Understanding A Data Breach?

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.

The data breaches of 2012 compromised almost twenty-eight million private records. The year 2015 is still underway, therefore no information gathered by Privacy Rights Clearinghouse so far for 2015 was utilized. Instead, as of 2014, there have been around four thousand data breaches made public since 2005, compromising about seven hundred thirty million private records. Of the four thousand public data breaches that have occurred between 2005 and 2014, one thousand six hundred public breaches are business-related, either through financial and insurance businesses, retail and merchant businesses among other types of businesses. Business-related data breaches between 2005 and 2014 constitute forty percent of the publicized data breaches,

Cloud computing has set a trend in the information technology arena that has sparked the interest of all who utilize the internet on purpose and unsuspectingly. Initially, the primary purpose of cloud computing was to provide a centralized data bank that organizations could use for quick data access. Its use has been quickly adapted, however, beyond business use to become the first option for personal use. The advantages and disadvantages of implementing such a shift from business to personal are varied, yet, statistically, according to the CISCO Global Cloud Index: Forecast and Methodology, 2014-2019 White Paper, its public use is on the rise. The report notes that “by 2019, 56 percent of the cloud workloads will be in public cloud data centers, up from 30 percent in 2014 and by 2019, 44 percent of the cloud workloads will be in private cloud data centers, down from 70 percent in 2014”. Though disadvantages with regard to data security is prominent, users have deemed that its implementation will still promote greater benefits than loss.

BYOD lets employees use their personal devices for work, connecting to a corporate network. Generally you will cover a portion of the service plan's cost per employee. This policy is great for productivity because your employees don't

Before this week’s discussion I had no idea of the term BYOD and when I find out what it meant, I immediately disagreed with the idea of allowing employees to bring their own device to work. Before I go on with the reason for my disagreement with this term or policy I would like to mention Bring your own device (BYOD) defined as an IT policy where employees are allowed or encouraged to use their personal mobile devices to work, increasingly, notebook computers to access the company’s data and systems. This policy allows employees four types of access which are mentioned as the following:

Human factors influence polices in the BYOD practice in the workplace because for the most part employees are comfortable and prefer using their own devices compared to company issued devices as they can often multitask between personal and business access. The use of mobile devices comes with the consequences of the device being stolen, lost and exposed to threats. The possibility of these devices falling in the wrong hands or stranger not authorized access to data could result to harmful software application being uploaded or downloaded which could infect the device and compromise the network.

Provide customers and stakeholders with details about the identity theft and how they are affected by it

A significant paradigm shift is represented by public cloud computing from conventional norms of an organizational data center to a de-parameterized infrastructure which opens gates for potential adversaries to use. Cloud computing should be approached carefully with any emerging information technology area with due consideration to the sensitivity of data. A good planning helps and ensures that the computing environment is secure to the most possible extant and is in compliance with all relevant policies of an organization and makes sure the privacy is maintained.

A significant paradigm shift is represented by public cloud computing from conventional norms of an organizational data center to a de-parameterized infrastructure which opens gates for potential adversaries to use. Cloud computing should be approached carefully with any emerging information technology area with due consideration to the sensitivity of data. A good planning helps and ensures that the computing environment is secure to the most possible extant and is in compliance with all relevant policies of an organization and makes sure the privacy is maintained.

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.

All of us have an opinion about Cloud computing. Leaders in the industry think of it as a form of outsourcing, largely eliminates operational responsibilities, and offers substantial scalability and elasticity, the ability to store large amounts of data that is available only to authorized applications or users.

Deployment of cloud technology is becoming ever more dependent on corporations to implement in order to remain competitive in this internet age driven business world. Numerous factors must be taken into consideration to make an informed decision on whether or not cloud deployment is the optimal choice. Every new technology pose significant and unforeseen risks and is my responsibility to evaluate the cost-risk assessment as the CISO of www.imagine-if-you.org and provide my results to my management as requested.

However, with the convenience of cloud storage come real risks. Cloud storage is quite attractive, given the advantages previously stated, but there are still great concerns, including reliability and security. Organizations relying on cloud computing must ensure that the third party they’ve entrusted to store their data can guarantee that they can access their information at any time and that their information is safe from the threat of hackers (Berman, 2008, p. ).

BYOD is an increasing trend toward employee-owned devices within a business. BYOD is the acronym for Bring Your Own Device. Some industries are adopting BYOD quicker than others. There are both advantages and disadvantages of implementing BYOD in the workplace. Most employees are already using their personal devices in the workplace. These employees store personal information as well as company data on their devices. Although there are a variety of benefits to allowing users to supply their own devices, it also raises significant data security and privacy concerns. It is vital for any organizations to understand these benefits and concerns.

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.