Comprehensive Report on Security and Privacy in Cloud Computing

This report provides a comprehensive overview of security and privacy issues in cloud computing. It begins by defining cloud computing and outlining its advantages, such as self-service, elasticity, cost-effectiveness, flexibility in migration, and scalability. The report then delves into the challenges and problems associated with cloud security, including data breaches, account hacking, malware injection, insider threats, insecure APIs, denial-of-service attacks, insufficient due diligence, shared vulnerabilities, and loss of data. The report further explores relevant technologies, detailing the three service models (IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS) and the four deployment models (private, public, hybrid, and community clouds). Finally, it discusses the applications of these technologies, providing examples for each model. The report aims to identify significant issues in cloud security and privacy and offers insights into the evolving landscape of cloud computing.

Running head: SECURITY AND PRIVACY ISSUES IN CLOUD COMPUTING
Security and Privacy Issues in Cloud Computing
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note:

1
SECURITY AND PRIVACY ISSUES IN CLOUD COMPUTING
Abstract
The main objective of the research report is to know about the entire conception of cloud
computing technology. It is the most advanced area of information technology that is often
affected by various threats and challenges. The objective of the research study is the
identification of significant issues or problems in cloud security and privacy and the building
of certain generic skills like problem solving, critical analysis and critical thinking. This
research report also aims to provide relevant technologies of cloud computing.

2
SECURITY AND PRIVACY ISSUES IN CLOUD COMPUTING
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Research Aim.............................................................................................................................3
Research Objectives...................................................................................................................3
Research Questions....................................................................................................................4
Literature Review.......................................................................................................................4
Cloud Computing Definition and Advantages of Cloud Computing.....................................4
Challenges and Problems in Cloud Security..........................................................................5
Relevant Technologies...........................................................................................................7
Applications of the Technologies...........................................................................................9
Future Scope.............................................................................................................................10
Conclusion................................................................................................................................10
References................................................................................................................................12

3
SECURITY AND PRIVACY ISSUES IN CLOUD COMPUTING
Introduction
Cloud computing can be considered as the most vital part of information technology,
which helps in accessing every shared pool of the system resources (Sen, 2013). The services
of cloud computing that are of higher-level, are rapidly provisioned with extremely less
managerial effort on the Internet. The main advantage of this particular technology is that it is
extremely safe and secured (Kshetri, 2013). However, in spite of the security, there are few of
major challenges or issues that are faced in case of the clouds security.
The following research report will mainly focus on the several privacy threats and
how these problems can be easily eradicated. The research report will comprise of the
relevant information regarding the topic (Xiao & Xiao, 2013). Every challenge and problem
that is related to cloud computing technology will be discussed here. Moreover, the
technologies and the applications of those technologies will also be described in the research
report.
Research Aim
This research report will be done with the objective of analysis of the various kinds of
privacy and security problems or issues that are solely related to cloud computing or the
procedure of eradicating these problems.
Research Objectives
 To identify the several types of problems of privacy and security in cloud computing.
 To know about the various advantages of cloud computing.
 To analyze the significant challenges of cloud computing security.
 To know about the relevant technologies and applications in cloud computing.

4
SECURITY AND PRIVACY ISSUES IN CLOUD COMPUTING
Research Questions
The research questions for this particular research study are as follows:
a) What are the security and privacy issues in cloud computing?
b) What are the major challenges in cloud security?
c) What are the relevant technologies in cloud computing?
d) What are the applications of the technologies in cloud computing?
Literature Review
Cloud Computing Definition and Advantages of Cloud Computing
According to Rittinghouse and Ransome, (2016), cloud computing is a technology
that is utilized for delivering the several services on the Internet. This technology solely
allows various organizations for consuming any specific compute resource, just like virtual
machine, application or storage. It provides faster delivery of services from any specific
location to another. Various types of such services are properly available in the market. This
is due to the exclusive presence of Internet (Hashizume et al., 2013). The major advantages of
cloud computing are as follows:
i) Provision of self-service: The users can easily compute various resources for all
types of services (Pearson, 2013). This helps in eradication of all the traditional requirements
for the administrators of information technology to control and provision the computing
resources.
ii) Elasticity: This is the second major advantage of cloud computing. Any
organization can utilize cloud computing for eliminating the requirements of huge

