User blog:Kirolosshohdi/ Cloud Computing Privacy and Security of Data

Protection of privacy and security of consumers’ data in cloud computing 

Introduction

Cloud computing is no longer a new concept and its source of origin is linked to the earlier large-scale disseminated computing technology. Its revolution is rapid in the field of information technology as well as computer science. Cloud computing is the on-demand delivery database, compute power, storage, applications as well as other information technology through the internet. The main concept behind cloud computing is decreasing the burden of processing on the users. It is mainly meant to create space for data storage throughout in the technology devices especially laptops, PCs, smartphones as well as PDAs. It has also been applied in the development of platforms over the internet. Despite, its numerous advantages to individuals and organization, cloud computing puts the users into serious threats especially on their sensitive data security and privacy. This study therefore looks some of the challenges users’ faces while using cloud computing.

Background 

The idea of cloud computing evolved in late 1950s where organizations purchased several computers so that they can store the data. With accumulation of data every day, there was need to develop something that will accommodate enormous data as well as make it possible to access the data without complications or spending lot of time (Furht & Escalante, 2010). Cloud computing development made it easy for organization to store all their data in the cloud computing servers provided by several organizations. Ideally, organizations gets into contract with cloud computing company providers. The advancement of technology of has also created a platform for expansion of the cloud computing and today, it covers a wide range of options including storage basics, networking, processing power, and artificial intelligence. The evolvement has also provided a chance for individuals to also store their data on cloud source provider platforms. A good example is the Gmail account which stores a lot of data and people do not need to store all their data on their smartphones. Additionally, cloud computing has effectively provide potential merits to the users especially in reducing the waste of data as well as lowering operating cost. Data is one of the greatest asset organizations have and it need to be stored and analysed effectively for the company to achieve its goal.

Benefits of cloud computing 

Application if cloud computing into a business has many benefits since it permits one to set up a virtual office which provide one with flexibility of connecting the business in part of the world. Cloud computing has attributed to reduction of IT cost. It becomes cheaper to maintain the IT system. With use of cloud, one does not need to purchase expensive system or equipment for the organization. The technology provides resources that enables one run the business without payment of wages for the experts. The business is will also experience smooth continuity especially when the data protection is guaranteed. Cloud computing also ensures the firm does not lose any form of data. When effective analysis of data is done especially when dealing with marketing issues, the firm has big opportunity of identifying the recent trends from the consumers and come up with strategy that will attract them into the business.

Cloud computing security and privacy issues

The global economy cannot be underestimated as well since cloud computing is anticipated to generate almost 17 billion dollars per year. Nevertheless, to exploit all benefits of cloud computing, there is need to address the issue of privacy and security to the data of customers since it is the main challenge affecting the technology. The same way technology is advancing, it has created loopholes for cybercriminals to access unauthorized data and maliciously use it for selfish gains. Thousands of people are victims of cyberspace criminals and they no longer enjoy their privacy since all information about them is already in the wrong hands. Their overall security especially in terms of resources they own or business transactions are interfered with. This paper mainly focuses on the privacy laws established by United States and European Union which are the biggest trading partners globally. The main issues with cloud computing is that the users do not really know where their data is located by the cloud providers. Both EU and USA obligates provision of security and privacy to the sensitive data. Apart for the relation that dictate the provision of security and privacy for all forms of data, there are queries concerning whether sensitive data are effectively protected while in the cloud.

Policy makers as well as regulators should analyse the security weaknesses and the nature of security weaknesses link to the storage of sensitive information in the cloud. There exist lot of security risks on cloud computing when it comes to protection of sensitive data. In the USA, the privacy and security laws have not paid attention to the sensitive data. For instance, the America government has not yet classified information in the public cloud provided as sensitive. There are also concerns of security breaches of classified information which undermines the national security. There are areas where companies decides to utilize cloud computing to store and process data that are sensitive. The city of Los Angeles has identified that cloud computing security concenrn has not yet be addressed effectively in terms of data protection and when the city commenced utilizing the Google App, the officials in the city insisted on ensuring the data remain in the city to avoid running the risk of the data on computer servers of other countries and getting into jurisdiction of other state which could prevent the easier access of data when needed (Lin & Bergmann, 2016).

