Control and Ownership in Cloud

¶ … control and Ownership in Cloud computing

Data Ownership in Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is one of the most exciting, important, and lucrative technological applications of the current millennium. By utilizing the internet to access a remote server, users are able to access the cloud for a variety of software and data storage needs on demand, while only paying for the specific applications and the time spent utilizing them. Yet one of the earliest perceived drawbacks of this technological advancement has revolved around questions of data control and data ownership in what has typically been a hosted, off-site process that allows a third party -- early concerns feared more parties than that -- access to an enterprise's confidential, proprietary information. As recently as two years ago, such worries were considered to be one of the primary reasons that cloud computing had not achieved the degree of ubiquity projected during the initial fervor of its unveiling (Kamath, 2009.). The fear that a rival competitor could access valuable customer data, in addition to privacy concerns for customers and businesses alike, were common initial responses which business owners had for the concept of cloud computing.

However, such concerns have done little to impede the progress and popularity of cloud computing, largely because in explicit terms, the company that is utilizing the cloud service is the owner of the data it chooses to store, back-up, or create, using any software or platform as a service applications. The hosted cloud service provider typically proves to its customers that it is providing a secure environment in which to store an enterprise's data. Several security measures have been taken to provide customers a suitable degree of comfort in the practice of cloud computing. Some of the most salient include identity management systems, which are sophisticated access measures that control access to information (Wang, 2009). Additionally, masking of confidential data -- a process by which specific numbers or bits of information are obscured except to users with the proper access -- is also regularly employed, while access is generally restricted to a particular enterprise and specific employees which perform certain functions (Wang, 2009).