SUBJECT:

Guidelines for Using Cloud Computing Services

There is growing interest at UC San Diego in using cloud-based services to complement the computing resources used by faculty and staff. In view of this interest and in recognition of University of California policies, we have compiled a set of guidelines to help the UC San Diego community better understand the security ramifications and variations of cloud computing services that are available. It should also be noted that the San Diego Supercomputer offers excellent cloud services for a variety of computing activities.

These guidelines cover the benefits as well as the associated risks of using cloud computing services. We encourage you to read these guidelines before using cloud computing services in order to better understand the capacities and limits of cloud services. You may either locate the guidelines on the home page of BLINK or do a search in the BLINK site for the guidelines using the phrase "cloud guidelines". Please note that we are deliberately not providing a link to that page, so that this message is not mistaken as a phishing scam email. In the guidelines, please check the "determining whether to host data in the cloud" section to see the options of cloud services, including services provided by UC San Diego.

If you have any questions regarding these guidelines, please contact your department systems administrator(s) or ACT at computingpolicies@ucsd.edu.

Min Yao Assistant Vice Chancellor Administrative Computing and Telecommunications Edward Babakanian Chief Information Officer UC San Diego Health Sciences