Security Threats In Cloud Computing And Preventive Measures Essay.

Research And Research Questions

Cloud computing is the method that allow the users to use the remote servers in order to save and process data instead of using the storage devices at local computers or servers (Armbrust, et. Al, 2010). Cloud computing is getting popular these days because it saves the  infrastructure cost of the companies as the companies need not to spend much on developing their own servers and this cost investment can be used in conducting the core activities of the firm (Computing, 2011). Cloud computing provide many benefits to the company but also have some of the associated threats that have been discussed below along with their preventive measures.

The objective of this research is to understand the concept of cloud computing and the threats associated with this. The research questions are:

• What are the threats associated with cloud computing?
• How these threats can be reduced?

Threats can be defined as the aspect of the issue that makes it challenging to use a particular thing (Zhang, Cheng & Boutaba, 2010). Cloud computing is the technological process that help the individual and companies to save their data. This technology has many threats associate with it that is being discussed below in brief:

Abuse of cloud computing facilities: This is one of the major security threat associated with cloud computing. The attackers can easily found the public clouds and upload the spam file containing malware. These results in harm to all the client computers attached with the servers. Cloud is the space that helps the client computers to save their data on a particular sever (Sabahi, 2011). As that data is used hay many clients so it is difficult to find that who was the attacker. False practice in usage of cloud computing facilities is

Data loss and leakage: It is among the top concerns of the cloud computing users that their data be lost or stolen by others. There can be many reason of loss of data such as deletion, theft by other client, unauthorized access to data etc. as discussed earlier that in public clouds the single data that has been uploaded on server is used by many clients and thus anyone with bad intentions can delete of theft the data by hacking the security credentials of the firm (Subashini & Kavitha, 2011). This can occur at individual or organizational level.

Malicious insider: It i not necessary that the data that has been modified or theft can be done by the outsider; there are threats from insider also. These threats are called malicious insider. Malicious insider can be defined as the attacker who is the insider of the organization and leak or stole the data (Dikaiakos, Katsaros,  Mehra, Pallis & Vakali, 2009). This is the most dangerous threats as it is difficult to detect the attacker from inside the organization. This is because the insider has all the credentials and must have used the proper way of accessing the data and leaked it.

Threats

Other than these, there are many other threats such as data combination, leakage of data, shared technology vulnerabilities etc.

Following are some of the counter measures ta can help them companies to get safe in terms of using cloud computing for their data.

Security policy enhancement: It is very much easier to register and use the data on clouds. Enhancing the security on registration by the use of credit cards and monitoring the whole process strictly can help in reducing the risks associated with security and abuse of data access by the hackers or attackers (Lee, 2012).

Access management: the data that has been stored by the companies on the cloud is very secret and private (Jensen, Schwenk, Gruschka & Iacono, 2009). Thus, that data needs to be secured and monitored. It is not enough to monitor the data but the process to access the data also needs to be monitored in order to manage the access of data process.

Data protection: To deal with the threats caused by insiders, it is necessary for the company to implement that security tools and the credentials of those tool should not be shared by anyone who is not trustworthy in the organization. This is the technique to reduce the risk of theft from insiders.

Most of the people think that cloud computing is only used by the companies but it is not the fact. Cloud computing is used in daily practices conducted by the people. Web services are one of the examples that use cloud computing as the technology (Hashizume, Rosado, Fernández-Medina & Fernandez, 2013). Anyone can use the cloud data by just logging into the account. The data or the mail we forward or compose is saved on the clod of the account. The companies that provide us the facility to mail buy the cloud space where the users can save their data. Another example of daily lives that uses cloud computing is the IPhone storage. The iPhone users can save their data on clouds.

Models of Cloud Computing:

Cloud based services can be consumed by many ways. There real different approaches that are associated with cloud base computing networks. Following are the three approaches:

• Infrastructure as a service
• Platform as a service
• Software as a service

Infrastructure as a service: This is the approach that helps in outsourcing of different elements such as storage, visualization etc.

Platform as a service: It is the model that helps the user to have a platform that allows the user to run the application from that platform (Wei & Blake, 2010). 

Counter Measures

Software as a service: in this case, the organization can make use of the services of the applications that are required by their business by the help of the cloud on which that application can be run.

There are many challenges in using cloud computing technology. This is because it is very much difficult for the normal users to access the data from the clouds or save their data. Challenges can be defined as the elements that restrict the smooth use of any process of facility (Krutz & Vines, 2010). The challenges associated with cloud computing also restrict the users to use its facilities without hindrances. If the user needs to transfer their files from one cloud to other, it has becomes challenge for them. There are many threats associated with cloud computing that has been discussed above so they act as the challenge as security is very important for anyone who uploads any type of data. A cloud space can be shared by many users and thus it is risk to upload the secret information on cloud. Even the virus attacks on cloud can harm the whole data collectively.

The issues that have remained untouched in the topic of threats of cloud computing is the impact of these threats on the social life of the people. It is really needed to study this aspect of cloud computing threats because people save many secretive information and they can be leaked because of the security threats. The leaking of this information may affect the social life of the person. Another issue that has not been discussed is the ethical use of data. It should be mandatory for the people to use the cloud data in ethical way.

As far as the real life impact of these issues is concerned, it has been identified that the companies and the individuals are facing the problems of misuse of data n clouds. This is because people are not using the data in ethical way and attackers try to harm the data via injecting the viruses in order to harm any of the individual or the organization (Choubey, Dubey & Bhattacharjee, 2011). This creates a social disappointment in the life of the company or the individual who is being attacked. Now the question arises, how the company or and individual get affected socially. As the data that has been stored on the clouds are very much secretive and important for the company or the individual, the leakage or release of that data without their permission can harm them. In the case of companies, the data released or leaked can be used by different competitors of that firm or can be acknowledged by the competitors which can harm the company’s status. At individual level, needs and wants to that everyone know about their personal stiff but releasing or leaking of some personal data of the individual in the society can harm their image in the society.

Relative Technologies

It has been analyzed from the above discussion that I have almost included all the points that should be discussed related to the topic. I have started the discussion with the brief introduction of cloud computing. This helps the reader to know about the basic about the topic. Later I have discussed about the threats related to the cloud computing. Brief description of the threats has been given by me in the discussion so that it does not become lengthy and hectic for the reader to read. I have also discussed about the preventive method that can be used to reduce the risks discussed about cloud competing. The overall discussion also provides the information about the major issues that have not been discussed and their impact on the real life. I have also got comments from my peers on my report. My work was appreciated by them but they have asked to include some of the pints like challenges and the models of cloud computing. According to them, this is the basic information required in the assignment and this also gives a clear understand of the topic. I also think that same. I have taken their comments seriously and made additions in my report according to their feedback. Their feedback has helped me in bringing more value to my report. After adding the points, my report is more informative and professional now. I thank them to make such efforts to read my report and provide me with the genuine comments.  The appreciation by them has motivated me to work more effectively the next time.

As far as the discussion from my peer’s side is considered, I have read some of the report and found that everyone has done a good job by researching about the topic. I have commented of two of my peer’s reports. I suggested one of them to include preventive methods of the threats of cloud computing as he has not mentioned that and that is the core part of the topic. He has made use of the language very cleverly but the missing part in the report is affecting the quality of the report.  Another comment that was made by me was regarding the inclusion of more detailed information on threats and preventive measures. The students has provided all the elements that are required in the report but the brief description over the two main elements that are threats and the preventive measures of security threats of cud computing is the weakness of the report. This is important to clearly define both these aspects because they are the core elements of the topic.

Models of Cloud Computing

I have a great learning experience after doing this assignment. This is because this assignment provides the opportunity to research about the topic in depth. In order to research about this topic I have made research and tried to read almost all the aspects related to the topic. This has enhanced my knowledge about cloud competing a lot. This assignment not only helped me in researching about the topic but also enhanced by writing skills and I have write the elements of the topic with simple and understandable language. I have never thought of the this topic in so much of depth before but during this assignment I have discussed these issues to many people and find out that people are facing different types of issues regarding cloud computing and using it. Before studying about tis topic, I never had idea that cloud computing is so casually used in daily activities such as mailing. The practice of discussion forum has allowed all the students to enhance their creativity and knowledge about the topic and forces them to study. This helped us in our course study also. The facility of providing feedback on each other’s report in the forum helps in brining improvement. This also helps in developing the knowledge of judging the write ups and the reports. We have communicated through our comments and developed the skills of professional communication in ourselves.

Conclusion:

It is clear from the discussion that cloud computing is a very popular and beneficial technology for the companies but there is a needed to secure the data on clouds. This is because brining security in this field is the need of hour. There are many threats of security associated with this such as data theft, malicious insider etc. and some of the measures are also there that can be used to reduce these risks or threats. This report as a whole describes about the activities that have been conducted in the discussion forum that helped the students to develop their knowledge about the topic with in depth research. Comment made at the report on the forum helps in bringing improvement in the report nada los helps in making interaction with each other through the forum.

References:

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Choubey, R., Dubey, R., & Bhattacharjee, J. (2011). A survey on cloud computing security, challenges and threats. International Journal on Computer Science and Engineering (IJCSE), 3(3), 1227-1231.

ComPUtING, C. (2011). Cloud computing privacy concerns on our doorstep. Communications of the ACM, 54(1), 36-38.

Dikaiakos, M. D., Katsaros, D., Mehra, P., Pallis, G., & Vakali, A. (2009). Cloud computing: Distributed internet computing for IT and scientific research. IEEE Internet computing, 13(5).

Hashizume, K., Rosado, D. G., Fernández-Medina, E., & Fernandez, E. B. (2013). An analysis of security issues for cloud computing. Journal of Internet Services and Applications, 4(1), 5.

Jensen, M., Schwenk, J., Gruschka, N., & Iacono, L. L. (2009). On technical security issues in cloud computing. In Cloud Computing, 2009. CLOUD'09. IEEE International Conference pp. 109-116

Krutz, R. L., & Vines, R. D. (2010). Cloud security: A comprehensive guide to secure cloud computing. Wiley Publishing.

Lee, K. (2012). Security threats in cloud computing environments. International Journal of Security and Its Applications, 6(4), 25-32.

Sabahi, F. (2011). Cloud computing security threats and responses. In Communication Software and Networks (ICCSN), 2011 IEEE 3rd International Conference on (pp. 245-249). IEEE.

Subashini, S., & Kavitha, V. (2011). A survey on security issues in service delivery models of cloud computing. Journal of network and computer applications, 34(1), 1-11.

Wei, Y., & Blake, M. B. (2010). Service-oriented computing and cloud computing: Challenges and opportunities. IEEE Internet Computing, 14(6), 72-75.

Zhang, Q., Cheng, L., & Boutaba, R. (2010). Cloud computing: state-of-the-art and research challenges. Journal of internet services and applications, 1(1), 7-18.