Abstract

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has defined cloud computing as a
model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable
computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned and released at minimal cost. efforts to
manage or interact with the cloud provider. Cloud Computing refers to the following concepts
of Grid Computing, Utility Computing, software as a service, cloud storage and virtualization.
These are referred to as a client using the provider's service remotely, known as the cloud.
Cloud computing has the potential to change the way organizations manage and transform
information technology economy of hardware and software at the same time. Cloud computing
promised to bring in a new set of entrepreneurs to get started a company with zero
investments in IT infrastructure. The main goal of this article is to identify privacy and security
issues in distributed environment and interest in cloud computing participants and users.

Keywords: Cloud computing, Security and Privacy, Information Technology, Software as a

service, Grid Computing, Utility Computing, Security, Cloud computing trends.

Intro
At present cloud computing emerged as a web based technology computing that provides a
freedom in the establishment of IT infrastructure. The various cloud vendors do not require
their own infrastructure rather they can rent or use third party providers The basic idea of
Cloud Computing is the sharing of computing resources among a community of users.
The success of cloud computing is another challenge and opportunity for information security
researchers. Information security is defined as the protection of data and processing against
unauthorized monitoring, modification or intervention. This article describes several
information security concepts that apply to all computing systems and information security
research specific to cloud computing. Cloud computing requires holistic security solutions based
on many aspects of large and loose integrated system. A system depends on the success of
each of its functions and on the coherence between them, on the lack thereof which could
allow information security to be compromised. Each of these problems can be addressed at
different levels and subsystems Cloud Computing computer systems on the client and server
side and in the network connecting these systems. The level of these computing functions
range from their low-level hardware implementations through virtual machines and hypervisors
to operating system to the user-visible application.
Any engineering solution involves compromises, and cloud computing security is no exception.
Security and performance the trade-off affects the cost of services provided and the end-user
experience. In cloud computing, the mix of users emphasizes the trade-off between different
levels of security threat and the cost of addressing potential threats. Isolation or stopping
trade-off damage limitation violations must be assessed against continued operation of non-
violated activities. The overhead of breach detection must be weighed against the value of the
monitoring effort. Security implementation is limited current state of the art, and that's a
moving target. In addition to technical issues, it always presents a security perception issue.

Background
Companies have been working to store and protect data for decades and have worked to
protect confidential client data. Businesses have developed cloud computing as a way to
provide secure data storage and processing for businesses and individuals. Many companies in
many industries use cloud storage. Cloud computing, now called simply computing, uses
Internet technology in dynamic applications and storage. Cloud computing has five main
characteristics of on-demand self-service; wide network access; resource pooling; fast elasticity;
and metered service. In addition, cloud computing includes three main types of services:
Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service. In addition, there
are four different uses of cloud computing: public cloud, private cloud, community cloud, and
hybrid cloud. The advantages of cloud computing are the availability of computing power,
storage, flexibility, scalability and reduced IT infrastructure overhead costs. Figure 1 illustrates
cloud computing applications. Start-up organizations could take advantage of the move to the
cloud environment by channeling capital expenditures into operational expenditures, making
the cloud 92 attractive when reducing IT budgets. The use of cloud computing is most
commonly adopted by the smallest firms, while medium-sized firms have lower rates and the
lowest rates are in firms with around 100 employees. Larger companies have enough of their
own computing power. In contrast, cloud computing has some disadvantages such as internet
access requirements, speed and direct access to resources. Therefore, it can be quite risky for
companies to be completely dependent on cloud service providers. Any interruption of cloud
services could cause great damage to organizations. Some people in 2016 pointed to the main
advantages: cost savings, security, privacy and reliability. Stakeholders expect these cloud
computing adoption issues to be mitigated or eliminated in the future.

Cloud Computing Trends

Cloud Computing is rapidly evolving from end-user services (search, email, social) to supporting
Mission Critical business and commercial applications as shown in Figure 1. Some services for
some companies are already based exclusively on Cloud, e.g. Salesforce.com, and new trends
will emerge in the coming years such as:
• Trend #1: Abstraction of network, storage, database, security and computing infrastructure to
help software applications and data migration between clouds.
– Offers an on-demand virtual data center image with the flexibility of scalability and agility
• Trend No. 2: A pricing model that is retail in concept – For example pennies per gigabyte,
massive CPU cycles and bandwidth to make computing more affordable beyond Moore's or
Metcalf's law can predict. The reason is the higher utilization of the infrastructure in the cloud
data center.
• Trend #3: Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for – Data persistence, system reliability and
business continuity as individual consumers can patiently wait for theirs search or email results,
but businesses need predictability to meet their goals and deliver products on time.
– SLAs mean that cloud service providers will need systems to ensure their redundancy and
security customer information.

