Cloud computing strategies and issues

Abstract

Cloud computing is a way of delivering information technology services by service providers to consumers. In other words, it is a flexible and a cost-effective platform for delivery of business or information technology services to consumers over the Internet. However, it offers some risks because the services have outsourcing to a third party meaning that it is hard to maintain the security and privacy of that data, ensure data and service availability, and ensure compliance. A cloud computing presents some security issues that makes it unreliable and vulnerable to criticism by scholars. The paper contains various strategies for implementing cloud computing as well as the issues that come with cloud computing.

Introduction

The implementation of cloud computing is receiving growth day by day in both the industrial as well as the scientific communities. It enables ubiquitous, on-demand as well as convenient access to shared computing resources that can have rapid provisioning and release with minimum service provider integration and management effort. Cloud computing has the objective to offer quick and secure computing services as well as data storage services delivered over the Internet. Cloud computing enhances agility, scalability; accelerate development work, availability, collaboration and a potential reduction in cost via optimized and efficient computing. Although there are benefits that accrue from implementing cloud computing, there are also potential issues especially in the area of security.

Strategies for implementing cloud computing

Build a business model

If an agency wants to develop an agency to cloud-based services, there is a need to provide a business context for this decision so as to ensure that there is a well-scrutinized candidate cloud service solution. There should be the conducting of a business analysis just like in the case of an outsourced solution. There is a need to build a business model and then gather the requirements to form the basis for the business case and other subsequent tasks such as sourcing, implementation, and testing.

Assessing the Risks

An organization should then use the business model to conduct a threat and risk assessment. They should have the knowledge of cloud computing better practice guides so as to help them, identify potential risk and come up with suitable strategies for addressing those risks. Some of the risk categories are those dealing with quality, integration, compliance, and business continuity.

Capture the Requirements

If an organization is to determine the requirements, it has to use the business model; and the risks assessment because they are the ones that offer the basis for the same. The organization should determine the mandatory and desirable requirements as this will provide a guideline for the services that they require and the cloud service model suitable for them.

Select a Provider

Just like in procurement, selecting a cloud service provider should entail the verification that the provider addresses all the business needs and security requirements. The decision also should have a basis of the contractual arrangements and the outcome based on the value of money principle. The elements that an agency needs to include the assurance that pricing is transparent; confirm that the cost model is suitable for them to be sure about the training, set up and integration fees.

Issues with Implementing Cloud Computing

Despite the many benefits that can accrue from cloud computing implementation, some barriers to its implementation do exist. Cloud computing is a relatively new computing model and. Therefore, there is a great uncertainty that does exist in light of security, privacy, legal matters, and compliance. The greatest uncertainty is concerning security at all levels of such as the network, the application, and the data levels. That uncertainty makes many executives consider security as their number one worry with cloud computing. The concern for security is due to the risk of external data storage; access takes place via the public Internet, minimal control, and multi-tenancy. Cloud computing services have distribution in such a way that there are many clients sharing the same resources. That may means that there are no enough traditional security mechanism like identity, authorization and authentication. 

To take security issues further, the cloud model does provide three types of services which include Software as a Service, Platform as a Service and Infrastructure as a service. For instance with Software as a Service, there is a high degree of abstraction in functionality with minimal consumer control. Agencies have minimum control in this type of cloud model and so security is a major concern. Because the service provision is through the Internet, flaws on the Internet may create vulnerabilities for this type of application. In the case of Platform as a Service, the agencies do not have access to the underlying layers and it is the responsibility of the providers to ensure security of underlying infrastructure. The service providers are not sure that the development environment tools offered by the PaaS services are secure.

Conclusion

Cloud computing is new computing concept that offers many benefits for its consumers but it as well presents some security concerns that may slow down its adoption. Understanding ate threats and risks in cloud computing will help organizations to make a wise decision in light of the implementation of cloud computing service. The paper presented the strategies for implementing cloud computing and also the security concerns for this application. Based on the information presented in this paper, organizations can have a basis on which to base their decisions regarding cloud computing adoption.

References

Carlin, S. & Curran, K. (2011) Cloud Computing Security. International Journal of Ambient Computing and Intelligence, 3(1):38-46

Chorafas, D. (2011). Cloud Computing Strategies. CRC Press.

Mather, T., Kumaraswamy S. & Latif, S. (2009). Cloud Security and Privacy. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Media, Inc.

Rittinghouse, J. & Ransome, J.F. (2009). Security in the Cloud. In: Cloud Computing. Implementation, Management, and Security. CRC Press.

Zhang, Y., Liu, S.  & Meng, X. (2009). Towards high level SaaS maturity model: methods and case study. In: Services Computing conference. IEEE Asia-Pacific: APSCC. pp 273-278

Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in cheap term papers if you need a similar paper you can place your order from top research paper writing companies.