Information Security: Overview, Relevant Technologies, Applications, Issues, and Future Research

This report provides an overview of cloud computing, relevant technologies, applications, issues, and future research in information security. It discusses the advantages and disadvantages of cloud computing, including issues related to reliability, privacy, and security.

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Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Overview of the technology.......................................................................................................3
Relevant technology...................................................................................................................3
Application of technology..........................................................................................................4
Gaps in literature........................................................................................................................5
Issues addressed.....................................................................................................................5
Issues not addressed...................................................................................................................5
Discussion of the issue...........................................................................................................6
Future research...........................................................................................................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
The information technology industry is driving the sector of innovation to a different
level. One of the most important sectors relating to the aspect is the internet, which is one of
the most popular technology in recent times. The concept is reaching a level of globalization
were the data are easily managed and shared anytime and everywhere. Cloud computing can
be considered one of the most important players in the concept due to the factor that it
provides a large area of storage where the data can be stored and retrieved anytime from
anywhere as a service not as a product (Narula & Jain, 2015). The main aim which is related
to the concept of cloud computing is the reduction of the basic infrastructure for example
software, hardware and the complexity which is involved into them. The cloud providers
provide the service based on the pay per use based service. Most of the organization tend to
include the various service which is related to the cloud due to the fact the they
implementation of the concept is not time consuming and the cost which is related to the
concept is very much less.
The focus point of the report is to take into consideration the various aspects which is
related to the cloud computing. The various concept and the issue, which are seen in the
concept, are majorly discussed.
Overview of the technology
The concept of cloud computing evolved from the result of the convergence of the
Grid computing technology. In the late 1990s, high performance computers were connected
with the high-speed communication link for the support of scientific and complex calculation.
The definition of the grid computation mainly states that it is a software and hardware
infrastructure that basically provides which gives consistency, inexpensive and pervasive
access to computation which is high end facilities of computation over the communicational

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network. The concept of cloud computing can be considered as a model where machine with
large center of data can be provisioned dynamically, controlled and reconfigured to deliver
the services in a scalable manner. It can be stated as a innovative information technology (IT)
architecture where the concept of virtualization may be playing a dominating role in the field
of computing. There are six characteristics of the concept of cloud computing which are
application programming interface, maintenance, performance, elasticity and scalability.
Reliability, location independency and broad network access.
Relevant technology
There are different type’s relevant technology, which can be included into the
concept, which are Google app engine, amazon web service and Microsoft office 365.
Google app engine: The concept of the Google cloud computing can be considered as one of
the most well-known platform which can be implemented for the concept of developing and
managing different types of web application in the infrastructure which is related to Google.
The maintenance and the development of the application can be considered very easy and the
concept can be considered as a vital step towards the storage sector of data. The Google app
engine consist of large number of phases, which is related to the database service and runtime
environment.
Amazon web service: Amazon cloud service can be considered as a collection of remote
service of computing that can be easily be created with the help of cloud computing. Various
type of customer get the direct benefit from the concept of the AWS such as Smug Mug,
Netflix and lastly the wetransfer. The concept of the amazon web service provide secure,
reliable and very much cheap infrastructure which are used for the concept of retrieving and
storing large amount of data. the user from different parts of the world can make use of the
system by means of running the data on a fully managed procedure and NoSQL database or

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can easily create a database in the concept if the EC2 and EBS. The concept of the amazon
SQ2 can be used for the concept of distributing the messages over the queuing of the service.
The concept is implemented for short messages when they are transferred between the
application layer and the computers, which are considered very much scalable. The security
aspect is handled by means of providing different types of authentication process for the
concept of handling of the various data. These data are stored on various servers, which can
be used by the user according to their requirement (Chang & Ramachandran, 2016).
Microsoft office 365: Microsoft office can be considered as one of the well known
software’s of the Microsoft. The system is designed in such a way that it directly gives
provision of end-to-end service to the customer at a very low price. The concept can be used
in all type of organization small as well as medium size organization. The service providers
by means of applying the concept of disaster recovery ensure the safeguard of the data of the
user, a datacenter with multiple places with includes different kinds of policy of privacy
(Hashem et al., 2015).
Application of technology
The application of the cloud computing can be considered to be very limitless
practically. When a right concept of middleware, the concept of the cloud computing could
execute all the programs of a normal computer. Potentially everything from the connect of
generic word processing software to computer programming program designed for a specific
company which would work on the concept of cloud computing. The main question, which
can be asked relating to the application of the program, is why the user/customer would rely
on another computer system to run their program. Few of the reason relating to the concept
are stated below:

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 Taking into consideration corporate sectors they could easily save money by
indulging themselves in the concept of cloud computing. It can be stated here that
there are very few problem related to heterogeneous networks and operating systems.
 If the backend of the cloud computing system is, a grid computing system then the
client can easily take advantage of the concept relating to the network processing
power. Often the scientist work within the concept of the cloud computing in complex
mathematical equation which would be very difficult to be handled by most of the
traditional models (Botta et al., 2016).
 The hardware cost would be minimized directly. The concept would be minimizing
the overall cost, which is related to the hardware requirement at the client side. The
user do not have to buy the latest version of the computer and high-speed memory due
to the factors that the concept of the cloud computing would be taking care of the
need.
Gaps in literature
The gap which is seen in the literature is in the field of the security aspect which is
involved into the concept of the cloud computing. The gap is in the form of what is expected
from the cloud providers about the security of the data and what service they actually provide
to the customers. The customer do not have any idea of the data privacy or the security
aspects, which are given to the data of the user. They always keep faith into the service
providers that they would be giving them the appropriate security relating to the important
data which is stored in the concept if the cloud computing (Rittinghouse & Ransome, 2016).
Issues addressed
The issue, which are addressed in the current literature, involve the aspect of the
costing relating to the model. There are different patterns relating to the cost aspect which can

