In an effort to allay fears about the security and privacy of the cloud, McAfee today launches Cloud Secure, an auditing and certification program to help software-as-a-service (SaaS) providers promote their commitment to secure computing. Interested? Amazon Web Services is.

It’s true: cloud computing pioneer and market leader Amazon Web Services, along with SaaS provider SuccessFactors, are expected to be among the first wave of Cloud Secure customers, McAfee says. What they get from the deal is the ability to reassure their customers that their security meets the highest standards, McAfee claims.

What does leveraging Cloud Secure actually entail? For starters, McAfee will perform an annual systems audit and advise you on the security standards you should adopt now — and how to futureproof against emerging standards. In between full checkups, McAfee will perform automatic daily audits and, in the event of a problem, report back advise on remediation.

Finally, if they pass all of the above, vendors can slap the McAfee “SECURE” name all over their product and marketing.

McAfee isn’t alone with its online security branding efforts. CompTIA (the Computing Technology Industry Association) promotes the Security Trustmark to IT vendors, solutions providers and end-customers. Similarly, VeriSign in February 2010 launched the VeriSign Trust Seal to help Web sites give visitors peace of mind.

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