Security Strengths and Weaknesses of Cloud Vendors: AWS, Azure, GCP

This report provides an in-depth analysis of cloud vendor security, focusing on Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and Microsoft Azure. The introduction defines cloud vendors and their responsibilities in managing and securing data, virtual machines, and networks. The discussion section evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of each vendor concerning data security. AWS is highlighted for its scalable and reliable services, end-to-end approach, and advanced access settings, while its weakness lies in privileged access after sign-up. GCP is praised for its encryption layers, but it lacks backup services and has fewer data centers. Microsoft Azure is noted for enabling encryption of Windows, with encryption at rest for Azure SQL Database and Azure storage, but it requires more platform expertise. The report recommends Microsoft Azure for its robust security model, including multi-factor authentication and secure network infrastructure. The conclusion emphasizes the critical role of cloud service providers in data security, summarizing the findings and recommending the most suitable vendor for an organization. References to supporting literature are included.

CLOUD TECHNOLOGY FUNDAMENTALS
Cloud Technology Fundamentals
Name of the Student
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Author Note

CLOUD TECHNOLOGY FUNDAMENTALS
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Discussion........................................................................................................................................2
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................4
References........................................................................................................................................5

CLOUD TECHNOLOGY FUNDAMENTALS
Introduction
Cloud vendors are referred towards those types of organizations which mainly focuses on
the selling of the infrastructure of computing along with SaaS, PaaS, IaaS and storage as well
(Liu et al., 2016). Various responsibilities like managing and securing both virtual machines and
networks are possessed by the vendors of the cloud services for management as well as securing
of the virtual machines, virtual networks, operating systems, applications, data, interfaces and
middleware.
This report aims to discuss about three vendors of cloud of United States along with the
weaknesses and strength of every single vendor of cloud in the context of security of data. The
three cloud vendors are AWS or Amazon Web Services, Google cloud platform and Microsoft
Azure. This report also purposes to recommend the vendor of cloud which would be preferred
along with cause behind the selection of that particular vendor.
Discussion
Three vendors of cloud are mentioned below:
Amazon Web Services: A scalable, inexpensive and reliable services of cloud computing.
With the utilization of AWS, the user could control the storage of data as well as the accessibility
of data. In addition to this, the utilization of AWS allows the users in controlling the resources
being consumed by the organization (Amato et al., 2013). The systems of AWS are monitored by
world-class security experts for securing the data. Additional layers of encryption helps in
securing the data. The strength for securing data forms the utilization of the end-to-end approach.
An advanced set of access is provided by AWS for the security of data.

CLOUD TECHNOLOGY FUNDAMENTALS
In addition to this, encryption capabilities are provided by AWS in the services of
database like Amazon Redshift and Amazon Relational Database Service. On the other hand, a
program is developed for assurance of the security. This utilizes best practices for providing
protection and privacy to data (Kratzke, 2014). This helps the users is securely operating with
AWS. The weakness associated with AWS is that after the occurrence of sign-up a privileged
accessibility to confidential and important data is provided to the people. On the other hand,
wrong access control could also be given to any person.
Google cloud Platform: The Google cloud platform helps the organization to remain
secure and compliant. Several encryption layers are utilized by Google cloud platform for
protection of the important as well as confidential data which is at rest for their products (Wang
et al., 2013). The confidential and sensitive data of the customers is stored in Google Cloud
Platform. The data which gets stored is in turn encrypted at level of storage by either utilizing
AES128 or AES256. These are called encryption mechanism. The weakness related with the
security of data comprises of absence of the backup services along with fewer number of
datacenters.
Microsoft Azure: The strength of Microsoft Azure in the context of data security is that
the IT administrators are enabled for the encryption of Windows. Data is encrypted by both
Azure SQL Database as well as Azure storage by default. The sensitive and confidential data
remains at rest. Azure Key could also be utilized for accessing along with encryption of the
confidential data. Encryption of data at rest could be enabled at both database as well as server
levels. Encryption and security of data is supported by Azure SQL Database (Krishna et al.,
2016). No such weakness is possessed by Microsoft Azure but more platform expertise is
required.

CLOUD TECHNOLOGY FUNDAMENTALS
Out of the three above mentioned vendors of cloud which could be recommended for the
company is Microsoft azure it focuses strongly on the security of important and confidential
data. It focuses with respect to the standard model of security of detecting, diagnosing, assessing
and stabilizing of the security of data (Sun et al., 2015). Azure in turn helps in providing simple
services for the protection of data like that of multifactor authentication along with requirements
for application of password. In addition to this, secure network infrastructure is possessed by this
particular vendor of cloud. The secure network of Microsoft Azure contains mechanisms which
are inbuilt for protection from certain attacks like DDOS attacks.
Conclusion
An important role is played by the providers of the cloud services in maintaining the
security of data. Securing of data has become an essential factor as the data could become
vulnerable and open to exploitation. The strength and weakness of each of the above mentioned
vendors of cloud has been discussed in this report with respect to data security which is provided
by them. The most feasible cloud vendor has been discussed in this report for the organization.

CLOUD TECHNOLOGY FUNDAMENTALS
References
Amato, A., Cretella, G., Di Martino, B., & Venticinque, S. (2013, March). Semantic and agent
technologies for cloud vendor agnostic resource brokering. In 2013 27th International
Conference on Advanced Information Networking and Applications Workshops (pp.
1253-1258). IEEE.
Kratzke, N. (2014). Lightweight virtualization cluster how to overcome cloud vendor lock-in.
Journal of Computer and Communications, 2(12), 1.
Krishna, B. H., Kiran, S., Murali, G., & Reddy, R. P. K. (2016). Security issues in service model
of cloud computing environment. Procedia Computer Science, 87, 246-251.
Liu, S., Chan, F. T., & Ran, W. (2016). Decision making for the selection of cloud vendor: An
improved approach under group decision-making with integrated weights and
objective/subjective attributes. Expert Systems with Applications, 55, 37-47.
Sun, Y., Nanda, S., & Jaeger, T. (2015, November). Security-as-a-service for microservices-
based cloud applications. In 2015 IEEE 7th International Conference on Cloud
Computing Technology and Science (CloudCom) (pp. 50-57). IEEE.
Wang, W., Liang, B., & Li, B. (2013, June). Revenue maximization with dynamic auctions in
IaaS cloud markets. In 2013 IEEE/ACM 21st International Symposium on Quality of
Service (IWQoS) (pp. 1-6). IEEE.