WikiLeaks, the now infamous whistle-blowing site, released it latest round of classified US military documents on October 22 – nearly 400,000 pages of the “Iraq War Logs.”  The expected media hype and scrutiny has ensued.  But while the controversial nature of WikiLeaks’ latest exposé is cause for public analysis and debate, Bluewolf and the rest of the tech world is talking about it for a different reason all together.  For it’s come to Bluewolf’s attention that WikiLeaks leverages, in part, US-based data hosting through the Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure Cloud.

To be exact, WikiLeaks is “mirroring” their data based in Sweden through US-based servers run by AWS. And it’s a lot of data: according to Wikipedia, WikiLeaks stores more than 1.2 million anonymously-sourced documents and leaks.

With every major roll-out of controversial information, WikiLeaks’ site traffic spikes big time.  And along with the highly sensitive and sensational nature of the data, you can imagine that WikiLeaks has an enormous concern over the security of their site. Their security measures to date:

•  WikiLeaks has always maintained its central servers through a Sweden-based company called PRQ, who provides “highly secure, no-questions-asked hosting services.”
   
• Additionally, Sweden’s constitution provides unparalleled legal protection: no authority may investigate journalistic sources of any kind.
   
• WikiLeaks announced in August that some of their servers are being actually being hosted underground, in Cold War-era nuclear bunkers.
   

They’re serious about the security of their data and infrastructure.

So why is WikiLeaks using AWS now?

The answer is simple.  And it’s not to taunt the Feds by utilizing a US company. It’s just common sense.

Amazon Web Services offers inexpensive and scalable compute power and storage. The large amounts of data and drastic spikes in traffic means that WikiLeaks needs the compute power and storage that only AWS can supply.

So if WikiLeaks trusts US-based AWS to mirror its data, how is that for a testament to the security of Amazon Web Services’ Cloud platform?  If WikiLeaks trusts the protections promised by AWS, then why shouldn’t any financial services outfit, or hospital, or government entity?

Although, no doubt, the US will pressure Amazon.com to shut down the WikiLeaks servers, that’s irrelevant.  The lessons we should take from WikiLeaks move to AWS are these: if you’re opening your site to the enquiring minds of the entire world, and you can’t afford for it to crash…

• The AWS infrastructure Cloud is peerless in its ability to scale on-demand
   
• Any foggy security concerns over infrastructure in the Cloud are eliminated by WikiLeaks trust in the platform

So really, in Bluewolf’s mind at least, what is most interesting about the WikiLeak on October 22nd are not the leaks themselves.  As evangelists for Cloud computing for over a decade, Bluewolf is thrilled to see the proliferation of infrastructure in the Cloud and the quelling of skeptics’ security concerns.

Sources:

1.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiLeaks
2.) http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/unscrewing-security/2010/10/wikileaks-i...
3.) http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/10/25/wikileaks_hosting_on_amazon_web_...
4.) http://blogs.forbes.com/andygreenberg/2010/08/30/wikileaks-servers-move-...