This sort of thing is significant. It puts remote support for systems in a very different light. At Efficito, we have plans to release on-premise appliances as well as our cloud hosting options. This sort of story makes me think about how to avoid this sort of problem.
Here are rules I am suggesting.
1. The on-premise appliance should not be directly accessed from the network unless folks at the local environment enable contact.
2. Everything else, regarding services, should be loosely coupled and designed not to give significant access to either party over the other.
This sort of thing strikes me as an area where the industry is going to have to evolve. The danger of "we can connect to your systems" is becoming clearer to a larger section of the market.
Here are rules I am suggesting.
1. The on-premise appliance should not be directly accessed from the network unless folks at the local environment enable contact.
2. Everything else, regarding services, should be loosely coupled and designed not to give significant access to either party over the other.
This sort of thing strikes me as an area where the industry is going to have to evolve. The danger of "we can connect to your systems" is becoming clearer to a larger section of the market.