Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) has been experiencing fears over the security of its data and cloud technology. However, the company plans to dispel any traces of concern through its headquarters located in Singapore.
During an interview with ZDNet, the company’s president Yu Sicheng stated that the company’s international business is more or less ran from Singapore but is regulated by a US-listed firm. Mr. Sicheng also pointed out that Alibaba’s commercial contracts and data privacy sectors follow Singapore’s regulations. Mr. Sicheng is in charge of the company’s cloud business outside China. He is currently based in Beijing though he will most likely move to Singapore.
The concerns that have been brought forward are mostly related to concerns about cyber spying and hacking. The company has often been caught at crossroads due to the tension brought about by the concerns especially between the US and China. Such concerns, especially from customers, play a major role in pushing the customers away.
He company’s business in the US is hopeful about its performance. It has also been immune to questions relating to the security issue, unlike the Chinese division. One of the main concerns brought forward by Alibaba’s customers is how the company plans to handle the external threats especially those targeting the international businesses. Sicheng claims that the company has more than 100 security experts whose main aim is to develop products for AliCloud or Aliyun.
Mr. Sicheng also added that one of the primary differences between Alibaba and other cloud vendors is that Alibaba’s security products are issued directly to the customers. He pointed out that this strategy has proved to be successful, giving credit to CloudShield and DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) defense tool that saved a Chinese customer from a cyber attack last year.
The company provides an alternative where customers can select defense tools from third-party vendors if they are not satisfied with what Alibaba’s security products have to offer.
The company is also working on a cloud portal that will support its English-speaking clients outside China.
Sources: zdnet
