Data privacy continues to be a top concern for companies investing in research for using Cloud storage for corporate information. But, in that same vein, customers tend to forget about the “other data” that is being stored when using additional Cloud services. I can honestly say it’s not been top of my mind, either.
But, as more new services are revealed by vendors, I believe it’s important to understand the “other data” factor or at least add it as a bullet point for determining which service and vendor to use. For example, Windows Intune, Microsoft’s Cloud-based endpoint management solution requires data to function correctly, and that data must exist in the Cloud. Sure, Microsoft has developed a Band-Aid fix to connect the on-premises Configuration Manager with Windows Intune (and vice-versa) but workable data still needs to exist and remain stored in the Windows Intune database in the Microsoft Cloud for it all to work.
Microsoft has been extremely good and thorough about explaining to customers exactly what data is stored in its various services and how it is being used. Recently, the company outlined these details for customer data for Windows Intune, in conjunction with the System Center 2012 R2 Privacy Statement and the Windows Intune Privacy statement.
Here’s the list of areas addressed:
- Customer Data from Configuration Manager stored in Windows Intune. This represents the types of information that is passed along to Windows Intune from Configuration Manager including sign-on information, user application requests, compliance settings, and others.
- Customer Data retrieved from Windows Intune and stored in Configuration Manager. This represents the types of information pulled from Windows Intune and stored in the Configuration Manager on-premises database, including mobile device information, license status, and a couple others.
- Customer Data temporarily stored in Windows Intune. While a device is connected to the Windows Intune service a data stream is retained to allow constant communication. Once the device’s session is terminated, the data stream remains active for up to an hour.
The details are laid out pretty well in easy to consume tables: Data sent to and from Windows Intune and System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager
