Which cloud services do you use?

Question

Alfonso Alvarez · Accepted Answer

AWS and GCP mostly for infra / code / services.
G Suite. It makes a lot of things easier.

It depends on the service and solution I'm trying to create and, of course, how expensive could it get. 
(I try to architect my solutions to be either free or incredibly cheap)

Alfonso Alvarez · Answer

@dzaitzow This is an interesting scenario. Pretty cool. There's a LOT of information in here we could talk about. Reach out to me at alfonso@tribu.management if you'd like a talk about this. Is this for ContentBlocks? (I tried to use what you have in your domain) I'm lost on: What are you trying to solve exactly? My interpretation to what you said is that: 1. You're worried about open source not having enough security. 2. You're worried because people wants to sell you open source stuff and they can't comply with GDPR (??) Is this correct? Questions from top of mind: (More below) - Why is it important for you to comply with GDPR? Is this to comply with some client expectations? .. Because you care about storing the data? .. IDK. What's the situation behind? In general I see two things: 1. The good thing about GDPR is that you can literally follow a checklist, focus on that, and you've got the security you're looking for. 2 -> The good thing of open source is exactly that is open and you can adapt it to your needs, in this case security compliance. Yes, it increases the complexity, but with a decent architecture, it can become a very intuitive complexity. Open Source depends more on "How" you use it. So, if you set it up inside a secure architecture, you have less to worry about. Other questions: 1. What kind of data are you going to store? That's also something to consider. The more "private" information you want to store, the more complex your security layers must become, and therefore all these security certs and compliances. Same for the kinds of niche you're aiming at where the question "is it worth it?" arises. If it's a very $$ niche and validated PMF, there should be no worries, just focus on getting things done (comply as fast as possible). Questions 1.5 ->(If you're the one looking for GDPR compliance for your product) Why is the GDPR compliance important at this time for you? Is it for some specific client situation? (My guess is that you have big clients already? or the compliance is blocking closing?)There are ways to negotiate this part so both parts can move forward. (In simple words: Take care of the client security fears directly. It's an interesting but doable conversation with the benefit that you save a lot of business time). Other thoughts: 0 - Sounds to me that closer and more clear communication is needed between these roles you mention+ Tech + Legal(?) (Which, for what I've seen, it's rare for this to happen organically. You need dedicated efforts. There's science on that already, which provides a good compass) .... I got carried away ... Sounds fun.... it'd be easier in a call :) What I could help you with is to identify possibilities and action items. Cheers!

Alfonso Alvarez · Answer

@dzaitzow depends on what I'm building but in general, my answer would be that the default security is enough to launch initial versions. I try to match security concerns with stage of the product. What are your concerns?

Alfonso Alvarez · Answer

@dzaitzow also there's a lot of automation on those areas already. Robots that tell you exactly how vulnerable a system is. Sometimes the "security alerts" make reference to not very important stuff

Alfonso Alvarez · Answer

@dzaitzow agree in everything you said. 
it's interesting the balance one must have between thinking ahead and work anxiety. 
For a growing product there are infinite things to take care of. I try to stay in the present as much as possible always keeping long term view.

For what I've seen in a couple of different countries is that masking and data deletion after 3 months is basically enough for everyone.

As for open source stuff, feel free to build as many wrappers around it to increase security. If they come from a vendor, consider implementing it yourself... most of the time you can reduce maintenance efforts with the proper automation. or use the vendor as entry point... 
like in the kitchen, the only way to know if the solution is suitable for your specific case is trying out.

Nice interaction! Thank you for sharing.

Paul Richardson · Answer

AWS and Azure.

I'm certified as an AWS Technical Architect.

Daniel Zaitzow · Answer

@aalvz My concerns are typically come from a no-code background and oftentimes Its 2 operations / sales people talking to one another and the BDRs AEs are trying to sell me on the non-free version of their product. Typically they can guarantee GDPR compliance whereas they can't (or don't claim to) do this with their open source version of the software / solution.

So yea it was just a question because our product stack is really extensive and built from the ground up but there are places where we need adjacent software (payment stack / internal workflows etc)

Daniel Zaitzow · Answer

@aalvz Do you ever worry about opensource options not having the appropriate security parameters?

Daniel Zaitzow · Answer

@aalvz but we're trialing a lot of different cloud/database options right now - clickhouse MongoDB - Vercel - Rockset - the list goes on - just trying to find out what makes the most sense for our platform!

Daniel Zaitzow · Answer

@aalvz Likewise - the insight is super helpful!

Daniel Zaitzow · Answer

@aalvz amazing Insight! I was/am more worried about open source options not providing optimal security but you've brought up a great point as to why that would matter for certain types of data - we're going to be masking most of our data and the payment stuff will be going through multiple channels for tokening/masking etc.

We won't have any large clients likely at the onset (B2SMB/C business model) so I am just thinking of GDPR compliance as a hurdle that we might need to tackle down the road - and the buzz I heard was that sometimes open source options are harder to guarantee compliance with (Again I know it will depend on use case of the software)

I appreciate the insight and offer for guidance!!! Sometimes I think it would be better for my CTO/CEO/Founder to be on here as he probably has all of these answers that shoot out into the PH ecosystem.

Answer

Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure tops my list.

Liam Richardson · Answer

AWS, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure

Antonio Sucre · Answer

Google GKE

Ashrafont · Answer

AWS is my workhorse for most tasks. Its robust infrastructure and range of services make it a no-brainer for many projects. Azure, on the other hand, I lean on specific situations where its features align perfectly. Here's a little nugget of information you might find intriguing – Offshore Hosting. It's not your usual cloud service, but it can be a game-changer, depending on your requirements. It typically offers enhanced privacy and data protection, making it an appealing choice for those who prioritize security and want to keep their data away from prying eyes.

Which cloud services do you use?

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