The Cloud Security Alliance and Zscaler
Zscaler is proud to be the founding charter member of the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA). The CSA is dedicated to defining and raising awareness of best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment.
The Mission of CSA
The Cloud Security Alliance is a non-profit organization formed to promote the use of best practices for providing security assurance within Cloud Computing and provide education on the uses of Cloud Computing to help secure all other forms of computing.
The Cloud Security Alliance is comprised of many subject matter experts from a wide variety disciplines, united in our objectives:
- Promote a common level of understanding between the consumers and providers of cloud computing regarding the necessary security requirements and attestation of assurance.
- Promote independent research into best practices for cloud computing security.
- Launch awareness campaigns and educational programs on the appropriate uses of cloud computing and cloud security solutions.
- Create consensus lists of issues and guidance for cloud security assurance.
How CSA Was Born
The issues and opportunities of cloud computing gained considerable notice in 2008 within the information security community. It was at a security practitioners' conference, the ISSA CISO Forum in Las Vegas, November 20, 2008, where the concept of the Cloud Security Alliance was born. Following a presentation of emerging trends by Jim Reavis that included a call for action for securing cloud computing, Reavis and Nils Puhlmann outlined the initial mission and strategy of the Cloud Security Alliance. A series of organizational meetings in early December 2008 that included Reavis, Puhlmann, and industry leaders such as Dave Cullinane, Philippe Courtot, Alan Boehme, Izak Mutlu, Jay Chaudhry, Christofer Hoff, Paul Kurtz, and Jean Pawluk formalized the founding of the Cloud Security Alliance. Our outreach to the information security community to create our initial work product for the 2009 RSA Conference resulted in dozens of volunteers to research, author, edit, and review our first whitepaper. We are proud to recognize these individuals as founding members. CSA welcomes all interested practitioners as members of this organization going forward to continue our important work.
Zscaler - Proud to Contribute to CSA
As Zscaler is pioneering cloud-delivered web security services, it is proud to share its and its customers experience in adopting the cloud model and sharing best practices with security practitioners. CSA has several working groups. Zscaler leads the Portability & Interoperability and Application Security working group.
About CSA
The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) is the world’s leading organization dedicated to defining and raising awareness of best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment. CSA harnesses the subject matter expertise of industry practitioners, associations, governments, and its corporate and individual members to offer cloud security-specific research, education, certification, events, and products. CSA’s activities, knowledge, and extensive network benefit the entire community impacted by cloud—from providers and customers to governments, entrepreneurs, and the assurance industry—and provide a forum through which diverse parties can work together to create and maintain a trusted cloud ecosystem.
CSA’s comprehensive research program works in collaboration with industry, higher education, and government on a global basis. CSA research prides itself on vendor neutrality, agility, and integrity of results. In 2009, CSA released the Security Guidance for Critical Areas of Focus In Cloud Computing, providing a practical, actionable road map to managers wanting to adopt the cloud paradigm safely and securely. The following year, CSA launched the industry’s first cloud security user certification, the Certificate of Cloud Security Knowledge (CCSK), the benchmark for professional competency in cloud computing security, along with the Cloud Controls Matrix (CCM), the world’s only meta-framework of cloud-specific security controls mapped to leading standards, best practices, and regulations.
Expand your network and further your education by connecting with CSA and our community of experts online. Discuss the latest in cloud security with other security professionals from around the world in Circle, CSA’s exclusive community tailored to cloud security, and stay connected and further your education for free by attending a CSA webinar.
Zscaler - Proud to contribute to CSA
As Zscaler is the industry leader in cloud-delivered web security services, it is proud to share best practices, as well as customer experiences in adopting the cloud model, with security practitioners.
CSA’s collaboration with Zscaler goes all the way back to the beginning. In fact, neither company had the name they are known by today. Jay Chaudhry’s generosity to provide some seed funding and, more importantly, to provide key industry insight into future trends was fundamental in shaping our trajectory. Zscaler is among a very select number of companies without whom CSA would likely not exist today. Thank you, Jay and the Zscaler team!