Risks Associated With Cloud Computing in 2020

Swaleha Parvin
8 min readNov 11, 2020

--

Cloud computing structure

Have you ever asked where precisely does an organization store all the information until the exercises of the virtual world? The appropriate response is cloud computing. Cloud computing is the place where data is forever put away on a worker on the web and put away briefly on a client’s PC or customer, for example, work areas, tablet PCs, scratchpad, divider PCs, handhelds, sensors, screens, and others.

In any case, there are weaknesses of cloud computing behind this innovation. Before it’s clarified, we should see the cloud computing outline.

Photo by ThisisEngineering RAEng on Unsplash

What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing is a blend of the utilization of PC innovation (processing) and Internet-based turn of events (cloud). Cloud is an illustration of the web, just like the cloud that is frequently portrayed in PC network graphs.

Cloud computing is an overall idea of other late mechanical patterns that are broadly known to incorporate SaaS, Web 2.0 with the overall topic of being subject to the Internet to give clients registering needs. For instance, Google Apps gives general business applications online that are accessed through an internet browser with programming and information put away on the worker.

As the cloud in the PC network graph, cloud in Cloud Computing is additionally a deliberation of the unpredictable foundation that is covered up. It is a computational technique wherein data innovation-related abilities are introduced as assistance, so clients can get to them through the Internet without realizing what is inside, being master with them, or having authority over the mechanical framework that causes them.

Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash

How do CIOs accommodate the pressure between risk, cost, and client experience?

Cloud Security is a mixture of science and art.

It is an art of knowing to what extent should one put security on service so that the user experience does not diminish.

For example: Suppose a user has an application, and to make it secure, the user is asking for the username and password at every operation, which makes sense as far as security is concerned, but then it hinders user experience.

So, it is an art to know when to stop, but at the same time, it is science, because one needs to create algorithms or tools that provide the maximum security to customer’s data.

Now when any new thing comes into the picture, people get skeptical about it.

RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH CLOUD COMPUTING:

There are a lot of “risks” that people think cloud computing has, let us address these risks one by one:

1. Unauthorized access to customer and business data

Criminals may target small business networks because they are easier to breach, and they often go after larger companies because of the allure of larger payouts.

Cloud services collect data from thousands of small businesses. The private ventures accept they are pushing security dangers to a bigger association more equipped for ensuring their information.

In any case, every business that utilizes a cloud administration expands the estimation of that administration as an expected objective. This focuses on a hazard on a solitary purpose of failure. A disaster at a cloud provider can affect every one of its customers.

And hackers and malware are not the only ones who may target a cloud service provider. Cloud computing risks are also presented by insider threats.

Once a user outsources a service to a third-party server, the user now must worry about one’s staff and the vendor’s staff. More people have access to the data and systems that support the service, which means the user must extend trust to people one has never met.

The risk of government intrusion also increases when one uses a cloud service.

2. Security risks at the vendor

When a cloud service vendor supplies a critical service for the user’s business and stores critical data — such as customer payment data and your mailing lists —the user places the life of one’s business in the vendor’s hands.

Many small businesses know almost nothing about the people and technology behind the cloud services they use.

They rarely consider:

1. The security of the vendor’s technology

2. The access the vendor has to their data

When a user depends on a cloud service for a business-critical task, then the user puts the trust of one’s business into the hands of other people and the quality of their work.

User’s reputation no longer depends on the integrity of only its business — now it also depends on the integrity of the vendor’s business. And that is a cloud computing risk.

Even if one knows the number of people at a vendor who can access their data, how well does the user know each person? The user cannot trust them with the reputation of its company.

3. Compliance and legal risks

Industries that regulate data security include healthcare, banking, government, and anyone that accepts credit cards — and the list of regulated industries continues to grow.

Many data security regulations are intended to protect a specific type of data. For example, HIPAA requires healthcare providers to protect patient data. PCI DSS requires anyone who accepts credit cards to protect cardholder data.

Not only are the companies covered by these regulations required to protect the data, but they are also typically required to know:

1. Where the data resides

2. Who can access it?

3. How it is protected

If a company outsources the processing or storage of data that it is required to protect, then it is relying on a cloud service provider to maintain their compliance.

