Introduction 

Background of the study

Since the year 2007, cloud computing technology receives attention from the researchers as well as practitioners, which was driven by advantages come from use of cloud technology. Cloud computing is form of internet based computing which allows the users to share their information as well as resources. This report seeks to review and identify the security issues facing cloud computing, along with the methods employed in the industry to solve the problems. In order to achieve the research goal, it is required to first identify the concepts behind cloud technology and fundamental infrastructure. Most of the cloud computing infrastructure includes of reliable services delivered throughout data centers, built on the servers with various levels of virtualization technologies. Cloud architecture extends to client where the software applications can access to the cloud applications.

Relative security of the cloud computing services is issues that may cause delay into adoption of technology and system. The organizations are formed to provide security standards for better future into services of cloud computing. Security of cloud technology improves due to data centralization, increasing security and proper authentication and access control of data and information. The cloud service providers are able to solve security issues and access to audit logs. By solving of the issues, cloud computing focuses to develop business applications which deliver true value to the business and customers. The cloud computing platform manages the security of data and information and secures all confidential data associated with network servers.

Research aim and objectives

The aim of this research study is to analyze and review cloud computing services and determine how it influences the users. The cloud computing related security issues and its respective measures are also discussed. Following are the objectives of this research study:

• To critically analyze the security challenges of Cloud Computing
• To critically assess how cloud computing has aided users in storing and accessing data
• To critically investigate how Cloud computing influences users

Problem statement

Although the cloud computing is built on the traditional internet services and infrastructure, therefore the components sometimes cause issues and delay into adoption of cloud technology. The business models for cloud computing encourages tiers of providers as well as customers into single virtual infrastructure.

Purpose of the study

The study refined factors which will influence the enterprise using of cloud computing technology and revealed the impact of security on the enterprise business. The study is informative and useful for the public and other companies utilized of cloud computing technology. The organizations should understand the usage of cloud computing for providing services and reflects the benefits along with issues of cloud computing. The organizations should analyze the entire business processes and issues of cloud computing before implementation of cloud computing technology.

Literature Review

Cloud computing

Ajeev stated that cloud computing is an IT paradigm that enables the users to access shared or private resources and offers different configurable services to the users. With the advent of technology, there had been an increasing use of cloud computing in business organization. The cloud computing service provides an on demand computing resources over internet. Javaid argued that there are a number of cloud services offered which includes IaaS or Infrastructure as a service, PaaS or platform as a service and SaaS or software as a service. Infrastructure as a service vendor offers its clients a go as you pay access to the storage, servers and networking devices. Weinman mentioned that there are a number of benefits of using and IaaS service, as the users only need to pay on demand instead of purchasing the hardware for storage space. Furthermore, the infrastructure is scalable and depends on the storage needs of the client. This service of cloud computing considerably saves the cost of buying and maintaining a separate hardware. The IaaS service enables virtualization of the administrative. Therefore, a number of organizations adopt Infrastructure as a service for storing and accessing their data over cloud.

Cloud computing platforms

Alashoor explained that platform as a service or PaaS offers a framework to develop customized cloud based applications with features such as scalability and high availability of the data stored in the cloud solution. Apart from this, the PaaS provides tools for effective analysis and mining of data. Javaid cited that software as a service on other hand allows the users to connect and use cloud based apps with the help of internet. Software as a service on the other hand does not need installation of any software. The clients through internet can access this service and hence it is sometimes termed as web-based software. However, there is certain security issues associated with the different cloud computing services. The common security issues or security threats associated with could services include eavesdropping in the cloud computing network, denial of service attacks, illegal invasion and so on. The impact of these threats on the system however is not that dangerous.

Security issues in cloud computing

According to Dahbur, Mohammad & Tarakji the denial of service attack floods the server preventing the legitimate users in accessing the system. This attack aims at shutting down of the entire data flow within a network thus affecting the normal operation of the network. In such situation, the intended users are not able to access data in stored in the cloud network. One of the major concerns about denial of service attack is that it is very difficult to detect.  Illegal invasion to the cloud network is another issue that is associated with the adoption of cloud computing. This can be termed as a data security threat in a cloud-computing network. Nazir & Shuja Rashid stated that illegal invasion is difficult to detect as well. This security attack is laid with an aim of fetching data from the cloud network during its transmission. Eavesdropping is similar to illegal invasion of data, a type of passive attack where an attacker fetches the data from a communication channel without the knowledge of the user.  Therefore, in order to ensure proper security of the cloud network, it is essential to implement proper security measures in preventing these attacks. Waseem, Lakhan & Jamalimentioned that eavesdropping, illegal invasion and denial of service attack are however some very basic attacks associated with cloud computing. There are other major security issues and concerns that posses as a threat for the users adopting or implementing cloud computing as a service.

