Security Considerations for Cloud Computing
Carlos Chandler
Abstract
Cloud computing is an emerging Information Technology (IT) model whereby a company utilizes a pay-per-use service for it computing needs rather than maintain a local data center run by its in-house IT department. By treating computing resources as a commodity or operating expense, it allows firms to focus less on IT and more on the core elements of the operations strategy. Because of advantages like this, its popularity has grown exponentially in recent years. However, cloud computing also has certain inherent risks in its present form. This paper seeks to understand the key advantages driving businesses to adopt this computing model in ever increasing numbers,
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Lastly, cloud computing makes possible all kinds of operations innovations since the businesses computing resources are now accessed over the internet, and is thereby available to users anywhere that has internet access.
Despite these advantages, cloud computing carries with it some inherent risks that need to be evaluated before a firm makes the decision to adopt this computing model. In order to eschew the in-house data center and IT department for a cloud-based solution, a business must hand over its most sensitive data to a third party service provider—this requirement carries with it major drawbacks, as we will see. A recently conducted survey of nearly 300 IT Experts done by the Journal of Computer Information Systems found the three primary concerns are loss governance, service availability, and information security (Dutta, Peng, & Choudhary, 2013).
Loss of Governance
One of the unavoidable risks in cloud computing is the loss of governance of the firm’s data. The business must hand over the processing of its most sensitive data to a third party service provider whose computers could be anywhere in the world. This means the oversight and enforcement of access controls to company data usually afforded by in-house IT departments is bypassed, as observed by researchers doing a case study of Swiss companies (Brender & Markov, 2013). As vendors seek locations where labor and electricity are at lower costs, data may be
There are several advantages of using Cloud Computing, for example: “To begin, businesses can have lower cost computers for users.” Alijabre explains that cloud computing can be very beneficial for the businesses. Moreover, businesses will bring great amount of profit into their company, and it will be easy to use it. Alijabres goes on to provide several examples why cloud computing is better. One of of the most important reason why companies are moving towards cloud computing is the lower cost of the system. “To begin, businesses can have lower cost computers for users.” He explains that small business will not need computers that are high performance based. Business can get less expensive computers and store all of their data online instantly, without having them to worry about the space in a
Cloud computing offers many advantages to both end users and businesses of all sizes. The advantages of cloud
Most traditional online computing services offer business services that are bundled. Accessing the Cloud, Riordan will only pay for services used while saving the company money. These three characteristics proves that cloud computing is efficient and has more benefit than traditional computing (Hartig, Dec).
This research paper tackles the issues that faces Cloud Computing today and gives the experts and industry’s point of view on the matter. The aspects explored are the significant industry questions that have risen about the use of Cloud Computing, business value, organization impact, adaptability, limitations, initial cost of implementation, and the severe business security risks
DATA SECURITY IN CLOUD COMPUTING Introduction: Cloud computing has prompted a movement in how individuals consider IT frameworks structural engineering. Numerous associations today are either executing cloud-based services, or assessing which cloud-based measures they will be portraying later on. As indicated by Gartner Inc. distributed computing is "no less compelling than e-business". This sprocess in building design from an undertaking normal server-based framework to a cloud-based framework will have related expenses of passage and dangers, yet it can bring about inconceivable advantages in reserve funds and in IT and business deftness.
The use of cloud computing creates a growing interdependence among both public and private sector entities and the individuals served by these entities. This paper provides a snapshot of the advantages of cloud computing and the risk areas specific to cloud services which clients of cloud services should be aware of. The future of cloud computing is certainly exciting, but moving more of our lives online means we will inevitably have to consider the consequences. Cloud computing means dependence on others and that could limit our privacy because
Cloud computing has formed the basis for future computing. The global computing infrastructure is rapidly moving towards cloud computing. While it is important to take advantages of it by means of deploying it in diversified sectors, the security aspects in a cloud based computing environment should be considered (Ahmed, 2014). Cloud computing is still a new technology in many enterprises. Findings show that most organizations are reluctant to adopt it and the demand to reduce computing cost has led to this great innovation (Agarwal, 2012). A sample size of 150 technical IT people will be used for data collection through questionnaires and interviews and the data collected will be analyzed using SPSS. The purpose of this study is to identify the cloud computing concepts as well as security issues inherent within cloud infrastructure. The adoption of cloud computing is not as complex as many organizations have thought and by moving the applications and hardware out of the organization the user can focus on its core strategies.
