Atlassian Cloud Mythbusting Part 5: What Happens to my Data? - News, tips & guidance for agile, development, Atlassian-Software (JIRA, Confluence, Bitbucket, ...) and Google Cloud

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It's been a long time since the Rolling Stones were telling people "Get Off of My Cloud", and times have certainly changed; nowadays, we move more and more "into the Cloud". But what seems so simple for people privately can cause quite the headache in a professional context. Especially when it comes to sensitive topics such as data protection or information security in general. And so it's not surprising that in many countries, many companies that are considering moving their operations into the Cloud are hesitant at first. Questions about topics like security and performance weigh heavily on the minds of the decision-makers.

These concerns are understandable, as there have been repeated discussions and negative examples in the past. Reason enough for Seibert Media to take a closer look - and to do some "myth-busting"! Because many things you might think you know about the Cloud are not accurate (anymore). And one thing is clear: the future is looking up!

So join us in a journey into the clouds and read in our fifth article in our "Cloud Mythbusters" series among other things how secure your data is in the Atlassian Cloud (which, by the way, is not limited to the Atlassian Cloud!). The other articles will deal with the following topics:

What's the Deal with Data Security?
Put on a performance!
Bye-Bye Server Apps – Hello Cloud?
Should I Change Anything in My Change Management?
What Does My Admin do When There's Less Admin to Admin?
Can I still Customize my Cloud Instance?
Will Cloud Still Work Well When My Company Gets Bigger?

In every blog article, we'll get to the bottom of each myth together, and we'll see what's left of them afterwards… And now: enjoy reading and "busting myths"!

Data. What can we say that hasn’t already been said about Data? Some companies use data to gain a competitive edge, while others use data to increase revenue. Personal data is a hot topic these days, especially in the EU where GDPR compliance is of the utmost importance.

At Seibert Media, we take your data very seriously and would never infringe on any sort of compliance or regulation policies. We also make sure to only partner with other organizations who take personal data as seriously as we do. One of these great organizations is Atlassian.

While many organizations throughout the world have come under fire recently for the misuse of personal data, a significant portion of customers of Atlassian products see the organization as a beacon of light in a fog of calamity. Atlassian believes that their customer’s data is of the utmost importance to them. It helps them make all decisions. They also believe that with this great power of data comes great responsibility, which is why they prioritize data management and data safety in their Cloud products.

Cloud data concerns

Many users and administrators of Atlassian products have become used to the idea that they control their data. This has been and always will be true on all Atlassian deployments (Data Center, Cloud, and the soon ending Server) of Jira, Confluence, Jira Service Management, and their other tools.

When Atlassian first introduced their Cloud deployment, there were concerns. Unfortunately, those concerns really never left. The main concern was that your data was not safe in the Cloud. The concerns, at least at first, were understandable. Prior to Cloud, Atlassian deployments were mainly on-premise, behind a firewall. Now, they are asking customers to trust them and store their data in the Cloud.

The risk was very low in those early days as Cloud was only capable of serving instances of up to 500 users. As time went on and more companies wanted to move to the Cloud, the concerns grew.

Firms in highly sensitive industries, such as banking and healthcare, needed something they knew was secure. The main complaint was that they didn’t know if their data was secure.

Cloud data concerns debunked

The concerns about moving to the Cloud are clear and they don’t seem to be disappearing anytime soon. To decrease your fears, let’s debunk some of the myths surrounding this subject.

Myth 1: My data is not secure in the Cloud

At this present time, 94% of businesses say their data is more secure in the Cloud. That is a drastic difference in what we saw five or six years ago. So why do customers feel better now? There are a few reasons. One is that developers just don’t have time to deal with security, so it falls off the priority list rather quickly. Another is that developers are trusting the Cloud more and more these days. Only 48% of developers say security is a priority currently. This is a result of a growing trust in the Cloud. After all, if the provider of the Cloud is the one taking care of your security, you don't have to prioritize it anymore.

Another reason for the growing trust in Cloud is the zero-trust policy. Cloud makes data accessible after multiple security checks. Traditionally, in an On-premise solution, there is only one security check, your username and password. Atlassian builds security into their products. Examples of this include encryption of data in transit and at rest along with their bug bounty program.

The encryption for data in transit is very important because this is a place where you have no control.

Myth 2: I can’t control where my data is stored and I can’t query it

Users will often talk about how they can’t choose where Atlassian stores their data in the Cloud. This is another common concern about the cloud deployments. Typically Atlassian stores data as close to the majority of the customer’s users as possible, but with the Cloud Enterprise plan, this all changed. Now customers of all tariffs can choose where they want to store their data, for example within the EU. The data residence can be defined at the product level. However, it is important to note that there are still certain data for which no region can be defined. Detailed info on this can be found here.

Regarding querying the data, this is technically true. You cannot query their data in cloud like you could in On-premise deployments. However, with the Jira and Confluence REST APIs you can still interact with your data to get stuff done. If you think there is something missing or there is something extensive you would like to do with your data, please contact us at Seibert Media.

Myth 3: I don’t have control of my data when I use apps

Atlassian masks users’ information when app developers interact with Atlassian’s APIs. This means that app vendors only have access to your data when the customer sets the access to “public”. The app vendors never have access to your data without your permission.

In the end, trust

As the heading says, in the end your choice to move to the Cloud depends on your trust of the service. We believe that Atlassian’s track record and public transparency have earned that trust over our past 15 years of doing business with them.

As always, if you would like to try Atlassian Cloud or have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us at Seibert Media.