Jouini & Rabai stated that data breach is a prominent issue that is associated with the cloud computing services. The security risk of data breach is prominent in cloud platform because the sensitive data is being stored over internet rather than on premise. Data breach in cloud computing is a dangerous security threat as it leads to the accidental and unlawful destruction, alteration or unlawful disclosure of the data and resources of the system. These are the primary security issues associated with the data breach in cloud computing.

Suresh & Rao explained that account hijacking is another threat that is associated with the cloud computing service. Attackers can get an access of the data stored in the cloud database by remotely accessing the sensitive data stored in the database. The hijacked credentials can be used to manipulate or falsify the data stored in the system. This can lead to the loss of sensitive information of the organization. Other methods of hijacking the cloud accounts or data stored in the cloud storage includes, scripting bugs, with the help of which, the attacker gains access to the system without detection.  Singh, Jeong & Park discussed that in April 2010, the cloud database of Amazon faced a similar issue. A cross-site scripting bug was detected in the system that targeted to steal the customer credentials. Other methods of account hijacking include phishing, key logging and buffer overflow. Phishing is a commonly used method of data sending malicious links via email. However, one of the notable new security threats associated with use of cloud computing is Man In cloud Attack. Hardisty stated that this attack involves the user tokens to verify the individual devices without the need of logins during any data update or data sync. Therefore, it can be certainly said that the data stored in the cloud computing is vulnerable to a number of attack and therefore the security issues associated with cloud computing has a large influence on the users.

Apart from the data security breach and hijacking of data, another threat associated with the use of cloud computing is insider threat. This can be a huge issue and vulnerability to the cloud computing as insider threat is very hard to detect. Jouini & Rabai mentioned that employees of the organization can make an improper use of their authorized access to the cloud based services to misuse the sensitive information of the organization such as customer details and financial data of the company stored in the cloud database. However, the threat from an insider although has a profound effect on the organization, its effect on users are not that profound. Singh, Jeong & Park stated that insider threat is hard to detect and organizations should implement certain access control standards for eliminating the risk of insider threat in cloud computing.

Suresh & Rao mentioned that malware injection is one of the major security threats associated with cloud computing. Malware injections can be classified as certain scripts or codes embedded in cloud services as valid instances. These injections are generally run as SaaS to the cloud servers and therefore become very hard to detect. Weinman suggested that the malicious code injected into the cloud services through malware injection executes itself as a normal program running within the cloud server. With the execution of the malware injection, the cloud service starts operating according in tandem with the malicious code.  Different researches prove that the malware injection on cloud computing has become a major security threat on different cloud computing systems.

Javaid mentioned that another major concern with cloud computing that has a profound effect on the users includes abuse of the cloud services. The expansion of the cloud based services although increases the opportunity of choosing a large amount of data, there are certain security issues associated with the storage of such a large amount of data. First, the storage of large amount of data becomes difficult to manage. Although the cloud service providers make it easier to manage and update of voluminous data, the vulnerability of those data does not decrease.

Ajeev explained that insecure application programming Interfaces can be a source of vulnerability or security threat in cloud computing. It has a profound effect on the users of cloud computing. Application Programming Interfaces or APIs are profoundly used in the cloud as it enables the users in customizing their cloud experience. Use of insecure APIs can however be a major security threat in cloud computing. Alashoor argued that API acts as a tool for the programmers in integrating and customizing the cloud services in order to relate it to the business needs. However, the communication channel of API is vulnerable as the attackers can intercept information flowing through the communication channel of the network.

Jouini & Rabai stated that cloud storage or cloud computing is however a shared responsibility between the client and the service provider. Therefore, it is not only the responsibility of the organization but also the responsibility of the service provider to ensure proper authentication and security of the data stored in the cloud server.

Suresh & Rao explained that cloud computing has largely benefitted the users in data storage in a large amount and access of data. Cloud computing as a service has helped the organization in managing their data and ensuring proper data backup. The cloud environment has helped in easier disaster recovery and prompt data accessibility. Hardisty stated that cloud computing furthermore increases the efficiency of the data storage and offers remote maintenance and management of data.  It increases the reliability and manageability of the data stored in the system. Since the service provider is associated with backup and maintenance of the data, the owner of the data has very limited control on the data stored.  Alhanahnah, Jhunka & Alounehanalyzed that this in turn gives rise to the various security risks and threats associated with the storage on data over cloud server. If these threats can be mitigated, the cloud computing provides a number of benefits to an organization adopting the service.

