Comprehensive Report: Consumer Security Challenges in Cloud Computing

This report delves into the security challenges confronting consumers in the realm of cloud computing. It begins by defining cloud computing and highlighting its benefits while acknowledging the associated security issues. The research employs a quantitative methodology, incorporating surveys and interviews to gather data on consumer perceptions and experiences. The report identifies key challenges such as data protection, authentication, and data breaches, examining their impact on consumers. It explores various security models, including IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS, and assesses their effectiveness in mitigating risks. The research provides insights into consumer knowledge of cloud computing, factors preventing adoption, and potential solutions to enhance security. The report concludes with recommendations for improving cloud computing security practices and ensuring consumer trust and data safety, making it a valuable resource for understanding and addressing the evolving security landscape of cloud services.

What are the security
challenges for consumers
regarding cloud computing

Abstract
Aim of the present research is to carry research on security challenges of consumer in
term of cloud computing. With the help of present research, there are many benefits can be
created at workplace regarding easy access of consumable data that considered scalability, cost
efficiency and high reliability of the data. These benefits assists to provide storage services that
provided in cloud computing. Hence, data could be assess for providing relevant information at
workplace. In this project, quantitative research methods has been used that assists to find out
results on the basis of questions. Survey and interviews are also such important elements that
assists to collect relevant information. However, findings determines in easy way that assists to
face challenges that are related find different aspects.

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Aims ................................................................................................................................................3
Outline of the research.....................................................................................................................4
Purpose of research .........................................................................................................................4
Research Rationale...........................................................................................................................4
Research context..............................................................................................................................5
Literature review..............................................................................................................................5
Primary Research Methods..............................................................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.............................................................................1
Mixed methodology....................................................................................................................1
CHAPTER 4: DATA COLLECTION.............................................................................................5
4.1 Introduction...........................................................................................................................5
4.2 Thematic analysis..................................................................................................................5
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS...................................................21
5.1 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................21
5.2 Recommendations...............................................................................................................21
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................23
Appendix........................................................................................................................................26

Introduction
Cloud computing is a technique which facilitates the sharing of data and resources for
different computers simultaneously. Despite being a great opportunity for the world of
technology, it has a number of security issues. The cloud computing deals with a large amount of
data that is very important for the companies. It helps them to deal with it and therefore needs to
be handled very sensitively. Cloud computing is a computing model which enables the sharing of
data, resources, and software by different computers simultaneously. The data is present in a
central database and all the computers are connected to the database with a proper networking
system. However, the security issues related to the cloud computing has proved to be a barrier to
the smooth implementation of the technology in the market. The data handled by the cloud is
very large as well as important and needs to be properly and sensitively handled. After the proper
analysis, it has been discovered that there are many risks associated with the security of data.
These risks involve the factors like misplacement of the intellectual property, interference with
the privacy of data, manipulation of the important data as well as loss of proper control over the
data. According to Shiau and Chau (2016, p.358), there are several challenges to the security of
the data like the protection of data, authentication of data as well as breach of data.
Aims
The aims is to recognize the security challenges for consumers regarding cloud computing and
how to resolved these challenges to increase the effectiveness of cloud computing.
The sub questions will help me to achieve that:
 To Identify security challenge in cloud computing.
 To discuss consumers knowledge in cloud computing.