5
SECURITY AND PRIVACY ISSUES IN CLOUD COMPUTING
investments in the local infrastructure (Wei et al., 2014). Cloud computing requires increment
whenever needed.
iii) Cost Effective: Cloud computing services are extremely cost effective and can be
easily afforded by all organizations or companies. As per Suo et al., (2013), the cost
effectiveness of cloud computing makes it extremely popular for any organization.
iv) Flexibility in Migration: The users of cloud computing can easily transfer their
data or information without any complexity and thus migration of data in extremely flexible.
v) Scalability: The other advantage of this technology is scalability. It is extremely
scalable and all organizations can utilize cloud computing easily.
Challenges and Problems in Cloud Security
According to Moreno-Vozmediano, Montero and Llorente, (2013), cloud computing
is an extremely safe and secured technology that helps in transferring data or information
over the Internet. However, in spite of being one of the most secured technology, cloud
computing does comprise of some of the most deadly challenges or problems in case of
security. The most significant challenges and problems in cloud security are as follows:
i) Breaching of Data: The most significant problem in cloud security is data
breaching. The data can be easily breached while transfer or migration from one location to
another (Sinjilawi, Al-Nabhan & Abu-Shanab, 2014). This particular disadvantage of cloud
computing often becomes highly threatening for the entire security system of cloud
computing.
ii) Hacking of Accounts: This is the second most significant issue in cloud security.
The accounts of the users are easily hacked while data migration or data transfer. This
hacking is done either by reusing the passwords or by scripting bugs to the cloud account

6
SECURITY AND PRIVACY ISSUES IN CLOUD COMPUTING
(Modi et al., 2013). Key logging and phishing are the most dangerous types of threats in
cloud computing.
iii) Malware Injection: The hackers or intruders often inject the malware for the
purpose of data theft in cloud computing. This specific type of attack is common in SaaS
model, where the hackers get the scope of injecting the virus via software.
iv) Insider Threat: This is again the most dangerous problem in cloud security
(Arora, Parashar & Transforming, 2013). Often it has been noticed that the employees or the
staffs of any particular organization utilize their authorization to access the confidential data.
This data is mainly related to the finance, bank details and many other confidential sources.
v) Insecure APIs: APIs or the Application Programming Interfaces always provide
relevant scope to the users for customizing their experience in cloud (Yan et al., 2013). For
this particular feature of allowing users to customize the cloud experience, application
programming interfaces often turn to be extremely unsafe.
vi) Denial of Service Attacks: Inukollu, Arsi and Ravuri, (2014), state that DoS
attacks or Denial of service attacks is considered as the most dangerous attacks in cloud
security. Denial of service attacks never breach the confidential information or data. On the
contrary, they block the servers or websites for the legal users (Sun et al., 2014). In some of
the most complicated cases of denial of service attacks, the attackers even utilize a specific
smokescreen for any malicious activity and then act as relevant security appliances like
firewalls or antivirus of web applications.
vii) Insufficient Due Diligence: This particular security issue of insufficient due
diligence is not a technical problem. However, it can bring major threat to an organization,
when it transfers or migrates its data to the cloud rapidly without the proper information that

7
SECURITY AND PRIVACY ISSUES IN CLOUD COMPUTING
whether the services will meet the expectations of the clients (Almorsy, Grundy & Müller,
2016). This type of security issue is mainly important to such organizations, whose data fall
under the laws of regulatory like FERPA, PHI, PII and PCI. The organizations that eventually
handle all types of financial data of the clients also come under this security issue.
viii) Shared Vulnerabilities: Cloud computing security is a specific shared
responsibility within the client and the provider. This particular type of partnership amongst
the provider and the client needs the client in taking several preventive actions for protection
of their data. The most popular and important providers like Google, Microsoft, Box and
many more have their own standardized procedures for the security of their data (Younis &
Kifayat, 2013). The significant ways of securing confidential data mainly include utilization
of user password, access limitation to the devices and files and even multi factor
authentication. The sharing of responsibilities amongst the provider and client can result into
sharing of vulnerabilities.
ix) Loss of Data: Loss of data is again the most vital problems in cloud security and
privacy. This type of threat mainly occurs with the help of any malicious activity, natural
disaster or simply wiping of data by the provider of the service (Yi, Qin & Li, 2015).
Recovering of the confidential data often becomes extremely dangerous if the affected
organization does not have any backup or recovery plan.
The above mentioned challenges or issues in cloud security and privacy are extremely
dangerous and these can be dreadful for any business or organization, who are utilizing cloud
computing for their data migration or transfer.
Relevant Technologies
As per Rittinghouse and Ransome, (2016), cloud computing is a vast area in IT that
mainly deals with the migration or transfer of confidential data or information through the

