Did PRISM Cause An Exodus From US Clouds?

PRISM’s impact is still felt in the market for Internet services although the size of the storm and its resultant impact is smaller than was originally thought. It seems the international business was a lot more insulated from US spying as compared to what was originally thought.

Since Edward Snowden revealed the US National Security Agency's PRISM spying program, there has been widespread speculation that the disclosure of US spying would significantly harm US cloud, hosting, and outsourcing businesses as international customers walked away from any firm within the NSA’s reach.

Why Is PRISM So Important?

International spying is still a global issue and is driven by the current state if international affairs. Global political, economic instability is fueling an epidemic of cyberattacks, the source of which includes nation states, organized crime groups, and unfortunately terrorists. Edward Snowden’s disclosure of the PRISM program lifted cybersecurity from an abstract concept to one that evoked a tremendous level of emotion – much of it driven by the emotion surrounding privacy – or more accurately – the need so many have for privacy.[i]

The Impact

In this first survey of international customers, the data suggests such concerns were overblown. And in fact, Forrester’s earlier contention that international enterprises would stick with their US partners but take a stronger position in managing their own security has been proven out.  What this research also says indirectly is that global awareness of cybersecurity is on the rise and companies globally are taking substantive steps to protect their valuable information not only from government spying but cyberattacks as well. Check out the report published April 1, 2015 here.



[i] The strong emotions surrounding privacy is discussed in more detail in the December 10, 2014 report, Measure The Effectiveness Of Your Data Privacy Program.