Weinman argued that the various threats associated with the use of cloud computing in data storage and access of data has a profound effect or influence on the users. It reduces the software cost that a user might have to spend on arranging a separate physical storage. Furthermore, the instant software updates helps the users in easy maintenance of the software. However, with the increase in the use of cloud computing there are certain security issues as well. Javaid stated that the increase in the different security issues widely affects the adoption cloud computing by the users. However, in order to mitigate the security risks associated with the cloud computing, different security measures are implemented. This includes use of proper intrusion detection system and firewalls. Furthermore, in order to eliminate the risk of threat due to insider, it is essential to enforce different levels of authorization. According to Ajeev, this helps in preventing the risk of data breach or unauthorized use of data. Apart from this, proper data encryption techniques are implemented for preventing the risk of unauthorized modification of the data. Proper mitigation strategies are to be undertaken by the organization in order to eliminate the data security risks associated with cloud computing. Cloud computing security issues have negative impact on the users and therefore needs to be mitigated with highest priority.

Research Methodology

Research methodology chapter helps the researcher to define the most appropriate approaches those are required to be adopted for attaining the completed and also details resultant of the process. This discusses the theories and different concepts of cloud computing adopted for the completion of the research in critical analysis and review of cloud computing services and the way through which the technique can influence the users accordingly. It is assumed that the issues with data security challenges, data storing ability and capability to access the data can be mitigated with proper research designing. In order to exploit the hidden facts of “Critical analysis and review of cloud computing services and how it influences users”, the researcher has used deeper analysis.

Research philosophy

For any research work three different types of research philosophies such as realism, positivism and interpretative are there those are generally considered by the researchers to determine the critical resultants. In research methodology, the philosophy helps to explain the undertaken processes. The research philosophy should be properly aligned ad effective because it helps to evaluate the research topic as per the requirement. The hidden facts can be revealed in a scientific manner through the help of positivism research philosophy. The complex structure those are involved to the business and management level social world can be revealed with the help of interpretivism. In the other hand the realism is referred to as a mixed research philosophy that includes both the features of positivism and interpretivism.

For this cloud based research topic the researcher has adopted the concept of Positivism for better analysis and to reveal the hidden facts. This philosophy is time limited and it also limits the role of the researcher in manipulation for data evaluation thus the other two philosophies are discarded by the researchers to avoid unwanted issues.

Research approach 

In order to conduct a free of error research work the researchers are required to consider the most suitable research approach. Two broad ways in terms of deductive and inductive research approaches are there to be undertaken for the successful research completion. If enough amount of data lags only that time inductive research approach are undertaken by the researchers on the other hand, deductive approach is widely used because it demonstrates the practical application of the research theories those have been studied to gain proper access of the research topic. More specifications and detail concept of data analysis become available to the researchers after the consideration of deductive approach. Based upon the details of the study the research approach should be selected by the researcher.

However, for critical analysis on cloud computing technology and its character for influencing the users can be revealed with more specification if the researchers consider the deductive research approach. In order to gain a better analytical result in a clear as well as precise manner the researches have avoided inductive approach and adopted the deductive approach.

Research design 

In order to develop the framework for explaining the research topic, the researchers are bound to select an appropriate research design. It helps the researchers to highlight the selection, collection and analysis prototype. In order to gain a better description of the research topic, among three different research designs one should be selected by the researcher. Different academic research patterns are there such as exploratory, explanatory and descriptive those are generally used to identify and collect specific data on cloud computing and its influence on users. In order to acknowledge different ideas and thoughts those are required for completion of the research topic, exploratory design is useful. Whereas; for describing the corresponding incidents or events those are occurring in the field of cloud computing application and its influence on users, explanatory research design is useful. On the other hand, the descriptive design helps to gain details as to state occurrence of different events with a detail and accurate description of the topic.

For this particular research topic, the researcher has undertaken descriptive design to gain extended results of cloud computing application and its influence to the users. However, the explanatory design is avoided because it chains the longitudinal concept. It helps to define the detail application of cloud computing process.

Data collection procedure

Data collection is referred to as one of the most important thing that helps the researchers to design the research topic much professionally with better analytical details. In order to derive appropriate results proper data are needed to be collected and analyzed accordingly.  