If the organization doesn’t have sufficient lawful assurances, at that point it could be at risk when there is an information break at the cloud administration that uncovered the organization’s information.

In other words, unless users are protected in writing, then a cloud service provider might not be liable for a breach of your data on its systems. So, users are transferring the responsibility of protecting the data to a third party, but users are still liable if that party fails to live up to the task.

This counts as one of the many risks in cloud computing. Even if a vendor has your best interests at heart, users’ interests will always be secondary to theirs.

4. Risks related to lack of control

When the user hosts and maintains a service on a local network, then the user has complete control over the features it chooses to use. If a user wants to change the service in the future, the user is in control.

However, when customers use a cloud service provider, the vendor is in control. Customers have no guarantee that the features they use today will be provided for the same price tomorrow. The vendor can double its price, and if one’s clients are depending on that service, then one might be forced to pay.

When we host a service locally, the data and level of service are always in our control. We can confidently guarantee our customers that their frameworks and information are protected because they are consistently inside our scope.

Remember: User has many ways to protect its data when it is in control. However, once it is in the hands of a cloud service provider, users have surrendered control to an entity over which they have no oversight.

5. Availability risks

No service can guarantee 100% up-time. When users rely on a cloud service for a business-critical task, then they are putting the viability of their business in the hands of two services: the cloud vendor and the ISP.

If internet access goes down, then it will take the vendor’s cloud service with it. If we need the cloud service to process customer payments or access important data, then one would have to wait until the internet is back up.

Another cloud risk is that the vendor can go down as well. Anything from bad weather, DDoS attacks, or a good system failure can knock the service unresponsive.

The cloud vendor can provide up-time 99%, but considering statistics for a moment 99% up-time means 1% downtime. Over the course of 365 days, that’s 3.65 days the service will be down. That is equal to 87.6 hours.

If those 87 hours were to occur during business hours, then that is equivalent to 10 days of downtime. The client cannot live without this service for 10 business days.

What do we do to defeat the burdens of distributed computing?

Cloud computing that sounds so risky because it has different disservices, yet you have to recollect that Cloud Computing additionally has a few focal points that can enable your business to develop. Cloud Computing is an exceptional framework, even though there are different inconveniences because there is no genuinely amazing framework. Plus, cloud administration innovation is continually improving the chance to time. The fate of distributed computing will be more refined and better administration. Be that as it may, the first basic thing you have to do is finding the best cloud administration is before moving to the cloud.

What you have to do to beat the deficiencies in distributed computing is to discover specialist co-ops who need to give your business needs and guarantee the security of your worker. What’s more, the insufficient foundation is one of the issues that is regularly experienced, for this you can likewise utilize Cloud Hybrid where specialist co-ops will deal with the change and lessen time and costs incredibly utilizing workforce and innovation for your business.

How to overcome the disadvantages of cloud computing?

Twofold checks need to be done on the cloud security arrangements in your device after setting up a specific cloud server.

Utilize particular instruments to check the security setups. There are outsider devices like CloudSploit and Dome9 that can check the condition of security setups on a timetable and recognize potential issues before it is past the point of no return.

A typical subject over these cloud security rehearses is the requirement for cloud shoppers to build up a profound comprehension of the administrations they are purchasing and to utilize the security instruments given by the Cloud Service Provider (CSP). Late cloud security occurrences revealed in the press, for example, unstable AWS storage services or the Deloitte email compromise, would no doubt have been stayed away from if the cloud purchasers had utilized security devices, for example, effectively designed admittance control, encryption of information very still, and multifaceted validation offered by the CSPs.

For little and fair sized associations, utilization of entrenched, develop CSPs diminishes hazard related to progressing applications and information to the cloud.

I invite your criticism of these practices in the comment segment beneath.

To read more about tech related articles, follow Swaleha Sheikh.

--

--

Swaleha Parvin
Swaleha Parvin

Written by Swaleha Parvin

A Tech Enthusiast | I constantly learn new software concept and blog about it

No responses yet