Cloud Computing Security

Prerequisite : Cloud Computing

What is Cloud Computing ?

Cloud computing refers to the on demand delivery of computing services such as applications, computing resources, storage, database, networking resources etc. through internet and on a pay as per use basis. At the present time the demand for cloud computing services are increasing with respect to that demand for cloud computing skills is also increasing. It provides three main types of  service models i.e. SaaS (Software as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service) and IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service). With this as starting from small to large organizations have started using cloud services so depending upon their requirement they go for the different types of cloud like Public cloud, Private cloud, Hybrid cloud, Community cloud.

Security In Cloud Computing :

Cloud computing which is one of the most demanding technology of the current time, starting from small to large organizations have started using cloud computing services. Where there are different types of cloud deployment models are available and cloud services are provided as per requirement like that internally and externally security is maintained to keep the cloud system safe. Cloud computing security or cloud security is an important concern which refers to the act of protecting cloud environments, data, information and applications against unauthorized access, DDOS attacks, malwares, hackers and other similar attacks. Community Cloud :  These allow to a limited set of organizations or employees to access a shared cloud computing service environment.

Planning of security in Cloud Computing :

As security is a major concern in cloud implementation, so an organization have to plan for security based on some factors like below represents the three main factors on which planning of cloud security depends.

• Resources that can be moved to the cloud and test its sensitivity risk are picked.
• The type of cloud is to be considered.
• The risk in the deployment of the cloud depends on the types of cloud and service models.

Types of Cloud Computing Security Controls :

There are 4  types of cloud computing security controls i.e.

1. Deterrent Controls : Deterrent controls are designed to block nefarious attacks on a cloud system. These come in handy when there are insider attackers.
2. Preventive Controls : Preventive controls make the system resilient to attacks by eliminating vulnerabilities in it.
3. Detective Controls : It identifies and reacts to security threats and control. Some examples of  detective control software are Intrusion detection software and network security monitoring tools.
4. Corrective Controls : In the event of a security attack these controls are activated. They limit the damage caused by the attack.

Importance of cloud security :

For the organizations making their transition to cloud, cloud security is an essential factor while choosing a cloud provider. The attacks are getting stronger day by day and so the security needs to keep up with it. For this purpose it is essential to pick a cloud provider who offers the best security and is customized with the organization’s infrastructure. Cloud security has a lot of benefits –

• Centralized security : Centralized security results in centralizing protection. As managing all the devices and endpoints is not an easy task cloud security helps in doing so. This results in enhancing traffic analysis and web filtering which means less policy and software updates.
• Reduced costs : Investing in cloud computing and cloud security results in less expenditure in hardware and also less manpower in administration
• Reduced Administration : It makes it easier to administer the organization and does not have manual security configuration and constant security updates.
• Reliability : These are very reliable and the cloud can be accessed from anywhere with any device with proper authorization.

When we are thinking about cloud security it includes various types of security like access control for authorized access, network segmentation for maintaining isolated data, encryption for encoded data transfer, vulnerability check for patching vulnerable areas, security monitoring for keeping eye on various security attacks and disaster recovery for backup and recovery during data loss.

There are different types of security techniques which are implemented to make the cloud computing system more secure such as SSL (Secure Socket Layer) Encryption,  Multi Tenancy based Access Control, Intrusion Detection System, firewalls, penetration testing, tokenization, VPN (Virtual Private Networks), and avoiding public internet connections and many more techniques.

But the thing is not so simple how we think, even implementation of number of security techniques there is always security issues are involved for the cloud system. As cloud system is managed and accessed over internet so a lot of challenges arises during maintaining a secure cloud. Some cloud security challenges are 

• Control over cloud data
• Misconfiguration
• Ever changing workload
• Access Management
• Disaster recovery