 To determine what prevent consumers from using cloud computing.
Outline of the research
There are several security challenges to the consumers regarding the data sharing in cloud
computing. The security is highly complicated due to the data being distributed in a very wide
area and being accessed by a number of systems. Zhang et al.(2016, p.807) mentioned that, the
different challenges are the protection of data while it is stored as well as in transmission mode,
the authorization of data- the access to the data should be granted only to the one who have the
authority and the violation of data in an illegal manner. There are several security models which
serve to eliminate or minimize these challenges namely IaaS, PaaS and SaaS.
Purpose of research
It has been years since the concept of cloud computing has been introduced into the market.
Despite being a significant innovation in the 5th field of technology, the dependability is still
questionable due to some security issues. The companies which have a desire to involve in this
technology need to be confident of some critical factors. The data they are sharing with the
computing system must be safe and secure. The companies sharing the data must be convinced
that there shall be no unauthorized access to their data. They also need to be assured of the fact
that their data will not be breached or violated in any circumstances.
Research Rationale
What is the issue
There are several issues regarding the security in the cloud computing technology (Kaur and
Kaur, 2016, p.29). The data stored in the cloud is very confidential for the companies and must
be protected under all conditions. These may consist of some private data of individuals recorded
by the company for certain purposes. The companies may fear the loss of control over the data
provided to the cloud.

Why is it an issue
The loss of such confidential data from the database or the misuse of those data may lead the
company to bear an irreparable loss in terms of revenue as well as the reputation of the company.
Why is it an issue now
A number of data hacking techniques have emerged which have lead to the misuse of the
confidential data stored in the cloud. This the reason for the security of the technology has been
questioned.
What does the research shed light on?
The research conducted sheds light upon the different challenges faced by the customers in the
security issue of cloud computing as well as the different models of security which can be
applied to meet those challenges.
Research context
The advancement of technology has lead ways for the evolution of globalization. There are a
number of companies who are trying to expand their business throughout the world. In that case,
they need to have a central body which shall be able to control all the different branches of the
companies. These companies need to share a lot of common data among the branches for the
smooth functioning of the entire system. This problem can be solved with the use of cloud
computing. As said by Pancholi and Patel (2014, p.19), there are several issues related to the
security of the data like the protection of their data, the proper authorization for the use of their
data so that their data is not used by some unwanted party, Also, the data should not be violated
or misused for any illegal purpose. Proper research is been done on the different security models
which meet these challenges.
Literature review
Cloud computing is a computing model which enables the sharing of data, resources, and
software by different computers simultaneously. The data is present in a central database and all
the computers are connected to the database with a proper networking system. There are several
issues regarding the cloud computing security. This part of the study mainly describes the
models that can be helpful to mitigate these issues.However, the security issues related to the
cloud computing has proved to be a barrier to the smooth implementation of the technology in
the market. The data handled by the cloud is very large as well as important and needs to be

properly and sensitively handled. After the proper analysis, it has been discovered that there are
many risks associated with the security of data. These risks involve the factors like misplacement
of the intellectual property, interference with the privacy of data, manipulation of the important
data as well as loss of proper control over the data. There are several impacts of these risks on
the users like loss of revenue and goodwill of the company, the loss of trust of customers on the
companies as well as a violation of certain laws due to the leakage of highly confidential data.
There is several security models designed to solve these issues. The models IaaS, SaaS, and PaaS
shall be discussed in details in the project.
Rittinghouse and Ransome (2016, p.62) stated that the SaaS model is used in office and
messaging software, DBMS software, payroll and accounts, Computed Automated Drawing
(CAD), CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and HRM (Human Resource Management)
and service desk management. It has entered deep into all leading software companies.Bokhari et
al. (2016, p.10), has stated that in the present time, there are many organizations which are
storing their huge in advance system to the future use. But with less availability of updation of
existing software increases insecurity of the data.
Jumagaliyev (2016, p. 53) stated that in the present time, the transaction of money has done
through online mediums like Go Recharge and Freecharge. During these mode, security and
safety of users transactions have most of the time has created issues. Along with this, the
essential personal information of the user has not secured that much as it has expected by them.
In most of the cases, the sensitive information of private enterprise using the cloud computing is
stored outside their domain or accessibility.
According to Calheiros, Ranjan and et.al. (2011, p. 23-50), PaaS allows the customers to use the
platform or the operating system and the servers to use along with the infrastructure. Generally,
the vendor controls and maintains the physical computer hardware, operating systems, and server
applications while the customer only controls and maintains their developed software
applications. Customers would, therefore, be mainly responsible for any security exploits that
could target their applications, while the vendor is not only responsible for physical security but
also for any security exploits that could target network connections such cloud storage, data
storage, and data access. This has created the security issues regarding revile the information of
the users by hackers and other third parties for personal benefits.