Data sources 

Two different research sources are there such as primary and secondary and based upon the details of the research topic the data sources are selected by the researches. In order to gain accurate information relevant to the research topic, data sources provides absolute results to the researchers to design the outline of cloud computing application and its influence on users.  Primary data sources help the researchers to collect raw data those are helpful to gain details of any research topic. In many cases researchers also uses secondary data those are gained from journals and books. Clarification, validity and reliability are needed in case of primary data sources whereas; in case of secondary data sources, the topic details can be widen up accordingly. In case of primary source the researchers make sure that the relationship between the service providers and users are clear and concise. The literature sources are referred to as output of the information those have been gained through secondary sources. The secondary source includes both the offline and online sources in terms of journals, article, books websites, blog etc.

In order to conduct the research study the researchers have considered primary sources for data collection. The primary sources that have been used include the questionnaire. A team consists of 32 people are undertaken to take the survey.

Data techniques

The objectives of the research topic is to define the available platform of cloud computing, the problems associated to it and the safety approaches should be considered for resolving the issues of cloud computing. Two different data techniques are there such as qualitative and quantitative those are widely used by the researchers to conduct any research topic. In order to record narrative information those can be added for providing a better description to the reader, qualitative research technique is helpful. Additionally, the theoretical concept can also be added in the practical application field because those are helpful to lead the research topic towards clear understandings. On the other hand the quantitative data are applied in the statistical field.

For this research topic the researcher have considered primary quantitative data techniques to gather and analyze information according to the requirement.

Population and sample 

The population and sample is referred to as the number of people who are either directly or indirectly involved to the research or even positively and negatively affected by the research work. For this research the participants of the question answer session are considered as the population. However, all the users of cloud computing technology cannot be considered as the participants of the primary sources.

Sampling technique

The total sample size is split between two categories, where the first category is consists of 16 people who are belongs to Y generation (1977-1995) and the rest ofSample size

The sample size for this research topic is 32.

Ethical consideration

While processing the research on cloud computing and its influence to the users certain ethical aspects are required to be considered accordingly and those are as follows:

 Data application: The commercial application of the information are completely avoided to make the research work limited within academic boundary.   

Involvement of respondents: The respondents are needed to be encouraged to take part in the questionnaire survey.

Anonymity of respondents: The researcher should ensure that the respondents are not physically harassed or even forced.

Research Limitation 

The areas those have been encountered by the researcher while conducting this research work are enlisted below:

Reliability:  The respondents involved to the survey are not forcefully involved. However, the users and the cloud vendors can be biased towards the research that might affect the results of the research topic. Therefore, reliability is identified as a problem.

Time constraints:  The researchers have faced time limitation while conducting the research topic.

Budget constraints: Due to limited budget the researchers have faced few limitation while studying the research topic.

Summary

This particular chapter defines different research tools for selection those are helpful and can be used to gain better analytical result. Through this chapter the researchers have tried to align the nature of the study along with all available and possible research methodology. In order to analyze the concept of cloud computing and its influence to the user’s proper research methodology in terms of design and approach have been selected. Accurate tools are also considered by the researchers for conducting the research topic.

In this particular chapter, the researcher tries to collect data to analyze and review the cloud computing technologies used in most of the organizations now-a-days. With help of quantitative analysis, the part of data analysis is done where the respondents are from various sectors those are using of cloud computing technology for the business functions. Mathkunti pointed that the data analysis helps researcher to analyze the security concerns regarding implementation of cloud computing services. The security issues also influence the users and affect the business operations of organizations. Mishra analyzed that how secure cloud computing is for the users are discussed in this particular chapter. Based on the collected data, the researcher tries to gain information related to selected research topic and analyzes the findings from collected data and charts to validate the process of data collection. The respondents considered for data collection are the employees those are working into organization such that specific information related to selected research topic are extracted with particular research work.

Quantitative Analysis

In this present study, quantitative data analysis is used by record of data using online questionnaire. The questionnaire consists of 32 responses of people to understand how secure they feel about using cloud computing platform.  The total amount of questionnaires is distributed among two categories of people: first category will be asking 16 will be from Generation Y (1977-1995) and 16 will be from Generation Z (1995-present).  The employees working into various sectors are taken as respondents to conduct the research study. Following are the questions which are analyzed to collect data and analyze it for this research study:

Q1.  Which industry sector does your company belong to?

Industry sector	Number of respondents	Percentage of responses
ICT	24	75%
Manufacturing	1	3.1%
Financial services	2	6.3%
Government	2	6.3%
Other	3	9.4%

Table 1: Type of industry sector

Figure 1: Type of industry sector

(Source: Created by author)

Findings and Analysis:

As analyzed from the above chart, the maximum numbers of respondents are from ICT sector which is 75%. The other sectors are manufacturing (3.1%), Financial (6.3%), Government (6.3%) and other (9.4%).  Mostly, the ICT sector is used of cloud computing services to deliver IT services to the target resources. The resources are retrieved from internet throughout the web based tools as well as applications and direct connection to the server.  ICT sector is such an infrastructure which enables of modern cloud computing. The sector is used of IT related computer as well as digital technologies as compared to IT.