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be applied into the concept of the cloud computing. The main aspect, which can be seen from
the service, which is provided from the cloud provider, are tier based system. On the other
hand, the user pay according to the need of the technology and the way they use it. Taking
into consideration other traditional models, it can be stated that they have a fixed amount,
which has to be paid, and the cost does not vary. In this context, it can be stated that the cloud
providers provides different types of option relating to the costing aspect.
The availability of the data of the user is another point of focus factor which can be
included into the aspect. Most of the user who move to the concept of cloud computing tend
to fell insecure about who is having the overall control of the data when it is stored in the
concept of the cloud. The cloud providers eventually gives the trust that the data would be
secured and no one apart from the authorized user would have the direct access to the data.
Issues not addressed
The issues, which are not addressed in the literature, are as follows:
 Data threat: taking into consideration any organization the data plays a very vital role,
which involves the overall working. The life cycle, which is related to the data, is very
much inclusive of the stages, which are creation of the data, storage, transit and lastly
the destruction. One of the biggest issue which is seen in the concept of the cloud
computing is the security of the data. The security issue in the concept of the cloud
mainly involves the aspect of integrity, confidentiality, authorization and lastly the
aspect of authorization. Many of the issue which are seen in the concept of cloud
computing is due to the improper handling of the data. Some of the major threats,
which can be connected with the data security, are loss of data, data breaches,
unauthorized access and the violation of the integrity.

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 Network threat: The network can be considered as a major play in which the
connection between the cloud and the user are seen. Some of the well-known threats,
which are related to the concept of network, are the denial of service attack and the
server hijacking. An application program can be considered as a set of standard
protocols, which defines the communication among the application software within
the framework of the internet. A threat to the network domain of the cloud is the
malicious insiders. In most of the cases it is seen that the cloud computing provides
the proper infrastructure which is related to the platform, infrastructure and lastly the
internal infrastructure.
Discussion of the issue
The concept of cloud computing can be considered as an approach which is very
much beneficial but on the other hand it can be stated that it has many disadvantage or issues
which are associated with the concept. The issues, which are majorly seen in the concept, can
be related to the factors of reliability, privacy, issue that are considered to be legal, long term
viability and lastly the gaps in the concept of cloud interoperability.
Privacy: The concept of cloud computing makes use of the concept of virtual technology.
The personal data of the user are usually scattered at various location. The attackers can
easily indulge into the data and make use if the data.
Reliability: sometimes the access of the data of the user is not available which means that the
overall data cannot be accessed when the user needs them. This is due to the factor that the
link between the servers do not exist. Failure of link can be considered as one of the most
important factors or issue which are seen in the concept of the cloud computing.
Security: some of the well-known issue which are seen in the concept of the cloud
computing is the security which is given to the data. Some of the factors, which play a

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dominating role in the concept of the security, is the loss of the data, phishing and botnet. The
concept of the multi tenancy model, which directly means that more than one user shares the
server has created a new type of security aspect relating to the concept of shared resources.
The concept of the fate sharing can be another aspect, which directly destroys the reputation
of a good cloud.
Future research
In recent times, it can be stated that the advancement of the sector of the technology
has led to higher demand and use of technology. Various researchers around the globe
continuously work in order to improve the different aspects and the working area, which is
related to the technology, and to meet the required standard of security into the scenario. The
creation of the concept of the cloud computing can be considered as involving the sectors of
additional cost, local infrastructure and improvisation. Cloud system directly allow the small
and medium size companies to implement their service at a much lower price and get the
benefit out of the concept. The main research topic, which play a vital role, is the availability
of the data of the user. In most of the cases, it can be seen that the data of the user is not
available at the right time due to the factor that it is stored in another countries server and it is
being accessed from another country. This problem can be a very important problem due to
the factor that the user would not be getting their own data at the time they need to access it.
On the other hand there are different security aspects about who is access the data of the user
when it is stored at the concept of the cloud. Mostly the user do not know who has the overall
control of the data sometimes it can lead to security issue of intruders using the personal data
of the user (Ali, Khan & Vasilakos, 2015).

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Conclusion
The report can be concluded on a note that the overall focus point of the report is the
security aspect of the working of the concept of cloud computing. An overall discussion of
the basic concept which can be applied to the cloud computing are discussed taking into
consideration the need in real life. It can be stated that the cloud computing has various types
of issue which are within the concept but there are way more advantages which can be easily
be achieved form the concept. In order to provide the necessary framework of the security
most of the organization who inclined towards the concept should involve defense
mechanism, which are very much advanced. The relevant technologies which can be related
to the concept of the cloud computing are also discussed in the report and its direct impact on
the field of tech ology are also taken into consideration.

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