Cloud Computing for Webb's Store: Security, Risks, and Recommendations

This report examines Webb's Store, a regional retail store in Australia and New Zealand, and their decision to migrate to cloud computing to increase market share. The report focuses on the security aspects of migrating their SQL Server database to an IaaS cloud framework, specifically Amazon AWS. It details the security measures needed to protect the database from threats like data breaches and malware attacks. The report analyzes the benefits, such as enhanced security and scalability, as well as the risks associated with the database, IaaS infrastructure, and data backup, storage, and retrieval. The report also provides recommendations for protecting access to their IaaS infrastructure, SQL Server cloud instance, cloud network infrastructure, and cloud backup and restore infrastructure. Ultimately, the report concludes that Webb's Store can significantly benefit from adopting the Amazon AWS framework, offering insights into how to enhance business operations and providing a detailed risk assessment and recommendations for a successful cloud migration.

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Cloud Computing
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Executive Summary
Webb's Store is a regional retail store based in Australia and New Zealand. They want to
increase their market share, hence want to embellish the business activities. Therefore,
Webb has decided to move to Cloud. They have engaged a consultant who will show lights
on the various aspects of Cloud Computing and will help them to adopt the cloud
technology. Adopting Amazon AWS, Webb can be benefitted both in Australia and New
Zealand retail stores. The report has showcased the security factors correlated with the
migration of their SQL Server database to IaaS cloud framework. The report has highlighted
the benefits as well as the risks associated with the database, and the IaaS framework. The
risks associated with backing up of data, storage of data and retrieval of data has been
thoroughly discussed in this report. Lastly, the recommendations have been made on how
Webb should adopt the cloud technology, how they can be benefitted from Amazon AWS.
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction......................................................................................................................... 2
2. Webb’s decision to migrate their MS SQL Server 2012 R2 database to IaaS instance..........2
2. a. Security deployment to protect this migration of database to IaaS instance...............2
2. b. Benefits and issues related to deployment of these security measures.......................3
3. Risks associated with migrating database to the cloud with respect to-..............................4
3. a. The database................................................................................................................ 4
3. b. The IaaS infrastructure.................................................................................................5
3. c. Communications between Webb’s and their IaaS database in the cloud.....................5
4. Webb’s consideration for the use of the Cloud for backup and possibly also for archival of
records..................................................................................................................................... 6
4. a. Risks associated to........................................................................................................6
I. Backing up data to the Cloud.........................................................................................6
II. Storage of data in the Cloud.........................................................................................6
III. Retrieval of data from the cloud..................................................................................6
4. b. Webb’s use of a Cloud backup and its impact on the company...................................6
5. Recommendations to Webb for protecting access to the following services that they want
to move to the Cloud............................................................................................................... 7
5.a. Their IaaS infrastructure................................................................................................7
5.b. Their Ms SQL Server 2012 R2 cloud instance................................................................7
5.c. Their Cloud network infrastructure...............................................................................8
5.d. Their Cloud backup and restore infrastructure.............................................................8
6. Conclusion............................................................................................................................ 8
7. References............................................................................................................................9
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1. Introduction
Webb's Store is a regional retail store based in Australia and New Zealand. They
want to increase their market share, hence want to embellish the business activities.
Therefore, Webb has decided to move to Cloud (Azam et al., 2013). They have engaged a
consultant who will show lights on the various aspects of Cloud Computing and will help
them to adopt the cloud technology.
The report will highlight the security factors correlated with the migration of their
SQL Server database to IaaS cloud framework. The report will showcase the benefits as well
as the risks associated with the database, the IaaS framework. The risks associated with
backing up of data, storage of data and retrieval of data will be discussed elaborately in this
report. Finally, the recommendations have been made on how Webb should adopt the
cloud technology.
2. Webb’s decision to migrate their MS SQL Server 2012 R2 database to IaaS instance
2. a. Security deployment to protect this migration of database to IaaS instance
Webb's want to move to the cloud and the challenges they will have to face are data
breaches, hijacking of accounts, gaining access to APIs, malware attack at the database and
the data loss all due to the intruders (Shufeng & Xu, 2012). Thus to safeguard the cloud
database following measures should be taken-
A Proper understanding of the network- The database administrators should know
where Webb's sensitive data will be stored and those data should be labelled so that it can
be retrieved easily at the time of need.
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Securing network information- The data stored in the database must have a proper
accessing rule that means which data will be accessed by which employee within the Webb.
