Cloud Computing Security
Security flaws and risks in cloud computing are numerous. Current security issues range from data breaches to broken authentication, hacked interfaces, advanced persistent threats (APTs), permanent data loss, malicious insiders, DOS attacks, and cloud service abuses (Prashanth, Rao, 2015; Khan et al., 2016). This paper will discuss the current security issues, what organizations look for when implementing cloud systems, and whether security is the main factor for an organization when implementing cloud systems or whether there are other factors involved in the decision.
As Singh and Malhotra (2015) show, organizations are not just primarily interested in cloud computing because of security issues -- in fact, the main reasons they are interested in cloud computing are that the cloud system can help them to "expand their infrastructure at cheaper rates" and grow their organizational framework (p. 41). In other words, cloud computing allows firms to expand to new heights and store data in a manner that facilitates easier business interactions. However, there are several attendant risks associated with cloud computing, as has already stated.
One of the main current security issues associated with cloud computing is the fact that the cloud is like "a box" where everything is put inside, in one location, making it an easy target for hackers and intruders...
32). The vulnerabilities of the cloud system, moreover, are numerous and may be defined as any "loop holes in the security architecture of the cloud, which can be exploited by malicious users to gain access to the cloud network and the resource infrastructure" (Kashyap, Sharma, 2015, p. 33). Control of encryption keys, legal issues pertaining to international law and non-adherence across borders (the cloud is not confined to a single nation or region and thus the issue of risk related to law is evident), transferring and storing data, the kinds of data to be stored (is it lawful to store data that is considered illegal in some countries but not in others?), the violation of privacy rights, and payment security -- all of these are current concerns that relate to the security features of cloud computing and that can be accessed or hacked via loop holes in the security infrastructure (Chou, 2015).
There are also security issues related to the usage of the cloud's "hardware, virtualization, network, data and service providers" (Kazim, Zhu, 2015, p. 109). In fact securing data in the cloud is a major issue that few organizations are aware of, as their primary focus is on the ease with which they can operate their organization by utilizing the cloud and not the primary security issues associated with cloud computing (Singh, Malhotra, 2015). The data security issues that…
