Security and Implementation Concerns of Cloud Computing Infrastructure - Coursework Example

Security and Implementation Concerns of Cloud Computing Infrastructure These days, all the business organizations are aimed at formulating a secure information technology environment. On the other hand, every business has severe concerns related to its data security and privacy. Hence in order to maintain data safely and reliably they must have to implement secure cloud computing environment. This is necessary to attain significant growth. If organizations implement cloud computing by taking into considerations all the security and privacy related concerns, they can attain following advantages: easiness in accessibility; reliability of financial and organizational data; comprehensiveness of data; and availability of financial and organizational data. In this scenario, the above mentioned concerns are severe enough. If comparisons are made of concerns with growth rate someone can easily perceive that the ratio of these issues has been increased considerably. In this situation, ineffective or insecure implementation of cloud computing arrangement and absence of security policy is also a question mark. Without a doubt, cloud computing brings a large number of benefits and opportunities for all kinds of businesses however the successful implementation of a cloud infrastructure requires an organization to seriously address security and privacy issues. In fact, these security and implementation concerns discourage organizations and they don’t move to clouds. The basic aim of this research is to identify the security issues and concerns which hinder the successful implementation of cloud infrastructure. Discussion Business Continuity The term business continuity in this case can be used to determine whether or not the computing system chosen by a business organization will be able to effectively take care of the business organization’s day to day activities without there being any complications. When this kind of security is talked about the first thing that is normal to cross someone’s mind is system data backup. This is always done in response to the possibility of there being systems crashes or errant programs that might affect the functionality of the whole system including the storage of data. Another cause of data loss might be the access of the business organization’s system by unscrupulous hackers. However, when there is backup for data, a business organization can be able to avoid the possible losses that might take place as a result of these occurrences (Krutz and Vines 89). Given the nature of cloud computing, whereby business organizations are always not even aware of the physical whereabouts of the place that these data are stored, it is hard to ensure continuity. This can make it very hard for a business organization to have data backup under this form of computing. The question that a business organization should ask them before deciding on a cloud computing vendor is the security of their data in any case the cloud computing vendor that they decide to use gets out of business. The same should apply for any software vendor that they decide to use in the process. Data Ownership There are a number of legal issues that are involved in using computing for a business organization. When deciding on a cloud computing vendor, a business organization should make sure that the ownership of the data that is stored by the vendors is clearly spelt out. Failure to do so might mean that they might loss sensitive data inn this process. This might be very costly for the business organization in cases where the data in question gets to individuals or groups of people who may not have good intentions towards the business organization. The data can even be used by the business organization’s competitors in facing them out. This is a problem that can be specifically be intensified by the absence of backup for the data in question. Privacy For a business organization using a computer system, the privacy of their employees is always of a high importance to the business organization. Sometimes it might be hard to endure that employees adhere to the privacy policies that concern the privacy of the employees and customers who make use of the system. This might specifically be more difficult with business organization that operates in more than one country. This is because the privacy policies pertaining to the employees and customers that use their system might be different in different countries. Servicing Legal Searches Immediately a business organization moves data and systems outside their premises, there is always an access related risk that comes in. this is always because the cloud computing vendor might not have much at stake. This particularly makes it very hard for the business organization to be sure that the searches that are made on their data are all legal. In case an illegal search is made on their data they stand to loss allot while the cloud computing vendors might not necessarily be too much concerned with the illegal searches that are made on the business organizations’ pool of data. Interoperability The need for a business organization to integrate the information technology system that they use does not just diminish because the business organization is making use of cloud computing for their information technology system. In fact the integration of the business operations and the information technology system might even be harder when the business organization is making use of cloud computing for their information system. Before a business organization decides to give a position of their information technology system to a cloud computing vendor they will need to make sure that they are aware of the way in which this integration will take place. This might even be useful in making the right decision when choosing a cloud computing vendor. Upgrades Under normal circumstances, people would consider upgrade to be a good thing especially when it is mentioned in relation to a business organization. However, under cloud computing upgrades might mean something different to a business organization. A business organization has no say in the upgrades that a cloud computing vendor decides to do to their system. In this manner, it will be almost impossible for a business organization to make sure that the changes that are made during these upgrades are in accordance to their business operations. Sometimes the cloud computing vendors might choose to change or exclude some features which the business