The availability of computing resources all over the internet is done by the help of IaaS. There
are many security features provided by the IaaS which solve the challenges of cloud computing.
Rittinghouse and Ransome (2016, p. 80) mentioned that in the shared cloud network every user
share the same cloud for accessing the infrastructure. It has developed a security issue for its
users while storing and access the information. The cloud has a two IP addresses. One of them is
the public IP address for the application user and another one is private IP address for the cloud.
The public IP address is either permanent or temporary whereas the private IP address is always
temporary. This provides network security and solves the security challenges existing in the
cloud computing. Most of the time, these have hacked by the people to get the important
information of the users.Tchernykh et al.(2016, p.17) said that it also controls the network traffic
to and from the cloud. The firewall also provides the benefit to allow a specific user to access a
specific set of cloud and computing resources using a specific set of rules and thus improves the
security aspect of cloud. IaaS also helps to protect rogue. It also helps to provide secure
extension and securely connects the enterprise sites to the clouds with the use of static IP
connection (Hussein and Khalid 2016, p.53). It also helps to secure the remote access to
individual’s server. It ensures that individual machine is accessed to cloud by a secure network.
The access is based on credentials that a single user is allocated a single server of the cloud. Is
also provides the benefit of remote VPN access. It allows the employees to securely connect to
the cloud by using the VPN clients. It includes the central authentication of the employees that
verifies the identity prior to providing access to the cloud. Alqahtany et al.(2016, p.443) stated
that IaaS gives the facility of Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) that is an isolated network
with a private IP subnet and a layer of 2 separation constructs. It provides inter-datacenter
communication between different cloud customers. In this way, it reduces the risk of shared
network. The VPN and VLAN in the IaaS mitigate the security challenges of cloud computing
and thus satisfy the users of cloud computing.
According to Islam et al. (2015, p.479), there are several challenges to the security of data stored
in the cloud. The problems arising due to these challenges have a deep impact on the people. The
data shared by the companies can be highly confidential for the company. The data can be
considered as the intellectual property of the company and the loss of such data may prove
disastrous to the company. Some organizations maintain the records of the confidential data of

some individuals, the leakage of such data from the cloud may lead to the misuse of the same. In
that case, the company is subject to punishment for violation of certain laws. The company may
lose the control on the data and it can be accessed by unauthorized people for an unethical
purpose.
Islam et al. (2015, p.479) said that the malware infections may lead to the growth of cyber crime
which is a matter of concern for the people. The data may consist of the codes used for
transactions using debit or credit cards and the loss of such data makes the customers lose trust in
the company. In the case of any kind of data shared by the customers, the customers need to be
sure that the data provided by them is completely secure in the hands of the company. If they are
not confident about this fact, they would stop trusting the company and move to some other
company where they can achieve the sense of security. Other than Kumarand Lu, (2010, p. 51-
56) has asserted that these, the data stored in the cloud may be the development ideas of the
company and the loss of the ideas for a new project of the company may cause a significant loss
in terms of revenue.
Primary Research Methods
In order to perform the entire research, the researcher needs to take certain methods that can be
useful for successfully conducting the study. The primary research needs to be done and the
population needs to be the customers who are using the cloud technology. Based on the feedback
from the customers, the cloud service providers can easily upgrade their technical aspects. In
addition to that, to mitigate the security challenges of the cloud technology, the organizations
need to train their employee in such a way that the intruders find it hard to break into the system.
Therefore, the proper training for the employee needs to be provided by the company. Along
with that, the new and updated technology also needs to be used by the organizations in order to
mitigate the security issues regarding the cloud computing. Therefore, it can be said that, by
implementing these particular methodologies, the security challenges of the cloud computing can
easily be mitigated.
Conclusion
In this research project, the various threats to the security of data stored in the cloud have been
analyzed. The different issues like data integrity, data security, and unauthorized access to the
data have been explored. Also, the manipulation of data and the data hacking have been

discussed. A thorough assessment of the impact of the above-discussed issues has been done.
The research context and the aspects of the research, as well as the purpose of the research, have
been clearly defined. The literary review has been done and the methodology of the research has
been properly mentioned.