Companies all around the world shift more and more towards cloud computing and engage in its advancements. They notice how much simpler and easier their business can be with the use of it. For instance in the past, individuals would run programs and applications from a downloaded software on a PC physically or by server, while cloud computing permits the user access to the same sorts of utilization through the web. So anything shared through Cloud is available to be edited by whomever it is being shared to. Cloud computing also allows users to store and process their data in third-party data centers. It relies on sharing of resources to have a stable and coherent network.
In 2008, Cloud computing was being touted as the next big thing in computing (Bajarin, 2008); just 6 years later in 2014, a Eurostat news release claimed that Cloud computing services are used by one out of every five enterprises in the European Union (Bourgeais, 2014), which indicates a subtle but not overwhelming rate of adoption. According to a study by the Cloud Industry Forum, 82% of business owners’ main concern they have when making a decision to migrate to cloud-based services is data security; with 69% also stating that data privacy is another concern of theirs (Cloud Industry Forum, 2013). The aforementioned statistics straightaway show where the concerns lie when it comes to users migrating over to the cloud,
Cloud technology links remote computers to a network of data servers that contain user data. It serves to increase efficiency in data access, increase user convenience and lower costs. It also has created efficiencies in terms of user hardware requirements necessary to access files and programs in multiple locations. A system designed in only 2006, it has already become a $68 billion global industry, with an anticipated $17 billion per annum growth rate. With such a growth rate, cloud technology is rapidly becoming an increasingly important aspect of individual and corporate data storage. While cloud technology provides an expansive range of possibilities of use for individuals and businesses alike, it has also posed challenges for its effective governance and privacy.
Cloud computing has proven that it is a technology that is here to stay and has shown to be a powerful game changer in modern business. It is a key component in allowing a organization to operate in ways never before imagined; however, with any new technology it is important to be educated about the technology and situation to be able to effectively leverage for an advantage. Through discussion of the technology, combined with potential security issues, strengths and weaknesses, a more thorough understanding of cloud computer
Cloud based computing can be considered as an upcoming computing paradigm or a business model allowing organizations and businesses to Incorporate IT capabilities without having to Invest heavily upfront to set up the IT infrastructure. It is incontrovertible that the capabilities and the advantages provided by cloud based services can greatly benefit businesses and organizations around the globe, but there remain some unresolved issues with respect to cloud based systems that can hinder
“The cloud” is a phrase which is heard often, but also frequently misunderstood. Nowadays, when you hear it, it is probably not referring to the puffy white things floating in the sky, but it is more likely referring to a new computer technology. Most people do realize it is a technical expression, but cannot actually define it. Essentially, it is huge data centers housing hundreds of servers which hold considerable amounts of data. There are a number of corporations delivering cloud services, and the major players include Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Apple, to name a few. They provide individuals, small businesses and major corporations the opportunity to save costs on technology by storing data on their servers, which must then be accessed through the internet. So, with the rapid growth of cloud computing, more and more information is being stored on the internet. While the cloud does have many benefits such as low technology costs, more accessibility and highly trained IT professionals monitoring security, the data stored in the cloud is still at risk due to imminent privacy and security breaches such as government snooping as well as hacker theft and manipulation.
Cloud computing has now become a competitor to traditional IT because of how cheap it is and that it is based on “pay-as-you-go” service just like electricity or gas. There has been a great increase in the migration of businesses into cloud. Cloud has its down side but the advantages are higher and almost negate the downsides. Some of these advantages are resource availability on demand, pay as you go, hardware utilization is better and more efficient, no in house losses with respect to hardware and since there is no hardware involved the maintenance is low too. Cloud computing is drawn-out from distributed computing,
Now that our company may be categorized as a small to medium sized firm, I believe we should consider the prospects of moving towards cloud computing. Traditional business applications have always been expensive and complicated. There is a daunting amount of hardware and software that needs to be dealt with, and more than likely, a team of experts is required to install, configure, test, run, secure and update them. (What is cloud computing?, 2016) Recently, cloud computing is a trend that is being observed in all kinds of businesses. This could be especially beneficial to a firm of our size.