8
SECURITY AND PRIVACY ISSUES IN CLOUD COMPUTING
Internet. There are various relevant technologies of cloud computing. The three models of
service of cloud computing are given below:
i) IaaS: Infrastructure as a Service or IaaS is a specific model of cloud service that
eventually gives virtual infrastructure to its clients over the Internet (Xiao & Xiao, 2013). It is
extremely safe and secured.
ii) PaaS: Platform as a Service or PaaS is the second model of cloud service, where a
specific third party provider provides software and hardware tools for the purpose of
developing application.
iii) SaaS: Software as a Service or SaaS is the third model of cloud service that
enables its clients for connecting to various cloud based applications on the Internet (Pearson,
2013).
Apart from the three above mentioned service models, cloud computing also
comprises of four deployment models. The four distinct types of cloud deployment models
that provide security to data are as follows:
i) Private Cloud: The services of private cloud allow only a restricted or limited
number of users to utilize this particular cloud deployment model. This model provides the
convenience and versatility of cloud and even preserves the entire security, management and
control to the local centres of data (Moreno-Vozmediano, Montero & Llorente, 2013). Apart
from the restricted users, no other user is allowed in accessing the data or information from
the private cloud. The security of private cloud is extremely high.
ii) Public Cloud: Public cloud deployment model is completely different from the
private cloud. The third party provider of cloud service helps in delivering the various

9
SECURITY AND PRIVACY ISSUES IN CLOUD COMPUTING
services of cloud on the Internet (Wei et al., 2014). All the users can access data from public
cloud and there is no specific restriction in the users.
iii) Hybrid Cloud: Hybrid cloud is the amalgamation of private cloud and public
cloud. Thus, it comprises of all the benefits of public and private cloud (Modi et al., 2013).
Although the cost of this particular deployment model is extremely high due to the
amalgamation of public and private cloud, it has various advantages for providing high
security to the organizations.
iv) Community Cloud: According to Sinjilawi, Al-Nabhan and Abu-Shanab, (2014),
this is the fourth type of deployment model of cloud computing. This type of cloud is mainly
useful for the collaborative utilization of infrastructure between various users from any
particular community with similar concern. The main advantage of this community cloud is
that as all the users are from a specific community, there is absolutely no chance of security
issues or data theft.
Applications of the Technologies
The applications of the deployment models and service models are given below:
i) IaaS: Infrastructure as a Service is utilized for providing unrestricted virtual
scalability (Yan et al., 2013). Moreover, it is cost effective. Amazon Web Services or AWS
and Microsoft Azure are the most common examples of IaaS.
ii) PaaS: PaaS is utilized for providing a virtual platform to its clients. Google App
Engine and Apache Stratos are the most common examples of PaaS.
iii) SaaS: SaaS is utilized for connecting to various cloud based applications. Google
Apps and Salesforce are the most common examples of SaaS.

10
SECURITY AND PRIVACY ISSUES IN CLOUD COMPUTING
iv) Private Cloud: It allows limited users to access data. Small or medium sized
organizations opt for private cloud (Sun et al., 2014).
v) Public Cloud: It allows data access to everybody. Blue Cloud of IBM, Amazon
Elastic Compute Cloud or EC2 are the most common examples of public cloud.
vi) Hybrid Cloud: It is the mixture of both private and public cloud. Google Compute
Engine is the most common example.
vii) Community Cloud: It is collaborative utilization of infrastructure between various
users from any particular community with similar concern (Suo et al., 2013).
Future Scope
In the future, this research study of “security and privacy issues in cloud computing”
could be done in more advanced level, as this technology of cloud computing is getting
updated in a higher speed regularly. Innovative and new characteristics are getting added up
in the vast area of the technology of cloud computing and more deadly issues or challenges
are also coming with the advanced technology. In the research study, few important and
significant advantages are provided for the well organized utilization of cloud computing
technology in any business or organization. The future research studies could be done to
understand the effectiveness of the provided advantages and disadvantages of cloud
computing.
Conclusion
Therefore, from the above research study, the conclusion can be drawn that cloud
computing can be considered as the most important part of IT, that eventually helps to access
each and every collective group of the system resources. The particular services that belong

11
SECURITY AND PRIVACY ISSUES IN CLOUD COMPUTING
to higher level are often quickly provisioned with absolutely lower managerial attempt within
the Internet. The migration of data or information is extremely easier when it is done with
cloud computing. The third party cloud allows every organization to focus on the major
businesses. The major benefit of this cloud computing technology is that it is absolutely
secured and safe. On the other hand, in spite of the security given by the technology of cloud
computing, there exist some of the most deadly issues or challenges, which are eventually
faced in case of cloud security. The above research report has mainly focused on the various
privacy problems in the technology of cloud computing and the proper procedure how these
issues could be eliminated. The research report has also comprised of all the relevant
information regarding this particular topic. Every problem or challenge that is solely related
to cloud computing technology is being discussed here. Moreover, the technologies and the
applications of those technologies of cloud computing are also described in this research
report.