Schlomo Schapiro

Photo: A. Reinkober / pixelio.de I recently met somebody who had a signet ring and suddenly realized that this is a very early form of 2-factor-authentication (2FA): Signet Ring 2FA Unique Unique Difficult to copy Supposedly impossible to copy Seal proves personal involvement of bearer 2FA token proves personal interaction of owner The main difference is of course that 2FA is commonly available to everybody who needs it while signet rings where and remain a special feature. But it is still nice to know that the basic idea is several thousands years old.

As ImmobilienScout24 moves to the cloud a recurring topic is the question about the exit strategy. An exit strategy is a plan for migrating away from the cloud, or at least from the chosen cloud vendor. Opinions range from "why would I need one?" to "how can we not have one?" with a heavy impact on our cloud strategy and how we do things in the cloud. When talking about exit scenarios it is worth to distinguish between a forced and a voluntary exit. A forced exit happens due to external factors that don't leave you any choice when to go. A voluntary exit happens at your own choice, both when and how. Why would one be force to have an exit strategy? Simple because running a business on cloud services carries other types of risks compared to running a business in your own data center: Cloud accounts can be disabled for alleged violation of terms Cloud accounts can be terminated There are no guaranteed prices. Running costs can explode as a result of a n