Future trends of cloud computing

1. Quantum computing
Quantum computers are changing the world of business in unprecedented ways. Companies
like Google are driving innovation by using the principles of quantum physics to develop next-
generation end-user products. Supercomputers are the best example of how quantum
computing works when used properly. Companies like IBM, Microsoft, Google, and AWS are
competing by adapting to emerging quantum technologies.
Quantum computers use the principles of quantum physics to enable complex algorithmic
calculations and process large data sets in a short time. A supercomputer can provide powerful
encryption capabilities for electronic communications and increase network security.
Financial institutions can use quantum computing to speed up their transaction processes. This
approach saves time and increases the efficiency of the process. Quantum computers store
data in qubits, a simpler form of data that speeds up processing. Quantum computing also
reduces the additional cost of creating new resources to process pre-optimized tasks.

2. Edge Computing
Cloud providers are moving to the edge to respond to the growth of 5G, Internet of Things (IoT)
devices and latency-sensitive applications. Edge computing is not new to the tech industry
glossary, but companies are increasingly adopting it.
Although data centers are built to store large amounts of information in one centralized
location, half of the world's population lives in rural areas. Edge computing enables systems to
become increasingly distributed, bringing data and processing closer to users. This approach
reduces latency, lowers bandwidth costs, and improves connection performance.

3. Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)

As employees access more services and data from devices outside corporate IT networks,
businesses are rethinking their security and risk management strategies. Gartner coined the
term Secure Access Service Edge, which refers to a cloud-based approach to IT security that
addresses workflow variability.
Companies using SASE can benefit from cloud-based network security services such as security
gateways, firewalls and zero-trust network access (ZTNA). SASE is a robust architecture that
gives businesses peace of mind and enables them to quickly and securely deliver new services
through the cloud.

4. Cloud areas
Geopolitical regulatory fragmentation, trade protectionism, and industry standards are creating
new, separate compliance ecosystems. Vertical and regional data services and cloud
ecosystems are undergoing a process of consolidation.
Cloud customers try to reduce blocking and single points of failure by using cloud providers
outside their country. Some regions simply do not have a sufficient local offer of platform
services. This leads to cooperative legislation that regulates how cloud services will be
exchanged across borders.
For example, initiatives such as GAIA-X have emerged in European countries due to growing
concerns among technology providers, politicians and researchers.

5. Green cloud
The extensive infrastructure, electricity and cooling required for cloud computing significantly
increase the environmental impact of a business. The US Department of Energy found that data
centers consume 2% of the total electricity consumption in the United States. The average data
center uses 10 to 50 times more energy per floor than a typical commercial office building.
Cloud providers are constantly looking for ways to make hardware and software more efficient.
Even small changes and improvements here can bring significant energy savings in the long run.
E-waste is also a problem, as aging hardware produces millions of tons of waste each year.
Rare earth market shortages and supply chain disruptions are driving demand for better
computer hardware recycling. Responsible business owners are aware of their role in the fight
against climate change and take these factors seriously when it comes to local data centers and
cloud computing.
Techniques of cloud computing:
Virtualization: Virtualization technology in cloud computing involves the use of specialized
programming techniques to create a virtual version of a computing resource that allows cloud
service providers to bring multiple operating systems and computing systems under a single
virtual machine and efficiently distribute an application among multiple users within a single
organization or multiple organizations cost-effectively in an efficient and convenient way. This
cloud computing technique offers unmatched hardware flexibility and significantly reduces IT
maintenance and infrastructure costs, and is the first item on the list of cloud computing
technologies.

Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) Service Oriented Architecture is the latest

technology in cloud computing that refers to an online architecture that supports a collection of
services. There is an established communication protocol between the components of different
applications or services and this communication takes place over the network to provide certain
services to the user.

Cloud Computing in the same manner, the cloud vendors use the resources as a service and
pay only for resources that they use. Through this sharing of data processing tasks, online
access to computer resources or services and centralized data storage. The best examples are
electric station, in which consumer use power without having the knowledge of infrastructure
to provide the service.

Grid computing is providing the resources of many computers in a network to a problem at

the same time to a scientific or technical problem that needs large number of computers
processing or ease to access large amount of data. Grid computing attaches computers from
multiple administrative spheres to reach a common goal for solving a single task.

Utility computing is having some features of virtualization, so the large amount of storage or
computing power is utilized at a single time sharing computers. Utility computing is the
packaging of computation resources, such as computation, storage and service as a metered
service.

PRIVACY AND SECURITY ISSUES OF CLOUD COMPUTING

Client server security
To maintain secure client, organizations should review existing security practices and employ
additional ones to ensure the security of its data. The various plug-ins and applications available
in the web browsers also causes a serious threat to the client systems used to access the
provider. It is vital to ensure the security of these APIs to protect against both accidental and
malicious attempts to evade the security. Web browsers are used in client side to access cloud
computing services.

