TRUSTe Audit of SAS Considered 'Milestone' by SAS Officials

A successful audit of the SAS (News - Alert) Solutions OnDemand infrastructure by TRUSTe, an online privacy seal and services provider, “validates the commitment of SAS,” a vendor of businessanalytics, “to protecting customer data in the cloud.”

SAS officials say the TRUSTe audit was “a significant milestone for SAS. The company recently filed for Safe Harbor certification, a system to manage personal data privacy practices between the US and the stricter European Union Directive on Data Protection. “

The Safe Harbor Framework, established by the U.S. Department of Commerce in consultation with the European Commission, allows US companies to satisfy EU privacy directives protecting the personal information of European citizens.

In October TMC (News - Alert) had the news that AdSafe Media, the rating standard of online media, announced a partnership with TRUSTe to distribute the company's TRUSTed Ads platform.

AdSafe's integration with TRUSTe, according to AdSafe Media officials at the time, allows clients who wish to use the new platform to be compliant with the industry recommended self-regulatory principles for online behavioral advertising (OBA) as well as FTC (News - Alert) guidelines.

“As a global company with more than 50 percent of sales from non-US customers and substantial operations throughout the EU, Safe Harbor certification is critical for SAS’ hosted applications,” said John Brocklebank, vice president, SAS Solutions OnDemand.

Brocklebank noted that in addition to the pending Safe Harbor certification, SAS OnDemand customers are reassured when their data resides within SAS owned-and-operated facilities.

“SAS maintains strict physical infrastructure standards for cloud applications,” he said. “Unlike other independent software providers, we maintain complete control to ensure that our customers’ critical data assets are secure.”