The aim of the link-up, says Paul Simmonds - a founding member of the Jericho Forum and who will act as one of the four liaison members between the two groups - will be to foster a set of best practices for cloud computing security.

The link between the two organisations has been in development for around nine months and builds on the extension of the Jericho Forum's secure de-perimeterisation ethos into the cloud environment - the Cloud Cube model - which was announced at the RSA conference in April.

Simmonds says that the extension of its IT security best practice approach in the cloud is an evolution, rather than a revolution, for the Jericho Forum.

"If you've been listening to our comments and best practices on open collaborative working and de-perimeterisation over the last four years, then your organisation's security model will be ready for the shift to cloud computing."

Under the best practices link-up between the forum and the CSA, each organisation will have two liaison members - one primary, one secondary - to co-ordinate their group's respective efforts.

Both groups, says Simmonds, have a single goal, namely to help businesses understand the opportunity posed by cloud computing and encourage common and secure cloud practices.

"If you look at the axes of the Cloud Cube model, the Z axis becomes the architecture when you are dealing with the cloud. Using this approach to defining the cube model allows you to extend the concept - which helps in the planning stages of IT security - into the cloud computing environment."

In parallel with the moves to promote cloud computing at the Jericho Forum, the CSA plans to revise its guidelines later in the year, so bringing it more closely into line with Jericho's long-term vision.

The plan is for the CSA's new guidelines to include more advice on data privacy.