A set of rules must be applied to the customers as well (Azam et al., 2013). The customers
will access data and the data to which extent must be set by the administrators that are
how they can secure their database.
Monitoring of network- Webb must hire a security team, they must act proactively
and search for any vulnerabilities all the time as anytime the intruders can attack the
database and Web’s security can be compromised.
Security intelligence technologies- The Security Intelligence and Event Management
technologies must be implemented to detect any flaws in the defence system. Proper
cryptographic technologies can be used along with that (Dinh et al., 2013).
2. b. Benefits and issues related to deployment of these security measures
Benefits of mitigating those risks-
i. Securing against the DDoS attack- The cloud computing security solutions can
secure the system and the database from DDoS attack and thus authenticity and
authorization of database and system can be ensured.
ii. Security of information- Cloud security solutions can be used to protect Webb’s
data from all kind of security breaches (Varia & Mathew, 2014).
iii. Regulatory compliance- Cloud computing solutions help Webb to regulate and
maintain the advanced infrastructure thus financial data can be made secure.
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iv. Flexible solutions- The server crashes can be avoided by escalating cloud
solutions, then afterwards when the high traffic gets over, Webb can scale back down to
diminish the heavy expenses (Muthui & SISAT, 2013).
v. Provide 24x7 services- Webb can provide 24x7 services to the customers for the
cloud security solutions.
The issue that Webb can face is that they will have to spend heavy for this security
solution (Dillon & Vossen, 2015).
3. Risks associated with migrating database to the cloud with respect to-
3. a. The database
The database risks are-
Data breaches Webb's customer's personal details and along with that the
employees' data can be hacked and the whole company can face huge loss and their
reputation will suffer.
Account hijacking- The sensitive information can be hijacked by means of phishing
and in that case, the security passwords of both the employees and the customers can be at
risks (Tsai et al., 2014).
Malware attack- The malware attack and the worm attack can make the system and
the database vulnerable.
3. b. The IaaS infrastructure
The three risks associated with IaaS Cloud are-
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Misconfiguration- Since Webb will adopt the IaaS framework they can face the
misconfiguration issue, the framework must comply with their existing hardware and
software system along with that the network framework.
Vulnerabilities- The vulnerability can be managed by Elastic Workload Protector
technique via Scan, Prioritize and Remediate (Manvi, & Shyam, 2014).
Shadow-IT- The Shadow-IT includes using a server that is inactive for a longer period
of time, not using dormant resources like Webb using the new cloud server and forget the
older one, use of AWS new services which is still in testing mode.
3. c. Communications between Webb’s and their IaaS database in the cloud
Webb should adopt the IaaS architecture provided by Amazon AWS, Amazon will
provide the hardware and software solutions for Webb. Webb will just need minimal
changes in their existing hardware and software solutions to comply with Amazon IaaS cloud
framework (Gai, & Steenkamp, 2014). Amazon will take care of their data, maintain and
upgrade system and database and will provide latest security solutions.
4. Webb’s consideration for the use of the Cloud for backup and possibly also for archival
of records
4. a. Risks associated to
I. Backing up data to the Cloud
The risks associated with backing up of data are-
i. Backing up of data requires the bandwidth of the internet that means to upload and
download data Webb will need a network having high bandwidth. They have to spend heavy
money on bandwidth.
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ii. Data breaches can occur and Webb’s sensitive data can be compromised.
iii. Due to server breakdown of the cloud vendor, the data can be lost.
II. Storage of data in the Cloud
i. Data stored can be vulnerable to attack due to transmission of data in an unencrypted
network.
ii. During operations of data in the cloud they must be stored the files properly, if not
properly saved it will be stored as a corrupted file or can be transmitted to the intruders in
between (Manvi, & Shyam, 2014).
III. Retrieval of data from the cloud
i. The data retrieved from the data may contain virus associated so they must be checked.
ii. Requires high bandwidth data to download files faster and to operate.
4. b. Webb’s use of a Cloud backup and its impact on the company
The following benefits Webb can enjoy-
i. Webb’s database can be scaled in agile and effective manner. It provides profitable cost
effective services too.
ii. Webb will not have to take heavy administration as the cloud vendor will maintain and
update the database (Manvi, & Shyam, 2014). Also, Webb does not have to spend money on
hardware and software.
iii. The cloud vendor, Amazon will provide advanced security solutions so both Webb and
Webb's customers will not have to worry about the data breaches.