Q2.  Which age groups are you belong to?

Age group	Number of respondents	Percentage of responses
Generation Y (1977-1995)	16	50%
Generation Z (1995-Present)	16	50%

Table 2: Age group of participants

Figure 2: Age group of participants

(Source: Created by author)

Findings and Analysis:

As analyzed from the above chart, 50% of the respondents are from Generation Y (1977-1995) and 50% of them are from Generation Z (1995-Present). Therefore, the researcher has taken total of 32 responses to conduct the study, where 16 responses are from Generation Y and remaining 16 are from Generation Z. Technology plays a key significant role to satisfy the requirements of Generation Y. Those generation persons do not want to tie down to limited suite of corporate software applications and devices, they just want to know the possible cloud tools they should use for their job. Generation Z is totally dependent on the cloud based applications for their daily jobs. Their life is based on the mobile technology or all people of this generation are digitally linked with the world through usage of mobile phones. It is even analyzed that both Generation Y and Z are digital native and depend on mobile devices for their daily activities and interaction purposes.

Q3. What are the reasons behind your engagement into cloud computing areas?

Reasons	Number of respondents	Percentage of responses
Flexibility and scalability of IT resources	15	46.9%
Increased computing capacity and business performance	7	21.9%
Add redundancy to increase availability	8	25%
Add redundancy to increase availability	2	6.3%

Table 3: Engagement into cloud computing areas

Figure 3: Engagement into cloud computing areas

(Source: Created by author)

Findings and Analysis:

As analyzed from the above chart, the researcher observed that 46.9% of people are engaged into the cloud computing areas due to its Flexibility and scalability of IT resources, 25% are due to adding redundancy to increase availability. 21.9% are engaged because of increased computing capacity and business performance and 6.3% due to diversification of the IT systems. The cloud computing offers various business flexibility when it comes to need of scalability and private of cloud computing. Privacy of the cloud computing is a solution for customized and secure the resources where access to confidential information are controlled.

Q4. What are the main concerns in approach to cloud computing?

Main concerns in approach to cloud computing	Number of respondents	Percentage of responses
Privacy	17	53.1%
Availability of data and services	12	37.5%
Confidentiality of corporate data	10	31.3%
Integrity of services	5	15.6%

Table 4: Concerns in approach to cloud computing

Figure 4: Concerns in approach to cloud computing

(Source: Created by author)

Findings and Analysis:

From the above chart, it is analyzed that privacy (53.1%) is considered as the main concerns in approach to the cloud computing. The other concerns are availability of data and services (37.5%), confidentiality of corporate data (31.3%) and integrity of services (15.6%). The cloud computing involves in usage of internet hosting to make the data accessible across different locations and computer devices. Therefore, privacy of the confidential data is important concern to secure information from any unauthorized person.

Q5. What is the security aspects provided with cloud?

Security aspects provided with cloud	Number of respondents	Percentage of responses
Authorize application services	12	37.5%
Access control	12	37.5%
Authentication and authorization	8	25%

Table 5: Security aspects provided with cloud

Figure 5: Security aspects provided with cloud

(Source: Created by author)

Findings and Analysis:

From the above chart, it is analyzed that 37.5% respondents think that authorize application services is the security aspects provided into the cloud. 37.5% are access control and 25% of them responses to authentication and authorization. Authorization of application services determines identification of users, server and client. Access control also performs authorization of identification, access approval along with accountability of entities perform the identification of authorization.

Q6. What are the benefits of cloud computing platform?

Benefits of cloud computing platform	Number of respondents	Percentage of responses
Backup and recovery	14	43.8%
Expert support	9	28.1%
Physical security	16	50%
Global accessibility	7	21.9%
Requirement of ISO certified cloud providers	5	15.6%

Table 6: Benefits of cloud computing platform

Figure 6: Benefits of cloud computing platform

(Source: Created by author)

Findings and Analysis:

From the above chart, it is analyzed that 50% of the respondents think that physical security is the key significant benefits of cloud computing platform. Backup and recovery (43.8%), Expert support (28.1%), Global accessibility (21.9%) and Requirement of ISO certified cloud providers (15.6%) are the other benefits. The vendors of cloud computing hosts the system to facilitate stronger physical security controls.

Q7. What are the possible drawbacks of cloud computing?

