Cloud Security and SDLC Models

This assignment delves into the complexities of cloud computing security, examining issues such as data privacy and unauthorized access. It then compares various Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) models – Waterfall, V-Model, Agile – highlighting their strengths and weaknesses in ensuring secure software development within a cloud environment. The analysis considers relevant research papers and industry best practices to provide a comprehensive understanding of this crucial topic.

Running head: SYSTEM ANALYSIS
System Analysis
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s note

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................2
2. Non Functional Requirements.....................................................................................................2
2.1 Functionality..............................................................................................................2
2.2 Usability.....................................................................................................................3
2.3 Reliability..................................................................................................................3
2.4 Performance...............................................................................................................3
2.5 Security......................................................................................................................4
3. Functional and Non-functional requirements..............................................................................4
4. Strength and Weakness of cloud based solution..........................................................................5
4.1. Strengths of Hybrid Cloud........................................................................................6
4.2. Limitations of hybrid cloud......................................................................................6
5. SDLC Approach.........................................................................................................................6
5.1. Predictive Approach.................................................................................................7
5.2. Adaptive Approach...................................................................................................8
6. Conclusion...................................................................................................................................9
7. References..................................................................................................................................10

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1. Introduction
Cloud computing is an IT paradigm that deals with providing shared resources over the
Internet. Cloud based solutions means applications, resources and services that are provided to
the users on their demands through the Internet. Headspace is a hospital that looks after the
young people who are suffering from any type of mental problems like anxiety as well as
depression. They are aiming to develop a project called “My Health Record” system with cloud
based solution that will record the story of the patient at the first time when they are narrating it
(Steele, Min & Lo, 2012).
This report discusses about the requirements that are non functional in nature. It
compares the functional and non functional requirement of the system. This report gives a brief
overview of the strengths as well as weaknesses of the cloud based solution that is suggested for
the project. This report also discusses about the advantages and disadvantages of Predictive and
Adaptive SDLC and suggests which one is suitable for the project.
2. Non Functional Requirements
Non functional requirements can be defined as attributes that help to understand the
quality as well as the operations of the entire system. These attributes cannot be developed or
evaluated before delivering the system to the customers (Chung, Nixon & Mylopoulos, 2012).
These attributes deal with working of the system. Some examples of non functional attributes
are accessibility, reliability and security of the system. The non functional aspects of the
headspace project are as follows:
2.1 Functionality

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SYSTEM ANALYSIS
This can be considered to be the most important non functional requirement. This deals
with the maintaining a consistent system performance. The main functionality in this case is to
develop a system that will record the story of the patients when they are narrating it for the first
time and a system that is flexible as well as robust in nature. The system should be easy to
access.
2.2 Usability
Usability measures the degree to which the software will be able to be used by the users
and the degree to which it will meet the requirements of the user. The features of the system
should be simple so that the users do not face any difficulty in accessing and using it. The system
should make the tasks of the users simpler and make sure that the tasks are carried out in an
efficient manner. The system should minimize errors and satisfy the needs of the users.
2.3 Reliability
Reliability measures the degree to which the software will function in an accurate manner
without any failure. The health record system should have the capability to store the patient’s
records in an accurate manner and so that it can be recovered when necessary. Data recovery is
an important non functional requirement of the health record system.
2.4 Performance
The performance of a system depends on its response time, throughput as well as
availability. The CPU speed and RAM size of the system has a huge impact on its performance.
The health record system should give high throughput and its response time should be very
quick. A stable and fast data processing speed is required for the professionals in the hospital. A

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summary switch or button can be designed in the system to give a quick overview of the records
of the patients.
2.5 Security
Security can be considered to be one of the most important requirements of software. The
health record system will store sensitive information about the patients. It must be well protected
in order to protect the data from any unauthorized access (Kulkarni et al., 2012). The
confidentiality and integrity of the information in the system must be maintained. Strong security
policies and measures must be adopted in order to protect the information in the system. Security
is an essential need of an information system.
3. Functional and Non-functional requirements
Functional requirements are responsible for specifying the functionality of a system. It
specifies a function or behavior of a system. Functional requirements form a part of the contract
and it is responsible for describing the action that the system can perform. These requirements
are dependent on the expected users and software type. Functional requirements generally deal
with the technical functionality.
Authentication of the health record system is a functional requirement that allows only
specific users to access the information in the system (Jain & Nandakumar, 2012). This
requirement can be related to the security attribute of the non functional requirement. Different
levels of professionals should be able to access different types of information like the financial
manager will be able to access information related to the medical bills of the patients (Pearce &
Bainbridge, 2014). This will enhance the information security of the system. The system should
be able to provide accurate summary of the patient to the doctors. This is a functional

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requirement as it says what the system should do. This is related to the functionality feature of
the non functional requirement of the health record system.
The functional requirements are responsible for describing the services that can be
provided by the system. The non functional requirements on the other hand deals with the
features that will help to judge the operations of the system after it has been developed and
delivered to the clients.
4. Strength and Weakness of cloud based solution
The cloud based solutions benefit the users in several ways. The most important
advantages of the cloud based solutions are as follows:
Cost Effective: This can be considered to be the most significant benefit of the cloud
based solutions. Cloud computing reduces the cost of the business by minimizing the operational
and capital expense of the company. Huge cost can be saved as there is no requirement for in-
house facility of storage (AlZain et al., 2012). The users can pay for the services as per their
usage. The users do not need to invest huge amount of capital.
Reliability: The reliability and the security features of a cloud based solution are much
more than any in-house storage infrastructure (Galibus & Vissia, 2015). Most of the cloud
providers give a guarantee of all time availability of the service. The backup and fail over
mechanism is very quick. During the failure of a server, the services as well as applications can
be transferred to other servers that are available.
Manageability and Competitive Advantage: IT management is done in a simplified
manner. The service providers are responsible for its maintenance as well as regular updates. It

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gives competitive advantage over its competitors. It helps the users to focus on the business
activities rather than being bothered about the IT infrastructure.
There are certain disadvantages of cloud based solutions as well:
Downtime: The servers can be down and this can cause business loss.
Security: It is highly susceptible to security threats and risks. There can be several attacks
like virus attacks, phishing attacks, Trojan horses as well as hacking of the system for accessing
user information (Rittinghouse & Ransome, 2016).
Limited Control: The control of the service mainly lies in the hands of the vendors.
4.1. Strengths of Hybrid Cloud
The private infrastructure of hybrid cloud can be directly accessed by the users. The
access time of hybrid clouds is much less than the services that are provided by the public cloud
(Li et al., 2013). The computational infrastructure of the hybrid cloud has the ability to support
average workload of business. It also offers flexible user designs (Li et al. 2015).
4.2. Limitations of hybrid cloud
The expenditure involved in deploying hybrid cloud is much more than using public
cloud infrastructure (Chen & Zhao, 2012). Security is another challenge of hybrid cloud. The
cloud platform can be accessed by unauthorized users. The compatibility of hybrid clouds across
infrastructure is a major challenge.
5. SDLC Approach

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Software or system development life cycle describes the various stages that are needed in
order to develop software. There are several phases like feasibility analysis, planning of the
development, implementation as well as testing and maintenance.
5.1. Predictive Approach
The predictive SDLC approach tries to figure out all the required phases for developing
software before its implementation begins. Predictive approach is used in projects where the aim
of the project is well understood. This approach is suitable for developing a system or application
that is similar to other systems that have been developed before. Here there is a fixed plan and
fixed completion time for developing software (Tuteja & Dubey, 2012).
The advantages of this approach are as follows:
 There is high probability of completing the project within the given time period
because it has been planned and scheduled from beforehand.
 The project goal and scope is clear. There is no change in the requirements.
 Risk of project failure is low as the requirement is clear.
 The entire project plan is documented for the purpose of tracking it in a proper
manner.
The disadvantages of this approach are as follows:
 It is difficult to add new features because it will disrupt the plan of carrying out
the entire project.
 During the implementation phase one cannot go back to the previous phase
because it is not a flexible approach.

