Cloud risk communication on social media: The case of premera blue cross

Cloud computing has been growing at a fast pace. This growth has been fueled by this technology's inherent benefits such as cost reduction and convenience. However, the increasing amount and variety of data processed on the cloud have raised the number of security breaches. Although cloud providers were responsible for data security in the past, the new threats require that both cloud providers and users coordinate efforts to minimize losses and ensure data recovery. Our study aims to explore how cloud providers and users can leverage social media to mitigate data security breaches through effective risk communication. We analyzed public data collected from Twitter regarding the security breach faced by the Premera Blue Cross web application between January and April 2015. Preliminary results indicate that Premera Blue Cross (cloud provider) acted as an information source for Twitterers seeking relevant and accurate information during this security breach. Future steps for this study are discussed.