Drawbacks of cloud computing	Number of respondents	Percentage of responses
Data breaches	18	56.3%
Hijacking	15	46.9%
Indirect vulnerabilities	8	25%
Denial of service attacks	8	25%

Table 7: Drawbacks of cloud computing

Figure 7: Possible drawbacks of cloud computing

(Source: Created by author)

Findings and Analysis:

From the above chart, it is analyzed that according to 56.3% of respondents, data breaches is the main drawbacks of cloud computing. 46.9% considered hijacking, 25% as indirect vulnerabilities and 25% as denial of service attack. Into most of the organization, data breaches are occurred due to stolen of confidential information and data from the company’s database system. It is due to lack of authentication and access control of the information. It is such an incident where the protected data are accessed and disclosed into unauthorized way. The common data breaches incidents are stolen of personal information like credit card details, corporate information and software source code. The major causes of data breaches are unauthorized access to information, hacking of corporate web server, stolen of sensitive information and lack of maintenance of corporate database. The users those are connected to wireless network capture of login credentials and sensitive information which leads to unauthorized exposure.  

Q8. What are the main concerns after adopting of cloud computing?

Main concerns after adopting of cloud computing	Number of respondents	Percentage of responses
Higher cost	7	21.9%
Lack of control over the resources	14	43.8%
Concerns about service availability	13	40.6%
Security concerns	12	37.5%
Network speed issues	4	12.5%

Table 8: Main concerns after adopting of cloud computing

Figure 8: Main concerns after adopting of cloud computing

(Source: Created by author)

Findings and Analysis:

From the above chart, it is analyzed that 43.8% of the respondents think that Lack of control over the resources is the main concern after adoption of cloud computing. Concerns about service availability (40.6%), security concerns (37.5%), higher cost (21.9%) and network speed issues (12.5%) are other concerns. Handling of IT services is required but when the management team has lack of control over the resources, then it becomes main concern for most of the organizations.

Q9. What are the possible measures taken against the cloud computing security issues?

Possible measures taken against the cloud computing security issues	Number of respondents	Percentage of responses
Intrusion Detection Systems	8	25%
Industry Security Standards	6	18.8%
Use of combination of virtual LAN and firewalls to protect data in transit	4	12.5%
Strong authentication and access measures	9	28.1%
Strong API access control	16	50%
Prohibit of sharing account credentials between users and services	2	6.3%

Table 9: Possible measures taken against the cloud computing security issues

Figure 9: Possible measures taken against the cloud computing security issues

(Source: Created by author)

Findings and Analysis:

From the above chart, it is analyzed that 50% of the respondents are going for strong API (Application Program Interface) access control as the possible measures against the cloud computer security issues. Apart from this, the researcher also observed that there are 25% of Intrusion Detection Systems usages, 18.8% of Industry Security Standards, 12.5% of use of combination of virtual LAN and firewalls to protect data in transit, 28.1% of strong authentication and access measures and 6.3% of Prohibit of sharing account credentials between users and services. API security assures of information security, cyber security protection with identity access control. The cloud services are provided of functionality by means of standardized API based on the open technology. The web services are offered of API for the application developers to be used.

Q10. How do you characterize result of the implementation of cloud computing in your organization?

Result of the implementation of cloud computing in organization	Number of respondents	Percentage of responses
Total failure	6	18.8%
Partial failure	14	43.8%
Success, but with limited benefits	7	21.9%
Success as benefits expected	4	12.5%
Success, exceed expectations	1	3.1%

Table 10: Result of the implementation of cloud computing in organization

Figure 10: Result of the implementation of cloud computing in organization

(Source: Created by author)

Findings and Analysis:

From the above chart, it is analyzed that 43.8% respondents think that it is the partial failure which is the result of the implementation of cloud computing in organization. 18.8% are total failure, 12.5% are success as benefits expected, 21.9% is success but with limited benefits and 3.1% success exceeds expectations. After the implementation when some of the issues raised then it is seen that there are partial failure which result into implementation of cloud computing.

Summary

It is summarized that privacy is the main concern before implementation of cloud computing within an organization. In order to prevent from the issues, strong API access control is taken as the measures. Apart from this, physical security is considered as main benefits of cloud computing.

Discussion 

It is analyzed that cloud computing are the service deployment models that let to choose level of control over the information along with types of services which the users are required to provide. The type of cloud computing is infrastructure as a service (IaaS), that is used for the internet based access in order to store and compute the power. Second cloud computing platform is platform as a service (PaaS) that provides developers tools to build as well as host of web applications. The third platform is software as a service (SaaS) that is used for the web based applications. Mainly, SaaS cloud computing is a popular platform which delivers of software applications over the internet where the cloud providers are able to host and manage of software applications. There are various concerns of cloud computing which are identified in the organization before adoption of cloud computing are lack of resources, security issues and performance of service providers. Security has become a valid concern for the cloud computing technology. In order to secure the privacy of organization, it is required to verify if SaaS provider secures user identification, authentication and access control mechanism. In order to audit the security of provider as well as privacy laws, it is to be ensured to confirm that compliance is third critical issue of data security.

