HONG KONG, Sept. 5 — Following August's announcement of the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) selecting Singapore as its corporate headquarters, the CSA today signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) to advance cloud computing security and build capabilities that will accelerate the development of the cloud ecosystem in Hong Kong.

According to the agreement, the CSA and ASTRI will collaborate on applied cloud security research in order to more effectively integrate industry and academia efforts into a joint framework that fosters trusted cloud computing initiatives in Hong Kong and the Greater China region. The first joint research project that the two organizations are planning will be CloudCERT, a CSA initiative to enable the optimization of Computer Security Incident Response Teams (CSIRTs) functionality within cloud computing, with the establishment of the APAC CloudCERT operational base based in Hong Kong.

"CSA research activities in Hong Kong will be a focal point for encouraging 'technopreneurship' across the APAC region and should serve to support an innovation hub for cloud computing security," said Aloysius Cheang, managing director at CSA APAC. "CSA's presence in Hong Kong will also serve as a central gateway for CSA corporate members looking to establish a presence in Hong Kong and Greater China region."

Signing the MOU on behalf of ASTRI, Dr Cheung Nim-kwan, Chief Executive Officer of ASTRI, said, "We very much welcome the opportunities to collaborate with CSA. I hope our joint effort can contribute to the advancement of cloud security and facilitate the adoption of cloud computing in Hong Kong and the region."

"This new partnership arrangement is complementary to the efforts of the Government to facilitate and drive cloud computing development and adoption in Hong Kong," said Mr. Daniel Lai, the HK Government Chief Information Officer. "The Government established an Expert Group on Cloud Computing Services and Standards in April this year. CSA HK and Macau Chapter and ASTRI are both represented in the Expert Group."

About the Cloud Security Alliance

The Cloud Security Alliance is a not-for-profit organization with a mission to promote the use of best practices for providing security assurance within Cloud Computing, and to provide education on the uses of Cloud Computing to help secure all other forms of computing. The Cloud Security Alliance is led by a broad coalition of industry practitioners, corporations, associations and other key stakeholders. For further information, visit us at www.cloudsecurityalliance.org, and follow us on Twitter @cloudsa.

About ASTRI

The Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) was founded by the Government of Hong Kong SAR in 2000 with a mission of enhancing Hong Kong's competitiveness in technology-based industries through applied research. ASTRI was designated the Hong Kong Research and Development Centre for Information and Communications Technologies by the Innovation and Technology Commission with special goals to perform leading-edge R&D for technology transfer to industry, develop much needed technical human resources and act as a focal point bringing together industry and university R&D assets. For further information, visit www.astri.org.

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Source: Cloud Security Alliance