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 There is no feedback mechanism in this approach.
 System failure can lead to huge loss.
5.2. Adaptive Approach
There is a huge difference between predictive and adaptive approach. In the adaptive
approach there is no fixed plan for carrying a project implementation (Balaji & Murugaiyan,
2012). It does not follow any sequential steps. The project plan can be changed and improved at
any phases. It is not necessary to follow a fixed path.
Few advantages of adaptive approach are as follows:
 It has the ability to respond to changing environment.
 There is constant feedback from the customers regarding the project which helps
to improve the project.
 Different phases undergo effective testing.
 Improvisation of the system is possible.
Few disadvantages of adaptive approach are as follows:
 It does not focus on documentation. Therefore, there is no proper track record.
 The project might not be completed within correct deadline.
The adaptive approach will be suitable for the Headspace project because new features
and functionalities can be added as per the requirement of the user (Mahalakshmi &
Sundararajan, 2013). There will be constant feedback from the users and the chance of project
failure will be less.
6. Conclusion

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This report concluded that the Adaptive SDLC approach will be suitable for developing
the Headspace project. This report also discussed about the requirements that are non functional
in nature. It compared the functional and non functional requirement of the system. This report
gave a brief overview of the strengths as well as weaknesses of the cloud based solution. It also
discussed the pros and cons of hybrid cloud environment.

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7. References
AlZain, M. A., Pardede, E., Soh, B., & Thom, J. A. (2012, January). Cloud computing security:
from single to multi-clouds. In System Science (HICSS), 2012 45th Hawaii International
Conference on (pp. 5490-5499). IEEE.
Balaji, S., & Murugaiyan, M. S. (2012). Waterfall vs. V-Model vs. Agile: A comparative study
on SDLC. International Journal of Information Technology and Business Management,
2(1), 26-30.
Chen, D., & Zhao, H. (2012, March). Data security and privacy protection issues in cloud
computing. In Computer Science and Electronics Engineering (ICCSEE), 2012
International Conference on (Vol. 1, pp. 647-651). IEEE.
Chung, L., Nixon, B. A., Yu, E., & Mylopoulos, J. (2012). Non-functional requirements in
software engineering (Vol. 5). Springer Science & Business Media.
Galibus, T., & Vissia, H. E. R. M. (2015). Cloud storage security. Proc NSCE, 2014, 123-127.
Jain, A. K., & Nandakumar, K. (2012). Biometric Authentication: System Security and User
Privacy. IEEE Computer, 45(11), 87-92.
Kulkarni, G., Gambhir, J., Patil, T., & Dongare, A. (2012, June). A security aspects in cloud
computing. In Software Engineering and Service Science (ICSESS), 2012 IEEE 3rd
International Conference on (pp. 547-550). IEEE.
Li, J., Li, Y. K., Chen, X., Lee, P. P., & Lou, W. (2015). A hybrid cloud approach for secure
authorized deduplication. IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, 26(5),
1206-1216.

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Li, Q., Wang, Z. Y., Li, W. H., Li, J., Wang, C., & Du, R. Y. (2013). Applications integration in
a hybrid cloud computing environment: Modelling and platform. Enterprise Information
Systems, 7(3), 237-271.
Mahalakshmi, M., & Sundararajan, M. (2013). Traditional SDLC Vs Scrum Methodology–A
Comparative Study. International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced
Engineering, 3(6), 192-196.
Pearce, C., & Bainbridge, M. (2014). A personally controlled electronic health record for
Australia. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 21(4), 707-713.
Rittinghouse, J. W., & Ransome, J. F. (2016). Cloud computing: implementation, management,
and security. CRC press.
Steele, R., Min, K., & Lo, A. (2012). Personal health record architectures: technology
infrastructure implications and dependencies. Journal of the Association for Information
Science and Technology, 63(6), 1079-1091.
Tuteja, M., & Dubey, G. (2012). A research study on importance of testing and quality assurance
in software development life cycle (SDLC) models. International Journal of Soft
Computing and Engineering (IJSCE), 2(3), 251-257