Cloud Computing and Security Issues
Cost savings and data capacity have primarily been the main reasons companies started looking into cloud computing. However, organizations are now more attentive and concerned about how much security can cloud providers actually guarantee.
The objective of this article is to expand the readers knowledge about the privacy risks regarding cloud services and point to what seemed to be the biggest issue affecting business most as they move to a cloud-based storage which is data security, as well as point to some solutions that can help the user minimize risks and be more aware of important details before contracting a cloud service provider.
Privacy and security challenges in cloud computing
Because of the abstract nature of the Internet, cloud computing raises great concern regarding security and confidentiality of information in the cloud, compared to traditional desktop-based computing. As all the data is stored online, and the cloud could potentially put people’s identities at risk. Another critical issue is the question of jurisdiction and the existing legal structure once data privacy laws vary from country to country and data that might be secure in one country might not be in another (Lanois, P., 2011). Also, availability, security, privacy and integrity of information are some of the biggest concerns in the process of designing, implementing and running IT services based on cloud computing, due to technological and legal matters (Cardoso, A., & Simões, P., 2012).
In addition to what have been said, there are threats and vulnerabilities unique to the cloud that do not exist in the traditional IT data centers, and one example would be incomplete data deletion. This threat exists because the consumer has neither 100% of visibility of where the data is stored in the cloud nor the ability to verify that it was indeed completely deleted, consequently companies cannot make sure that there will not have any remain of data available to attacks (Morrow, T., 2018). Another vulnerability of cloud computing is the loss of stored data due accidental deletion of data and physical catastrophe. Issues like that are easy to prevent, but unfortunately they have been increasing over the past years. One example of a huge breach happened in November 2013, when Target had “over 100 million records, including credit card details, were compromised”, making their profit collapse by 50% (McCarthy, N., 2014). Another example was the biggest data breach in history, when Yahoo had information of 3 billion users accounts exposed. Information like dates of birth, emails, passwords and security questions and answers were compromised (Armending, T., 2018).
Conclusion
Cloud computing is growing and has benefits, but it also has its drawbacks, with a lot of room for improvements so organizations can feel more comfortable and secure with the idea of migrating to the cloud. So before rushing into the cloud, companies should analyze the necessity of doing this change and in case they decide to migrate there are some advices to ensure the company is using a reliable and safe cloud.
Before contracting a cloud service provider customers need to make sure that their service will provide encryption on both ends – the provider and the customer end. Another advice is to secure that the data is only accessible to you and your team, meaning that no one inside the provider can have access to the data even if they wanted. Customers also should want to know before contracting the service if the cloud provider has active human people managing the cloud 24/7, and look for providers that have security certifications from governments or independent security agencies, for their datacenters. Fast response time is extremely important, so network issues can be repaired with agility and within the timeframe needed by the client.
What was mentioned above doesn’t guarantee that the organization is free from risks, but it makes it more difficult for the data to be hacked.
