Issues in Cloud Computing
Issues in Cloud Computing
Module 4
These are major issues in Cloud Computing:
1. Privacy: The user data can be accessed by the host company with or without permission.
The service provider may access the data that is on the cloud at any point in time. They
could accidentally or deliberately alter or even delete information.
2. Compliance: There are many regulations in places related to data and hosting. To comply
with regulations (Federal Information Security Management Act, Health Insurance Portability
and Accountability Act, etc.) the user may have to adopt deployment modes that are
expensive.
3. Security: Cloud-based services involve third-party for storage and security. Can one
assume that a cloud-based company will protect and secure one’s data if one is using their
services at a very low or for free? They may share users’ information with others. Security
presents a real threat to the cloud.
4. Sustainability: This issue refers to minimizing the effect of cloud computing on the
environment. Citing the server’s effects on the environmental effects of cloud computing, in
areas where climate favors natural cooling and renewable electricity is readily available, the
countries with favorable conditions, such as Finland, Sweden, and Switzerland are trying to
attract cloud computing data centers. But other than nature’s favors, would these countries
have enough technical infrastructure to sustain the high-end clouds?
5. Abuse: While providing cloud services, it should be ascertained that the client is not
purchasing the services of cloud computing for a nefarious purpose. In 2009, a banking Trojan
illegally used the popular Amazon service as a command and control channel that issued
software updates and malicious instructions to PCs that were infected by the malware So the
hosting companies and the servers should have proper measures to address these issues.
6. Higher Cost: If you want to use cloud services uninterruptedly then you need to have a
powerful network with higher bandwidth than ordinary internet networks, and also if your
organization is broad and large so ordinary cloud service subscription won’t suit your
organization
7. Recovery of lost data in contingency: Before subscribing any cloud service provider goes
through all norms and documentations and check whether their services match your
requirements and sufficient well-maintained resource infrastructure with proper upkeeping.
Once you subscribed to the service you almost hand over your data into the hands of a third
party. If you are able to choose proper cloud service then in the future you don’t need to worry
about the recovery of lost data in any contingency.
10. Pay-per-use service charges: Cloud computing services are on-demand services a user
can extend or compress the volume of the resource as per needs. so you paid for how much
you have consumed the resources. It is difficult to define a certain pre-defined cost for a
particular quantity of services. Such types of ups and downs and price variations make the
implementation of cloud computing very difficult and intricate. It is not easy for a firm’s
owner to study consistent demand and fluctuations with the seasons and various events. So it
is hard to build a budget for a service that could consume several months of the budget in a
few days of heavy use.
Portability: This is another challenge to cloud computing that applications should easily be
migrated from one cloud provider to another. There must not be vendor lock-in. However, it is
not yet made possible because each of the cloud provider uses different standard languages for
their platforms.