fails to account for the risk of not adopting it. Businesses exist to deliver value while managing risk. And the broad adoption of cloud computing will dramatically decrease risk and offer incredible opportunities to firms that seek competitive advantage. Mr Schneier neglects to mention the manifest risk inherent in the status quo: a legacy mindset born of well-founded fears. Today’s IT infrastructure is a Swiss cheese of vulnerable networks, operating systems and applications developed before the internet. It is difficult and expensive to keep running—and easy to penetrate. In 2014 Verizon reported more than 2,100 data breaches. The FBI has claimed that every major American company has been compromised by the Chinese—whether they realized it or not. Against this backdrop, it is rational for IT staff to seek greater control by locking down networks and computers, and by prohibiting the use of the cloud.