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5. Recommendations to Webb for protecting access to the following services that they
want to move to the Cloud
5.a. Their IaaS infrastructure
Webb should adopt the IaaS architecture provided by Amazon AWS, Amazon will
provide the hardware and software solutions for Webb. Webb will just need minimal
changes in their existing hardware and software solutions to comply with Amazon IaaS cloud
framework (Sharma et al., 2017). Amazon will take care of their data, maintain and upgrade
system and database and will provide latest security solutions. So Webb will have to trust
Amazon for the protection service.
5.b. Their Ms SQL Server 2012 R2 cloud instance
Amazon RDS for SQL server provides the facility so that Webb can acquire the full
capabilities of SQL server for deploying new application programs. Besides that, Webb must
implement physical security that means database server hardware and network
components must be protected from unauthorised access (Dillon & Vossen, 2015). Again,
they will have to apply digital encryption keys and certificates for enhanced security of their
database.
5.c. Their Cloud network infrastructure
They need to adopt the cloud architecture provided by a cloud vendor, Amazon.
They need the latest hardware, latest operating system and latest software-these changes
are required to integrate with Amazon cloud architecture (Varia & Mathew, 2014). After
integration, they can use the cloud server of Amazon to deploy their apps and perform their
business activities in a secured manner.
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5.d. Their Cloud backup and restore infrastructure
Amazon AWS will back up the data of Webb and will keep track of data stored,
modified, retrieved by Webb (Sharma et al., 2017). All these data transmission will be done
on a secure channel, thus with the advanced security solutions provided by Amazon AWS,
Webb do not have to worry about the data breaches.
6. Conclusion
It can be concluded from the above discourse that Webb Store can be largely
benefitted if they adopt Amazon AWS framework for enhancing their business operations.
The consultant must advise Amazon AWS for the excellent service they offer, and with their
latest cloud technology features and advanced web solutions, they are quite ahead of all
their competitors. Thus adopting Amazon AWS, Webb can be benefitted both in Australia
and New Zealand retail stores. The report has showcased the security factors correlated
with the migration of their SQL Server database to IaaS cloud framework. The report has
highlighted the benefits as well as the risks associated with the database, and the IaaS
framework. The risks associated with backing up of data, storage of data and retrieval of
data has been thoroughly discussed in this report. Lastly, the recommendations have been
made on how Webb should adopt the cloud technology, how they can be benefitted from
Amazon AWS.
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7. References
Azam, Abdollahzadehgan; Ab Razak Che Hussin; Gohary , Marjan Moshfegh Gohary &
Mahyar Amini (2013), The OrganizationalCritical Success Factors for Adopting Cloud
Computing in SMEs, Journal of Information Systems Research and Innovation (JISRI),
Volume 4, Issue 1, pp. 67-74.
Dillon, S., & Vossen, G. (2015). SaaS cloud computing in small and medium enterprises: A
comparison between Germany and New Zealand. International Journal of
Information Technology, Communications and Convergence, 3(2), 87-104.
Dinh, H. T., Lee, C., Niyato, D., & Wang, P. (2013). A survey of mobile cloud computing:
architecture, applications, and approaches. Wireless communications and mobile
computing, 13(18), 1587-1611.
Gai, K., & Steenkamp, A. (2014). A feasibility study of Platform-as-a-Service using cloud
computing for a global service organization. Journal of Information Systems Applied
Research, 7(3), 28.
Manvi, S. S., & Shyam, G. K. (2014). Resource management for Infrastructure as a Service
(IaaS) in cloud computing: A survey. Journal of Network and Computer
Applications, 41, 424-440.
Muthui, M., & SISAT, C. (2013). Amazon Web Services.
Sharma, P., Lee, S., Guo, T., Irwin, D., & Shenoy, P. (2017). Managing Risk in a Derivative IaaS
Cloud. IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems.
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Shufeng Gao & Xu, Ai, (2012) Boosting Electronic Business Applications by Digitally Enabling
SMBs with Cloud Computing Model, 11th International Symposium on Distributed
Computing and Applications to Business, Engineering & Science, pp-214-218.
Tsai, W., Bai, X., & Huang, Y. (2014). Software-as-a-service (SaaS): perspectives and
challenges. Science China Information Sciences, 57(5), 1-15.
Varia, J., & Mathew, S. (2014). Overview of amazon web services. Amazon Web Services.
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