organizations consider to be of utmost importance to their operations (Hugos andHulitzky 97). In such cases the business organization involved will have to make allot of changes in their operation so that they will have to be in line with the upgrades that the cloud computing vendors have implemented. These chances might be costly to a business organization especially if the feature that has been changed or excluded was of high importance to the operations of the business organization. Modifications Sometime using cloud computing for s business organization can hinder modification of a business organization’s operations. Sometimes some developments in a business environment might dictate that a business organization makes a number of changes in the way they operate. This will particularly be hard for a business organization that uses cloud computing for their information system. However, the feature and applications that are given by cloud computing vendors are universal and in some cases might not particularly match the requirements of a business organization (Antonopoulos and Gillam 101). In cases where a business organization might decide to use modified applications or software they will definitely have to part ways with a huge amount of financial resources. Vendor Lock-in Despite the fact that vendor lock-ins might exist in some degree with some software packages. In cloud computing, the effect of this occurrence is always worse in cloud computing it is always hard for a business organization to transit from a given packaged solution to another. However, the transition might be easier if the packaged solution is installed in the business organization’s computers. Depending on the cloud computing vendor that a business organization will always face some degree of hardship in accessing whatever they might needs. This is explained for the increase in demand for cloud computing vendors to adapt more openness so that they can allow their customers to easily migrate to other solutions. Bandwidth As a result of the increase in internet usage that is associated to cloud computing can also lead to some security challenges to business organizations that opt to use cloud computing for their information technology system. Web applications always have high sensitivity to latency. A good number of these applications barely work in situations where there is congestion in the network. This can result to the system being generally slow which might lead to a number of risks to the business organizations that make use of this network. This state can also lead to an ease in the access of the network by unauthorized persons. Most of the people who access such networks without authority usually have ill motives. Transparency of cloud computing vendors In cases where cloud computing vendors do not give details on their own internal policies and technologies, the business organizations will have to do with the word of mouth on their credibility and reliability with regard to security claims. This will mean that the business organization will not be in any way certain of the security of their information technology system immediately they decide to use cloud computing. They will have to live with the fear of not knowing whether or not the cloud computing vendors that they chose to use are doing a credible job or not. This means that they will not even be aware if there any unauthorized access to their data especially the highly sensitive ones. Dealing with cloud computing vendors that are not particularly accountable in this case might be costly to a business organization. This means that they will have to be keen in the process of selecting a cloud computing vendor. Security of devices that connect to the cloud Once a business organization has decided to adopt cloud computing for their information system they must have it in mind that they are much information on the technology that they are just about to adopt. One thing that they should know is that the security of the devices that are connected to the cloud is always a big issue in cloud computing. Given that these devices are connected to an external network that is used by multiplies users. This kind of connection might mean that these devices are at a risk of being accessed by people with ill motives such as hackers. However, there are a number of things that a business organization can do to make sure that their devices are not affected by this risk. They could choose to firewall the devices that are connected to the cloud in order to prevent any unauthorized access. Conclusion In the past few years, the cloud computing has become one of best technologies. At the present no one can neglect the significance of cloud computing in information technology marketplace. In fact, cloud computing is acknowledged as technology of future for the businesses. Above all, organizations using cloud environment for managing their business operations, have realized that implementation of cloud environment in an organization either at small level or at a high level is essential for the business success. However, the serious concerns such as several security issues regarding this modern technology are also at peak. It is happening due to the fact that a large number of technological firms are adopting this leading technology in order to attain high success rate and competitive edge. Sometimes it might be hard to endure that employees adhere to the privacy policies that concern the privacy of the employees and customers who make use of the system. At the same time, organizations must adopt precautionary measures in order to assure safe and reliable storage of money or valuable data. However, security is the top most concern in cloud environment. This paper has presented a detailed analysis of fundamental security and privacy issues that business organizations face while using cloud computing. This paper has summarized the analyses of different research papers, reports and web sites. This research has highlighted a number of issues which are basically hindering in the success of cloud computing. Work cited Antonopoulos, Nick, and Lee Gillam.Cloud Computing: Principles, Systems and Applications. London: Springer, 2010. Print. Hugos, Michael, and Derek Hulitzky.Business in the Cloud: What Every Business Needs to Know About Cloud Computing. Hoboken, N.J: J. Wiley & Sons, 2011. Print. Krutz, Ronald L, and Russell D. Vines.Cloud Security: A Comprehensive Guide to Secure Cloud Computing. Indianapolis, Ind: Wiley Pub, 2010. 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