The Benefits Of Using Cloud Computing

After reading many articles about Cloud Computing I saw the bright future for these types of cloud services. Aside from educating myself on this topic I feel that this could be beneficial to my fellow Computer Technology peers to address their client or employers cloud needs as well as people who are going to start a business and are looking at the options available to address their companies demands.

Cloud computing is a new technology that comes with both benefits and drawbacks and like any new tech it can be used to great success when paired with steps to mitigate the security issues it raises. Cloud computing has become somewhat of an ambiguous term often having different meaning for different people. An article in InfoWorld (2013) stated, ”Cloud computing comes into focus only when you think about what IT always needs: a way to increase capacity or add capabilities on the fly without investing in new infrastructure, training new personnel, or licensing new software. Cloud computing encompasses any

Cloud computing is a one of the most talked of topics in the field of Information Technology in recent times (Keyun, Joe, Taha, & Ibrahim, 2013). This subject area of cloud computing basically is a term used to describe computer resources available as a service accessible over a network (Darren & Kim-Kwang, 2013). The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) define cloud computing as a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access on a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g. networks, servers, storage, applications and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction (Peter & Timothy, 2011). Due to the attractive nature of the model there has been rise in the use of cloud computing. Gartner, an IT research and consulting firm, says that cloud computing is growing will become the bulk of IT spend by 2016 (Gartner, 2013).

Organizations use the Cloud in a variety of different service models (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS) and deployment models (Private, Public, Hybrid). There are a number of security issues/concerns associated with cloud computing but these issues fall into two broad categories: Security issues faced by cloud providers (organizations providing software-, platform-, or infrastructure-as-a-service via the cloud) and security issues faced by their customers.In most cases, the provider must ensure that their infrastructure is secure and that their clients’ data and applications are protected while the customer must ensure that the provider has taken the proper security measures to protect their information.

Abstract - Cloud computing is architecture for providing computing service via the internet on demand and pay per user access to a pool of shared resources namely networks, storage, servers, services and applications, without physically acquiring them. So it saves managing cost and time for organizations. Cloud security is becoming a key differentiator and competitive edge between cloud providers.

Privacy is another drawback of cloud computing. We are not certain who has access to our data from cloud’s maintenance team. Moreover, cloud services are shared and improper cloud design could make our data accessible to others without proper authorization.

Cloud computing is vast and so are the security threats. When a company opts for cloud computing, it will consider the advantages, but some of the companies fail to consider the vulnerabilities that might lead to data lost and misuse.

According to (Whitman and Mattord, 2012), information Security is the protection of the lifeblood of the organization — its information. Specifically it is the protection of the confidentiality, integrity and availability of that information and the systems that store, process and transmit it, (Whitman and Mattord, 2012). Information Security is at the forefront of organizational concern with cloud computing. A major organizational concern is will the cloud service provider be able to secure and protect its data. Although this concern is imminent, many organizations have made the decision to move data storage and services to the cloud. The concern is primarily due to cost benefits such as overhead costs of maintaining software and hardware on-site.

The development of cloud computing services is speeding up the rate in which the organizations outsource their computational services or sell their idle computational resources. Even though migrating to the cloud remains a tempting trend from a financial perspective, there are several other aspects that must be taken into account by companies before they decide to do so. One of the most important aspect refers to security: while some cloud computing security issues are inherited from the solutions adopted to create such services, many new security questions that are particular to these solutions also arise, including those related to how the services are organized and which kind of service/data can be placed in the cloud. Aiming to give a better understanding of this complex scenario, in this article we identify and classify the main security concerns and solutions in cloud computing, and propose a taxonomy of security in cloud computing, giving an overview of the current status of security in this emerging technology.

Distributed computing has turned into a massive market. In a 2016 report, investigators at Gartner anticipated that the move to the cloud will influence more than $1 trillion in IT spending throughout the following five years. "Cloud-first strategies are the foundation for staying noteworthy in a snappy paced world," said Ed Anderson, investigate VP at Gartner. "The market for cloud organizations has created to such an extent, to the point that it is as of now an extraordinary level of total IT spending, making another period of new organizations and 'considered in the cloud' providers." In their hurry to take part in this tremendous market, sellers have rushed to tout cloud triumphs. Their locales are stacked with logical examinations

This section of paper includes why we need cloud computing as a security control tool against the cyber criminal activities and in how many ways it can be implemented. As we are living in a technical era, many aspects of our lives rely on the Internet and computers, including transportation, communications, government, medicine, finance and education. Consider how much of our personal information is stored either on our own computer or on someone else’s system.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the technologies regarding cloud computing and the importance for organizations to adapt this new technology. The largest companies in the world have placed bets on both sides of using cloud computing. Corporations should leverage the cloud while at the same time hire an internal cloud expert to protect the firm’s internal security. The fundamental question is the value of the collective mind versus the value of the privacy. Large and small corporations should utilize cloud computing because the value of the infrastructure and the stability far exceed what any single corporation can provide, no matter how large or small. We will also look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of cloud computing.

Cloud computing is becoming the most popular topic in the realm of Information technology. Its popularity stems from the ability to allow with limited knowledge, to be able to access their information anytime and anywhere while reducing overhead and costs. Additionally, reduces the need for backups; this is because backups are done automatically, between different servers in the “cloud”. Even with the obscurity, cloud computing is really just a way to outsource computing resources, and have a third party maintain and upgrade them. Allowing companies to avoid the upfront investment in hardware and labor. Even though cloud computing may seem like a silver bullet to a company, cloud computing presents a whole new set of very serious risks

Cloud computing is a shared resource that holds valuable data from masses of people and organisations and is therefore an easy target for hackers. Security within cloud computing involves a set of control-based technologies, polices, processes and standards to protect information, data applications and infrastructures related to cloud computing usage. Security within this area addresses the physical and logical security issues across the different service models as well as how these services are delivered ie.via the public, private or hybrid model. There are many points of entry for an attacker in the cloud environment and people are more exposed to data breaches than they think e.g. using an insecure website on your mobile phone or if a database administrator shares a password, personal details can be accessed.

The reason for the author selecting to look at literature regarding cloud security within this review is because of how it ties in with a Computing Science degree currently being worked towards at Staffordshire University. One of the modules being studied involves the creation of a database system, with the client formally requesting a cloud-based data centre as part of their system. Therefore, it would interesting to take an in-depth look at the security concerns surrounding what is a technology that is still within its infancy stage.