Data Privacy Threats in Cloud Storage: A Case Study of Dropbox

Running head: CLOUD STORAGE
CLOUD STORAGE
Name of the Student:
Name of University:
Author note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Research scope.................................................................................................................................2
Research Objective..........................................................................................................................2
Problem statement:..........................................................................................................................3
Background:.....................................................................................................................................3
Research questions:.........................................................................................................................4
Question Comparison:.....................................................................................................................4
Literature Review:...........................................................................................................................5
Impacts of data privacy threats:.......................................................................................................6
Application of new knowledge:.......................................................................................................7
Research Methodology:...................................................................................................................7
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................8
Reference:........................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction:
Cloud computing is a vast field comprising of a huge amount of data. With the
technological advancement, cloud computing is in use widely. Cloud is capable of storing
enormous amount of data which can be accessed from anywhere and anytime. Cloud computing
has infused the idea of cost effectiveness in the Information Technology along with the
optimization of data for enhancing the performance of the system and so to the output. However,
there are certain constraints of using the cloud, and this research is about the issues that are faced
while cloud storage is considered (Rittinghouse & Ransome, 2017).
Research scope:
The research consists of the issues related to the data privacy in the cloud storage. The
type of the threat in the storage of the data in the IAAS deployment model of the cloud is
discussed over here. Dropbox, a cloud service American company is chosen over here for the
discussion platform (Arora, Parashar, & Transforming, 2013). The cloud storage, which has so
many benefits over the other storage facilities have some issues that is needed to be fixed.
Research Objective:
The objectives of the research are stated as follows:
 To look for the data privacy threat in the cloud computing
 To analyse the problems in storing data in the IaaS computing model in the Dropbox
services
 To find the impact of data privacy threats in the Dropbox services

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Problem statement:
Though cloud computing is favoured as the storage process for the organisation, there are
certain problems that arises when they are in use. There are many important and sensitive data
that are stored in the Cloud. With the advancement in the technology, there is an increase in the
cyber-crime exponentially. The attackers seeks for opportunities to invade the servers by any
means possible. Thus the data privacy is at a grave risk in the cloud computing (Almorsy,
Grundy & Müller, 2016). Hence, how the data breaches can occur in the system has been is a
matter of concern. There are certain attack that takes place in the cloud under the influence of the
hackers. The stolen data are misused for the unethical work, identity theft is one of the very
common among them. Man in the Middle is one such attack that has been discussed in detail in
the research (Singh, Jeong, & Park, 2016). The impact of the data privacy threat in the Cloud has
been discussed in the research as well.
Background:
Cloud computing is a model for delivering different services through internet.
Applications such as servers, data storage, networking, databases and software are the resources
used in cloud computing. There exists many cloud providers which deliver services based on
cloud computing (Rao, & Selvamani, 2015). Dropbox is one such service provider which is
operated by Dropbox Inc. Dropbox offers personal cloud, file synchronization, client software
and cloud storage. Files are brought together by Dropbox in one place by creating special folder
in the computer of the user. Dropbox offers applications for different operating systems and apps
for different mobile operating system. There are three types of services available in cloud
computing such as Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and
Platform-as-a-service (PaaS). IaaS are services provided online through high-level APIs that are