Cloud Computing Is Moving Into The Mainstream.Moving To

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.

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.

Business owners use three types of cloud service, public, private, and hybrid these clouds store their data and provide them with services. The benefits of these clouds are endless, additionally, they saves businesses time and money, promoting innovation, enhancing productivity, and improving communication while cloud hosting accelerate information sharing, like email, application hosting, web-based phone, and data storage (Griffith, 2013).

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

Security is typically ranked the top cloud computing adoption concern. Many feel that cloud is not yet a secure enough option for storing and processing mission critical or customer-sensitive data, and may never be. So it’s important to evaluate security solutions provided by various vendors to see what data protection you will be receiving from a specific cloud vendor for your mission critical and sensitive data. Comparison of security solutions provided by four well known cloud service providers is listed as below.

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).

Cloud computing is a popular and widely accepted paradigm built concepts such as on-demand computing resources, elastic scaling, elimination of up-front capital and operational expenses, and establishing a pay-as-you-use business model for computing and information technology services. And the adoption of virtualization, service oriented architectures, and utility computing there has been a significant development in the creation of cloud

Cloud services: The organizations have been highly dependent on the cloud services. The cybercriminals have been seeking ways to exploit corporate security policies for protecting cloud services. The cloud services have been providing immense risk of data being disclosed deliberately or accidentally. The hosting companies have a greater ease of control over the private data and information and can even communicate between the end user and access his user data even without his permission. Therefore this threat has to be placed at the highest priority. Additionally, the cloud providers have the authority to the share information with any of the third parties even without any warrant. All these activities poses privacy concerns as the data can be access on the cloud anywhere and anytime where the information can be deleted, or even altered. All these activities have further left a room for potential unwanted disclosure of data and information on the cloud. Thus using cloud services in an organization poses a threat to exploitation and stealing of confidential data by their competitors, cybercriminals and vigilante justice seekers (Shaikh, F. B., & Haider, S., 2011).

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

Reaching the point where computing functions as a utility has great potential, promising innovations we cannot yet imagine. Customers are both excited and nervous at the prospects of Cloud Computing. They are excited by the opportunities to reduce capital costs. They are excited for a chance to divest themselves of infrastructure management, and focus on core competencies. Most of all, they are excited by the agility offered by the on-demand provisioning of computing and the ability to align information technology with business strategies and needs more readily. However, customers are also very concerned about the risks of Cloud Computing if not properly secured, and the loss of direct control over systems for which they are nonetheless accountable. To aid both cloud customers and cloud providers, CSA developed “Security Guidance for Critical Areas in Cloud Computing”, initially released in April 2009, and revised in December 2009. This guidance has quickly become the industry standard catalogue of best

The main trends within cloud computing are hybrid clouds, BYOD (Bring your own device), PaaS (Platform as a service), big data analytics, graphics as a server, identity management and protection and web powered apps. Hybrid clouds are an infrastructure that combines high levels of private security and cost-effectiveness with public cloud attributes. Customers can get better personalisation of their

Cloud computing, in its most basic form, is “using computer services [such as computer and data storage, management and processing] that are delivered over a network” (Kim & Solomon, 2013, p. 189). For example, an organization may require a great deal of storage for their data but may not want to purchase the servers, the physical space for the servers, or the personnel to manage the infrastructure. Instead, they take advantage of the many cloud computing options and outsource their needs, hiring someone to do everything off-site usually with the goal of reducing their overall cost of ownership. As defined by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), cloud computing has five essential characteristics, three service models, and four deployment models (Mell & Grance, 2011) which will be covered, briefly, in the next few sections.

To ease the process of storing digital information, large corporations have developed cloud computing applications. The innumerable amount of cloud services is currently available to the public. Such services can be provided at the level of infrastructure, platforms, or applications. The most widespread are three service deliveries:

In today’s digital world because of increased threats to data security, many organizations seek alternative ways to safeguard highly confidential information (financial and non-financial) – apart from the regular backing up facilities available. With the introduction of cloud computing, the organizations were given an additional option to store all their complex information, behind the safe guards of this information system. This report aims to throw light on the transition of companies from traditional information systems to cloud based ones along with the risks and rewards involved in making this transition.

The cloud platform can be paved to the road for a faster and easier set up to the infrastructure that can relate to the goals for both startups and the establishment. However, there could be some concerns towards security and the privacy of the users information that can be suppressed with its wider acceptance (Rastogi, Gloria, and Hendler, 2015)