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Mixed methodology
Research methodology assist to present collected information that help to investigator in
systematic way. In this aspect, following are different areas covered:
Research approach
In this aspect, two types of approaches take place such as deductive and inductive. As per
the current research, investigator use inductive research which enable them to conduct research
program with different theories through creating link with data (du Plessis and Van Niekerk,
2014). It also helpful to assess individual performances of workers towards the organisation. In
this way, investigator need to identify issues which customer face at workplace to use this
software's. As per the systematic steps, management can make changes in different services
which assist to perform better functions. In addition to this, theories are also develops which
make proper growth of the company. Beside this, deductive approach is focus on particular
theory that satisfy each person within the environment. (Fletcher, 2017)
Quantitative methods
Quantitative research determines thorough conducting test hypotheses which make
prediction through using measured amount. It describes event figure that create opportunity to
use advance and powerful statistical tests. It will ensure that depth information can betake place
for conducting research program (Davies and Hughes, 2014). There are different types of
quantitative data such as survey, observations and secondary data. With the help of theories,
quantitative data can be ascertain at workplace which is related to hypotheses derived from
estimation and size of population. It is mainly depends on research questions and participants
who are take part in research programs. If there is no feasibility to using quantitative data,
participants and situational characteristic control their influence on the dependency. In this way,
information for cloud computing network can be gather from different strategies such as
experiments, observations and obtaining relevant data from management information system
(Floud, 2013). In broad categories to identify solutions, many times' researcher take in-depth
interviews, observations method and document review.
Qualitative methods

Qualitative research describes kind and quality of subject which interpret and attempting
to understand an event. With the help of narrative description, qualitative research purposes can
be implement with statistical procedures to measure kinds and qualities. This research is
typically focus on individual and single person (Neale and Strang, 2015). In this way, researcher
can focus on group and observations with conducting interview program.
Data collection
Data can be collected from two different and important sources such as primary and
secondary. It assists to conduct research in effective way as per the current data availability.
Current data assists to investigator to make sure that they can use primary and secondary sources
for analysis the business environment (Carrera-Fernández, Guàrdia-Olmos and Peró-Cebollero,
2014). Further, survey is also helpful to researcher to know details programs about organisation
and its services and products. In this aspect, the business can deal with secondary data from
journals, articles, online sources and many other things. Primary data can be collected through
questionnaire which assist to provide benefits to each customer. With the help of both sources,
research can be collected in systematic way and it makes solution for research topic. Data
collection within the research, is demonstrates as process which gather and measure information
different variables of interest that establish systematic fashion for stated questions, test
hypotheses and evaluation of outcomes (Kerr, Eckert and Wandwabwa, 2016). Data collection is
very important for quality assurance and control. It will assist to find reliable information for
assess the business performances and outcomes at workplace.
In addition to this, for assess cloud computing network performances, there are different
types of methods can be used such as survey, interviews and many other elements. It will assist
to grow operations and outcomes in systematic way. There are different types of tools which use
by the organisation to collect relevant data from mobile devices, website traffic and server
activities (Clarke, Zheng-Bradley and Flicek, 2017). In this way, researcher cab also take data
with structured, semi structured and unstructured sources that are collected by the firm. Due to
lot of time and money to load big data into traditional elements.
Survey
In survey, every company look towards closely that examines something elements in
systematic way. In this aspect research analysis their records which the have taken for research
program. In this aspect, survey monkey method is used at workplace by researcher to conduct
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