Cloud security is an evolving sub-domain of information security dedicated to the protection of data, applications and infrastructure values associated with cloud computing. It incorporates a broad set of policies that are driven by the security procedures for providing maximum level of assurance for customers of cloud services.
Cloud computing is providing new horizons for maintaining organizational assets. But with ease and the convenience also comes the challenge to secure enterprise data. The biggest reason that raises concerns for security is involvement of third parties, i.e. cloud Service Providers who can access data stored at remote locations.
Being a form of distributed computing, cloud computing is still waiting for proper standardization. While migrating to cloud services , there are a number of factors to be considered by organization. The organizations need to understand the key benefits along with the risks associated with adopting a particular solution or a service provider. As an evolving security and technological arena, the assessment of risks and benefits keeps on varying depending upon the advancements that are brought by new technological implications.
Cloud security is a shared responsibility model between cloud service provider (CSP) and clients associated with the same. It is important to note that not all cloud service providers provide equal amounts of security measurements and other operational and managerial functions. This should be clearly agreed , defined and discussed between service providers and customers.
More and more organizations are migrating towards the cloud and enjoying the benefits of various service providers. Enterprises are embracing economic and operational advantages of cloud for extending their business to larger scales. But cloud providers like AWS need to meet key security requirements for organizations to be able to trust them with their most confidential data. As malicious attackers are becoming more sophisticated, they are finding new ways to target applications and that data of enterprises. The attacking intentions are fed by the fact that cloud has some architectural flaws inherited from its parent applications that can be easily exploited for one’s own gains. At an unprecedented rate, enterprises tend to shift their resources to cloud. There are many security threats that cloud data is vulnerable to.
Some of them are listed below.
At an unimaginable rate, cloud computing is transforming and revolutionizing the way business and Government are managing their data. Cloud service development has shown more evolution in terms of service model, creating new security challenges on the way for security researchers. The shift from server to service-based thinking is revolving the terms in which technological departments deal with. The design of the architecture is subsequently affected and governed by the computing technology and applications. But these advances have created substantial new security Vulnerabilities, including critical security issues whose impact is emerging and still processing with each passing day.
By Chetan Soni