Importance of Data Security and Privacy in Cloud Computing

Hence security and privacy are important factors to consider when working in a cloud computing environment. If these factors are not considered the data being stored in the cloud will be exposed to malicious attacks and unauthorized access which might prove to be dangerous and risky when dealing with classified information. This paper is going to look at these issues that relate to data security and their application in real life experiences. The different types of cloud computing technologies used to boost data security and privacy will be discussed. INTRODUCTION. A comparison can be made between cloud computing, and grid computing as both of them offer a variety of computing services to different users around the globe. On the contrary Grid computing Provides efficiency by integrating different computing resources with the unified operating system while cloud computing is a combination of storage and computing resources which are as well controlled by different operating systems with the aim of offering high computing performance (Messier, 2014).

Cloud computing can be said to be an advanced way of grid computing regarding the distribution of data as cloud computing facilitates services to be used on demand. Cloud computing comes with several advantages such as on-demand self-service, usage-based pricing, resource pooling is not based on the location, computing resources are very elastic, reliable network access among others. These merits of cloud computing have attracted several interested parties who want to know more about cloud computing and its applications in different fields. e. data storage and computing. Cloud computing in itself is an abstraction method as users of cloud computing services do not require anything as they can simply access data and perform computational tasks through the internet with no information on where the data is stored or which machines are performing the computational tasks.

If cloud computing providers want to build users trust, they must bear in mind the issue of data protection and data security by proving to the users that their data is secured. There exist some different ways and techniques of securing customer’s data in cloud computing, but there is still a need for this method to be enhanced. Its goes without notice that cloud computing services are cheap and efficient to the organization but nothing matters the most to an organization than the security of its data most organization are ready to incur any extra cost as long as they are sure that their data is secured. Cloud computing as a service brings forth several attributes that should be considered when assessing matters to do with the system being used.

The secureness of any cloud computing system relies on the security techniques being used to protect data. The researcher has been able to come up with different techniques some of which are being used already, but there is still need to come up with more advanced techniques that do not have any loopholes. All of this should be done with the aim of increasing users trust in the field of Cloud computing. The chapter will also comprise of elements of data privacy and the technologies used in data computing. It’s also important to note that traditionally data privacy is accompanied by with the security of the data hence this two might be considered to the same things, but a deep look into data security issues brings forth other issues that are not part of data privacy.

DATA PRIVACY. The practice of data privacy aims at sidelining some information and prevent other people from accessing them without their permission (Ruparelia, 2016). For an information to be considered private it must possess the following characteristics: The subject of the information should be touching future issues other than the past, the owner of the information may prefer the subject of the information to be presented to other people in ambiguity other than in a precise form, The user may not like when other people get automatic alerts on the information they perceive as private. Hence researcher has been able to categorize different privacy issues, and they include: 1. Mechanism of allowing the user to have control over their data in the cloud and at the same time prevent unauthorized attacks from others.

How to guarantee replication of user data without data loss or data leakage. Which party to be responsible for handling user’s personal information 4. To what extent are cloud computing sub-contractors are allowed to get involved in processing which can identify? It is also important to factor in the issue of service abuse. Data leakages is also a security threat in cloud computing. Different levels of protection have been drafted to prevent data leakages and loss of privacy in the clouds. DATA INTEGRITY Data integrity involves the protection of data from unauthorized deletion, modification or any fabrication. For the easier attainment of data integrity, data should be stored in a standalone system with only a single database (Vacca, 2017). In a single database data integrity is attained through database restrictions and transaction done by a database management system.

A good example of is The HAIL system which uses the POR when checking different data store in different clouds. CONFIDENTIALITY. The confidentiality of information is crucial in the perspective of the users storing data in the cloud, and users are more confident with cloud computing when they know that their data is confidential and no one has access to their data (Vacca, 2017). Techniques used in ensuring users confidentiality include authentication and access control. Different was of encryption are used to prevent unauthorized access to data they include: 1. Different techniques have developed by several experts in the field of information technology to boost the integrity, confidentiality and the privacy of data but there is still need to advance this technology to boost users confidence in cloud computing.

This paper outlined the different strategies and computing technologies used in data computing and the different threats that data computing is exposed to. References Alani, M. M. Elements of Cloud Computing Security: A Survey of Key Practicalities.