From the analyzed data, it is found that the cloud computing provides benefits when it is highly distributed and limitations due to security issues. The security architects are required to re-examine assumptions as well as derive the security model which are implemented into distributed cloud infrastructure. Cloud computing plays a significant role into satisfying requirements of both Generation Y and Z. Into the business processes, the potential issues involve with service failure as well as data exposure are considered. Generation Y are looking at features of webmail hosted into the cloud along with the first Smartphone maintained by huge number of cloud based applications. As generation Y are used of cloud based networks to share their emotions, therefore they are concern about security of cloud computing.

It is required to understand how the connections from the cloud are being architected as well as routed which enables the organization to assess whether the model is fitted the security as well as protection requirements. In most of the organizations, it provides maximum flexibility regards to connection options, control over the network security is limited. In order to secure the connection over unknown network, the companies are used of cloud computing and measure security which protects data and network server. Privacy as well as security of the cloud computing is solution towards customized as well as secured resources where access to the confidential information are being controlled. The main concerns of the users are privacy of the confidential data to secure the information from any unauthorized person. The concerns are related to data protection, user control, unauthorized usage as well as loss of legal protection. It is the main challenge as it involves storing unencrypted data into the machine, which causes of privacy breaches.

The researcher analyzed that there are various drawbacks of the cloud computing and among them data breaches are the main concern of the system users. The causes of breaching of confidential information and data are unauthorized access to the information, hacking of the corporate web server, stealing of the sensitive information as well as lacking of maintenance of the database. It is analyzed from the collected data that data breach is the top most threatening factors of the cloud security. The data are stored on the servers of cloud which are vulnerable to the data breach. It is also observed that data breach is such a security incident which can breach the security goals of the individual furthermore network for unauthorized dissemination of the information. Mostly, the data breaches are caused by attacks from the unauthorized users. The data are distributed and accessed after accurate authentication of the users. The hackers are propagated and targeted attacks in order to breach the data which are kept into the cloud. The researcher analyzed that more than 75 percent of the data breaches are occurred due to the hackers. From year by year, it is clear that the attacks from the hacker side are increasing.

As the control measures of the security issues into the cloud computing, strong API access control are considered and responded by the respondents. It is needed to minimize potential risk of the data exposures into the cloud. Security of API is highly influencing both securities along with availability of the cloud services. Secure API ensures protected in addition to malicious usage of cloud services. The cloud providers are provided of services to end users to manage and ensure that a strong encryption mechanism is required to deploy security policies along with information access are being used. Higher security approach is required to manage of sensitive user’s data which are stored into the cloud. Access control is considered as selective restriction of accessing to any confidential information without prior permission from the information owner. The researcher discussed that cloud computing offers benefits like scalable storage of the files, applications and improved collaboration regarded the location of team members. It saves both time as well as money by elimination the requirement to build costly data center and hire of IT teams in order to manage it.

It is analyzed that in the early days less than 10% of the world’s data are estimated to store into the cloud. Choosing of good cloud provider is also required to secure the cloud data, as they can take proper step to secure the data from being stolen and hacking of the data. Mostly, insider threats are rising more and more due to security breaches inside the organization. The employees are gaining access to the cloud, from the customer’s data and confidential organizational related information along with intellectual property loss. Privacy is the main concern into the cloud due to breaches of cloud security, business are worried about the governmental intrusions. The security concerns which are associated with the cloud computing are of two categories: security issues which are faced by the cloud providers and by the customers of the organization. When any organization elects for storing of data and host applications on public cloud, there is loss of physical access to servers for hosting the information. The researcher also analyzed that sensitive data are at risk from the insider attacks. Use of virtualization for implementing cloud infrastructure provides security concerns for the customers and public cloud services.  Virtualization is configured, secured as well as managed using virtualization software which secures the data as well as information inside the organizational database.

The organization is required to comply with regulations as well as security standards, where the data are stored. Data storage ensures that the service provider should follow of strict data recovery policies in the organization. The researcher discussed that there are some security aspects which are provided with cloud such as: access control which is provided to administrator such that it can monitor who can access to IT architecture and confidential information. Authentication is when only authorized person can have access and permission to access the applications which are hosted on cloud. Apart from this, application services are being authorized. In this particular study, security is one of the aspects which come with application and services used by users. All types of sectors and organizations are concerned with the security offered with cloud. There are different security levels which are provided into cloud environment such as: identity management which authorizes the application services used by authorized users. There is access control which control over user access and authentication refers to allow authorized people only to access the data applications. The benefits of cloud computing makes it ideal to use into the business organization.

The cloud based services are ideal for the business organization to growing and decreasing the bandwidth of the demands. When there is requirement to scale up the capacity of cloud, it draws out the service remote servers. When there is requirement to scale down, flexibility is baked in the services. The agility level gives the business an advantage over the competitors by using of cloud computing technology. The IT directors are ranked operational agility as top drivers for adoption of cloud. The suppliers should take care of regular software updates include of security updates. There is a requirement to increase of collaboration among the team members those can access and share the document from anywhere. Using the cloud computing, one can work from anywhere using mobile applications. Thysical security is the key significant benefit of the cloud computing. The IT managers are ensured that remote stored data are handled into compliance with proper regulations. There is hardening infrastructure against cyber attacks which seek advantage of higher concentration of sensitive data into the cloud.  The organization performs the tasks with the cloud providers and most of them provide lower priority towards security issues.

Conclusion 

It is also observed that many researches are done regarding the cloud computing which was done in theory or practically. This study is done to focus on reliability of the cloud computing which leads to data storage technology. Most of the studies found that the cloud computing brings more benefits to the ITC organization as compared to disadvantages. The negative effects of cloud computing should note in aspect of both safety as well as privacy of data. Different types of cloud models are enabling the organization to choose that model which is fitted as per the research requirements. The security of cloud computing is the key significant factor into implementation of cloud computing within the organization. The purpose of this research study is to identify the factors which affect adoption of cloud computing in different types of industry factors. In most of the organization, privacy as well as access control is the main concerns which are required to be controlled and measured on time. The cloud computing security processes are required to address the security controls which the cloud provider incorporates to maintain the data security along with privacy. The security processes include of proper authentication, authorization and data backup plan in case of the cloud security breaches.

It is also summarized that cloud security is encompassed broad range of the security constraints from the perspective of cloud provider. The researcher stated that the cloud security issues are ranging from the physical security as well as mechanism of access control of the cloud assets. Therefore, cloud security is considered as key significant reason why the organizations are feared of the cloud. The cloud computing is involved of control from customers towards the service provider. Data security within the cloud computing are better to security into the corporate data centre. Proper access control is the key measures of the security issues identified within the organization.

Recommendations 

Following are the recommendations for secure the cloud computing environment and platform which any types of organizations such as:

Focused on the policy based management: The deployment of cloud should focus to manage data center, manage the network, manage devices and users along with ensure for strict authentication, access control and authorization. The organization should also ensure for security. When the organization should adopt of new security related policies, then the security measures are taken into considerations to secure the identified risks as well as prevent the organization from being affected as well as harmed.

Plan for significant shift into skills and IT size: There should be a shift into skills of IT departments which the company is migrated to cloud. It is recommended to train people and help to achieve of the skill shift such that the organization is successful as it is moving forward. All the staffs those are working into the organization should have knowledge of IT so that they can handle all the technical related activities. Training should be provided to the staffs to aware them about the technical work for functioning activities into the cloud computing environment.

Use of open standard methodologies: The organization should use of strict security standards as critical aspect of the success into cloud computing. A public cloud solution is deployed for the organization. Sometimes, it may be happen that the public cloud is not proper for the organization due to security issues; therefore there is a requirement of change into business model. It might be possible that the cloud can back to the cloud server methodology.  Open security standards are required for the organization to secure confidential and sensitive data. It is recommended to the customers and ensured that open standard methodologies are making changes into the IT infrastructure, flow of data along with business model.

Carry out risk analysis: A risk analysis is required for the organization to define the security measures to demand of proper service provider. The main risks which are identified such as loss of governance, technical dependency on supplier of cloud computing, flaw into isolation of data, and those risks are caused due to unauthorized access by the third party.  Risk assessment is to be carried in such a way all the risks are mitigated on time. At the time of assessing the risks, the organization should follow of five steps such as identification of risks, decide how harm the risks, assessing of risks, record of the findings and review of the risk assessment. It helps to identify the risks before it affects the success of the project work.

Legal recommendations: Into the cloud computing, the legal issues which are raised to be resolved throughout the contract evaluation as well as negotiations. The cloud computing are selected among various contracts on offer into the market as opposed to the contract negotiations. There are some opportunities which are existed for the customers of the cloud services are to choose the providers whose contracts are being negotiated.

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