1. INTRODUCTION For years the Internet has been represented on network diagrams by a cloud symbol until 2008 when a variety of new services started to emerge that permitted computing resources to be accessed over the Internet termed cloud computing. Cloud computing encompasses activities such as the use of social networking sites and other forms of interpersonal computing; however, most of the time cloud computing is concerned with accessing online software applications, data storage and processing power. Cloud computing is a way to increase the capacity or add capabilities dynamically without investing in new infrastructure, training new personnel, or licensing new software. It extends Information Technology’s (IT) existing capabilities. In the last few years, cloud computing has grown from being a promising business concept to one of the fast growing segments of the IT industry. But as more and more information on individuals and companies are placed in the cloud, concerns are beginning to grow about just how safe an environment it is. Despite of all the hype surrounding the cloud, customers are still reluctant to deploy their business in the cloud. Security issues in cloud computing has played a major role in slowing down its acceptance, in fact security ranked first as the greatest challenge issue of cloud computing as depicted in figure 1. Kuyoro S. O., Ibikunle F. & Awodele O. International Journal of Computer Networks (IJCN), Volume (3) : Issue (5) : 2011 248 FIGURE
In this burgeoning world of cyber criminals, it is imperative that companies address cloud computing security with their providers as they entrust their data to them. One of the biggest concerns with using cloud computing is the threat of a data breach or data loss. How do businesses combat that threat? According to Modis.com. (n.d), “Reputable cloud providers will offer security solutions like firewalls, secure login and data transfer” (p. 7). Though some companies will be worried about the cost of paying for enhanced security, it is imperative that this issue is incorporated into the cloud computing agreements. By addressing this issue upfront, the costs can be mitigated to a certain extent. A simple way to provide another layer of security is to require stronger password protocol of all users.
This journal examines the various types of threats that a cloud-based company has to defend against. The authors recognize that the cloud has the potential to be a disruptive force in technology, and it examines the concerns that a business has for migrating to the cloud through the use of surveys. The benefits and risks are examined and the article provides statics and charts to illustrate the findings. The most interesting point of this article is it highlights the concerns customers have listing security as the number one reason preventing a business from migrating to the cloud. I plan to use this article to explain the challenges developers face in securing data on the cloud, not only with application development but also with educating businesses to alleviate misconceptions on cloud computing.
When deciding which information, the company wants to move to cloud, the division of responsibilities needs to be clear between providers and customers, and an analysis of their security roles depending on the type of service offered (Software, Platform, or Infrastructure) (Gonzalez, et al, 2012). Prior to the start of the service contract, the security roles and responsibilities for everything needs to be clearly acknowledged. The management, cost, and security of clouds depend on whether an organization chooses to buy and operate its own cloud or to obtain cloud services from a third party (Grossman, 2009). Each of these choices has its own security and privacy issues. Some security concerns are lessened when a private cloud is used. Only your own information is stored there and the benefits of security might outweigh the costs. Two of the disadvantages of using a private cloud is the level of knowledge needed to support the cloud and the frequency of maintenance. On the other
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
Most organizations have constrained and inefficient resources to lay down good IT systems and infrastructure. They do not respond promptly to customer needs that keep changing radically and make data sharing difficult. This problem can be solved through adoption of cloud computing; The cloud service providers should ensure that they consider the security issues (software,
Cloud computing is basically the use of large groups of resources linked together through networking to produce a lot of performances. One of the main purpose of this technology is the scalability that it offers. Indeed, when you need more speed or performances, the only thing to do is to add more servers to the cloud. It has a lot of advantages, but the most valuable one for a company is that they pay for what they use, and don’t have to buy some powerful servers “just in case” they will need more resource. This technology is a huge money-saver.
This great innovation (cloud computing) is advancing more now than ever before for obvious reasons. Industry
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).
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,
However companies providing cloud computing services counter argue to this say that they live and die by their reputations. Customers pay these companies because they are trust worthy in security measures. Otherwise, they would lose their clients. It's their job to provide best services to their clients. Privacy is the other issue. The data can be accessed from any location; it's possible that the client's privacy could be weakened. One way to solve this problem is by using proper authentication techniques. Another solution is to provide authorization so that each and every user can access only the data relevant to his/her job. Copy time and costs also play an important role. How fast can the data be copied is important for data resiliency. Reliability is also an issue [21].
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.
Business in the 21st century has undoubtedly experienced rapid growth and has been vastly changed by the advances in cloud computing. People can access content, connect to others in distant lands, and do business from virtually anywhere in the world. With the rapid advancements of cloud computing in the world, the power of even a small business has essentially become limitless in discovering new clientele, reducing cost of overhead and widening profit margins. However, this is only advantageous to a certain degree as long as other competitive businesses within the same market do not duplicate the benefits of excelling technologies with minimal effort [1]. There are also many cross-border policies that limit the capability of businesses, big and small, and ultimately interfere from effectively making use of cloud computing technology, such as China-U.S. political relations [3]. Russia has also been considered to be a high-level threat in the cyber-market [7]. Even with the many advantages cloud computing brings, the competitive foundation that carries the further advancement of cloud computing technology itself has become heavily dependent on ever-changing customer values in a 21st century market [2] that demands goods and information faster [1], all while maintaining a good stance in the political spectrum and a safe haven from exploitation.
Cloud computing means data storing and accessing data over the Internet instead of your computer 's hard drive. We can store data without any Physical Cable. We can access our data or our programs over the web or in any event have that information synchronizes with other information over the Net.
Cloud environment is one among the great ways in boosting the sales and apart from this it provides a chance to the customers to get more information regarding the to know the goods like before purchasing the things customers will follow the reviews for the things which they wants to buy and take decision accordingly.
Cloud technology is steadily on the rise. Many companies are steadily becoming a part of this expansive growth. Do you think you are missing out? Well, there are high chances that your company is already riding the growth, you just have not noticed yet. Here are a few instances that show that cloud has already infiltrated your office –