Location and control of data

Data in the Cloud Installation and Maintenance of Firewall Data Encryption Backup and
Recovery Security Domains Private Cloud Community Cloud Public Cloud Community Cloud
Public Cloud Private Cloud Hybrid infra structure has to be shared with unknown people.
In traditional data centers business had the privilege to know about the data flow, exact data
location, precautions used to protect data from unauthorized access. Modifying security
measures or introducing pristine Cloud provider stores the data in provider’s side and
maintenance is exclusively done by the providers, hence the clients have no means to check on
the provider’s security practices, provider’s employees, their skills specializations etc.
Non cloud services also have security concerns but cloud has additional risk of external party
involvement and exposure of critical and confidential data outside organizations control. The
customer should always be informed before the vendor allows third parties to access the stored
data. The vendor may grant some privileged third parties access to your stored data.

Network Security
Applications which people used to access within organizations intranet are hence exposed to
networking threats and internet vulnerabilities which includes distributed denial of service
attacks, phishing, malwares and Trojan horses. If an attacker gains access to client credentials,
they can eavesdrop on all activities and transactions, manipulate data, return falsified
information, and redirect clients to illegitimate sites.

Data recovery in cloud computing

Usually cloud users do not know their data location and the vital query of data recovery in all
circumstances may not be possible.

Securing data in the cloud

Cloud providers should think beyond the customary security practices like restricted user
access, password protection etc. Physical location of stored data is also vital and it’s the
responsibility of the provider to choose the right location of storage.

Installation and maintenance of firewall

Build and deploy a firewall that denies access from untrusted sources or applications, and
adequately logs these events. Build and deploy a firewall that restricts access from systems that
have direct external connection and those which contain confidential data or configuration
data. Assessment of firewall policies and rule sets and reconfiguration of router should be done
in regular intervals.

Data encryption
Data encryption is one common approach the providers to protect their client’s data but the
question is whether the data is getting stored in encrypted format or not. To store crucial data
organizations can think of private or hybrid cloud where the data will be in secure corporate
firewall.

Backup and recovery

In cloud computing data is stored in distributed location. Backup software should include public
cloud APIs, enabling simple backup and recovery across major cloud storage vendors, such as
Amazon S3, Nirvana Storage Delivery Network. It is critical for the backup application to
encrypt confidential data before sending it offsite to the cloud, protecting both detain-transit
over a WAN to a cloud storage vault and data-at-rest at the cloud storage site.

ENSURING SECURITY AGAINST THE VARIOUS TYPES OF

ATTACKS:

DBGP Prefix Hijacking

Prefix hijacking is a type of network attack in which a wrong announcement related to the IP
addresses associated with an Autonomous system (AS) is made malicious parties get access to
the untraceable IP addresses.
Although using DNS security measures like: Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC)
reduces the effects of DNS threats but still there are cases when these security measures prove
to be insufficient when the path between a sender and a receiver gets rerouted through some
evil connection. It is not negligible as the address still exists in the DNS cache and the data
belonging to a particular user may become accessible to some other user violating the privacy
of the original user. This sometimes risks the security of the new user as there is a certain time
lag between the change of an IP address in DNS and the clearing of that address in DNS caches.
A malicious sniffing detection platform based on ARP (address resolution protocol) and RTT
(round trip time) can be used to detect a sniffing system running on a network.
Sniffer attacks
A sniffer program, through the NIC (Network Interface Card) ensures that the data/traffic linked
to other systems on the network also gets recorded. It may happen that even after all the DNS
security measures are taken, still the route selected between the sender and receiver cause
security
problems. When a particular user moves out of a network then the IP-address associated with
him (earlier) is assigned to a new user. We can say that sometimes though the old IP address is
being assigned to a new user still the chances of accessing the data by some other user. It can
be achieved by placing the NIC in promiscuous mode and in promiscuous mode it can track all
data, flowing on the same network.

Conclusion
The essential characteristics of cloud computing is it’s on-demand provisioning, measured
services, network access, elasticity and resource pooling which dramatically reduce
procurement and operating costs and greatly increase the efficiency and effectiveness of
services. Our study recommend, security of information is the most critical risk as cloud
computing conveys a modification in the physical boundaries of information and moving that
information between trusted partners reliably and securely. An organization requires carefully
analyses its security infrastructure, oversight ability, risk profile and contractual obligations
clearly as they are significant obstacles to moving data storage and applications to the cloud
environment. To ensure total information security all areas of security like infrastructure,
application, data storage and privacy and legal issues are need to be covered. Before presenting
the vendor, an organization should have prepared the nature of the information being stored or
transacted with detailed security and legal requirements applicable to their business needs.
Organizations, have realized the benefits of this technology are moving to the cloud some faster
than others which presents the organization with a number of risks to assess.
In order to meet cloud architecture, new security techniques must be developed. On the basis
of three prominent cloud computing service models, a security study was conducted.

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