Cloud Computing And Data Security
Cloud computing has changed into a buzzword in recent years. The term is used so often that even if you are not an IT professional, you should know something about it. According to the Gartner IT Glossary, it is “a computing model in which scalable IT capabilities are carried as a service using Internet technologies.” This includes both software and hardware, which means that your data, applications, and even your device can be hosted by a service provider on various (or dedicated) servers. This cloud computing service model represents truly distributed computing in real terms.
The benefits of cloud computing services are varied: fee-for-use, low maintenance costs, fast application deployment and system scalability, cloud analytics, disaster recovery solutions, specialized data storage and security services, web protection, and more. These services have enabled companies to maintain their IT infrastructure in-house, resulting in lower overhead costs for IT personnel.
The Data Security Landscape
Although the shift to cloud computing services has continued for some time, data security issues remain a hotly debated topic. Does cloud computing deliver data privacy and security? Or is it prone to failure? What countermeasures does the service provider use to ensure data privacy is always protected? Many believe that a company has more control over its data when hosted on its server or, at best, in a private cloud. However, many others fear that they are different.
They believe the cloud computing service provider is particular, has better systems, employs more trained staff, has a comprehensive view of the data and infrastructure, and can constantly pay attention to all security issues. Let us look at the nature of data security issues in the computing services environment. This will also tell us round the data security measures to overcome them. The situation is changing, and the list of security measures is expanding to combat various types of cyber attacks, viruses, hacks, leaks, accidental loss, theft, etc. We will discuss only a few of the important ones.
Data Privacy and Privacy Protection
Today, no topic attracts more media attention than privacy and data protection. Customer data, election data, and financial data are hacked every day, and there are many laws and regulations to protect this data. Even if the loss is the service provider’s fault, the company that owns the data or takes responsibility for handling it is responsible. Therefore, the cloud service provider must demonstrate that its measures are transparent to its customers. Many types of contracts can be entered into with a cloud service provider, with corresponding SLAs (service level agreements) defining the areas of responsibility for both parties.
Data Integrity
Data integrity is important in computing. Any change, modification or deletion of data can be very dangerous and costly. Data can be easily lost or damaged in a cloud computing environment due to unauthorized personnel access or system breaches. Better authentication and authorization protocols are needed to improve data integrity. Two-factor authentication is one such protocol.
Data Availability
Data can be of different types. It can be structured or unstructured, passive or passive, or rarely used (e.g. data recovery or disaster). Different providers recognise this aspect of data and have adapted their cloud storage services to address this issue.
The response time of data, or its availability at the right time, is essential. Cloud computing, where multiple clients share the storage environment, can sometimes create situations where there is a delay in receiving data from a specific client. However, for mission-critical processes, data may need to be stored in specific regions that can be accessed quickly. This is a capability that a cloud computing service provider needs to build its cloud infrastructure.
Encryption
Today, no data is transmitted over the Internet or any open network without encryption. This is one of the most important components of personal data, providing the best protection against external threats. Many algorithms and machine learning methods encrypt data and prevent it from being hacked. However, different types of data require different encryption methods, and all such methods must be requested explicitly by the service provider. This should also be clearly defined in the SLA.
Security Lapses by Authorized Personnel
Data can be conceded by employees, contractors, and other stakeholders due to imprecision or human error. Of course, jealous or angry employees can also do it intentionally. Employees with access to complex data should be trained and regularly informed about the risks they pose to the organization’s data. More security breaches are arguably due to employee carelessness than any other major external threat.
Threats
Not all threats are necessarily data-related. They can also be related to the underlying infrastructure: compromised networks to shared host machines, from virtual machine (VM) inefficiencies to employee inattention.
- Minor breach: Many types of threats are related to account hacking, lost passwords, open applications or even virtual machine errors. Regular checks can prevent such breaches, and immediate action should be taken to fix any problem. Regular data storage, regular checks, changing access keys, etc., can prevent major disasters.
- Account hacking: or even an API, can cause a lot of damage to the data in the cloud environment – it can be corrupted quickly without notifying the normal recognition system.
- DoS attacks: Denial of service is a very serious threat. If this happens, customers cannot access applications or data, which can cause panic. Depending on the application or interface, an incorrect message sent to the customer indicating a denial of service can lead to long-term difficulties or even non-renewal of contracts. The system must be constantly improved so the customer feels confident in the service. Malware injectors: These scripts act like real SaaS programs in the cloud. It can be used to pollute data, disrupt performance, or worse.
- Network security: The grid is the most common gateway for threats. Data must always be kept secure, especially when transmitted over the Internet. The service provider must establish strong encryption methods for network traffic to ensure minimal vulnerability.
Summary
Here, we will look at the cloud computing service environment and the benefits it offers to customers. However, the data security environment is vulnerable to data leakage from internal or external sources. We then looked at the challenges of storing different types of data and some solutions that can be contractually assumed by both the cloud service provider and the customer. We also looked at cloud threats, both internal and external, related to the data or environment. In assumption, we can say that cloud computing is here to stay. However, there will always be challenges in the data security area that must constantly be monitored, identified and addressed.