Additionally, the USA, there is no comprehensive protection of data legislation and lack of exact definition of sensitive data. Only very few entities in the country are entitled to the significant data protection and good example is the collection of information which should the data of people above 13 years (Catteddu, 2009). Additionally, it’s so unfortunate to see a reputable company like Yahoo does not have mechanism of protecting its email account from been accessed by unauthorized persons. In 2016, Yahoo Company based in USA reported breach of its account data and 500 million yahoo accounts were hacked (Marston et al. 2011).

Europe on the other hand, despite coming up with strict data protection regulations, has reported 60,000 cases of data breaches that happened between 2018 and 2019. From the survey carried out by DLA Piper law organization, some states like Germany, Netherlands have experienced 59439 data breaches within a period of 8 months (Pearson & Benameur, 2010). To make matter worse, the big percentage of criminals have not been punished. The criminals have interfered with people social media as well as hacking passwords of their devices.

Analysis 

It is quite clear that both countries have long way to go as far as data protection and privacy are concerned while using cloud computing. Although the technology has lot of benefits. Thousands of people of people are suffering when their private life is interfered with. Some have lost billions of money due to presence of cyberspace criminals (Kozlov et al. 2012). The scenarios presented above indicate that cloud computing providers are also involved in data breaching. People’s privacy and security is at high risk today since their data end up in the hands of criminals. People are living in the digital world where personal data is shared even in the groceries since almost everything is sold online (Shaikh & Haider, 2011). Sharing of financial data like credit card numbers exposes people into high risks.

Ethical concerns

From the scenarios experienced in both USA and EU, it is quite evident that the organizations in these states do not uphold the ethics. The providers practices unethical practices when they share the data with other parties or individuals without the consent of the owners. Data breaches in most cases do not happen because there is no effective mechanism of protecting it. It takes place since some individuals especially employees share the data with criminals for selfish gain. They no longer practice what is right hence risking the privacy and security of the company’s consumers (Walters, 2014). The government on the other hand, has not set up effective IT rules that protect sensitive data the government need to practice what is right ant strictly develop policies that will protect companies from sharing data with other parties that are not known by the data owners.

Cloud computing Social issues

Cloud computing has significantly changed people life since anything taking place over the internet is risky to the users. Sharing of data on internet is unimaginable risk and it brings the security issues to the person’s life as and his daily activities. Many people privacy has been breached and their reputation tarnished due to comprise of personal data and sharing of sensitive information with public. In fact, some companies have also experienced closure when sensitive data is shared to the public.

Conclusion 

Both USA and EU needs to relook at the privacy laws especially those relating to data protection. The company entrusted with other people’s data are also not effectively doing so. Therefore, apart from developing rules and regulation on data protection, there is need of effective implementation of these laws. Cloud computing service providers as well as companies where consumers share data need to subject to strict regulation in order to prevent privacy interference. With effective implementation of privacy laws, people will get a chance of benefiting from the cloud computing technology.

References

 Furht, B., & Escalante, A. (2010). Handbook of cloud computing (Vol. 3). New York: Springer.

Marston, S., Li, Z., Bandyopadhyay, S., Zhang, J., & Ghalsasi, A. (2011). Cloud computing—The business perspective. Decision support systems, 51(1), 176-189.

Sotto, L. J., Treacy, B. C., & McLellan, M. L. (2010). Privacy and Data Security Risks in Cloud Computing. World Communications Regulation Report, 5(2), 38.

Lin, H., & Bergmann, N. (2016). IoT privacy and security challenges for smart home environments. Information, 7(3), 44.

Walters, R. (2014). Cyber attacks on US companies in 2014. The Heritage Foundation, 4289, 1-5.

Catteddu, D. (2009, December). Cloud Computing: benefits, risks and recommendations for information security. In Iberic Web Application Security Conference (pp. 17-17). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.

Pearson, S., & Benameur, A. (2010, November). Privacy, security and trust issues arising from cloud computing. In 2010 IEEE Second International Conference on Cloud Computing Technology and Science (pp. 693-702). IEEE.

Shaikh, F. B., & Haider, S. (2011, December). Security threats in cloud computing. In 2011 International Conference for Internet Technology and Secured Transactions (pp. 214-219). IEEE.

Kozlov, D., Veijalainen, J., & Ali, Y. (2012, February). Security and privacy threats in IoT architectures. In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Body Area Networks (pp. 256-262). ICST (Institute for Computer Sciences, Social-Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering).