Private and Hybrid Cloud Security and Privacy Issues
Information technology is transformed a lot after cloud computing in terms of innovation, effectiveness, management, consumption, and the ability to scale applications on demand. Cloud computing generally refers to both the applications delivered as services over the Internet and the hardware and systems software in the datacenters that provide those services. There was a lot of hype regarding cloud computing, emerged in 2008, and consistently increasing since then because of numerous benefits associated with it. Cloud computing is considered the primary area of vulnerability within an enterprise. However, with the escalating technology and continuous usage of cloud computing, the network security threats have also increased.
4 Basic Cloud Delivery Models
These four delivery models are:
Private cloud:
A private cloud is designed only for one specific organization and enterprise for their services and it is usually controlled by that enterprise or the third-party. The most favorable advantage in this type of cloud is that the data and information remain behind the firewall and nobody has excess to this so sensitive data can easily be stored in it. It also provides great control and customization benefit to the enterprise according to its needs and requirements. Moreover, it is a very flexible cloud as the cloud manager can shift some non-sensitive data to the public cloud to avoid sudden bursts. However, it’s a matter of great responsibility for an enterprise to maintain and store its data according to its compliance.
Public Cloud:
Public cloud in which cloud services are available to use to the public. These services and applications are owned by an organization that is selling those cloud services, for example, Amazon cloud service. Public clouds are more reliable because services are divided among multiple data centers and it also involves low expenditure cost. On the other hand, the control over data security is relatively lesser as compared to the other clouds as there are some restrictions and limitations imposed by the host network.
Community Cloud:
Community Cloud is that cloud in which services are shared by multiple enterprises for supporting a unique community purpose that has shared concerns. For example, security requirements.
Hybrid Cloud:
A hybrid cloud is an amalgam of different cloud computing infrastructure (public, private, or community). The core benefit of hybrid cloud computing is agility and quick adaption in the digital world and that is very crucial in digital business. For efficiency and effectiveness, businesses do need to combine public clouds, private clouds, and on-premises resources to gain agility.
Summary of the various features of cloud deployment models
Cloud application security
Cloud application security is the security of only the application layer of IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS:
This type of security consists of properly programming cloud applications to avoid vulnerabilities such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting, weak authentication and session management, cross-site request forgery, etc. Cloud application security provides the security of cloud applications, making sure the application layer is safe.
Cloud access security
Cloud access security focuses on securing the interaction between the user and the cloud application in a SaaS solution:
Cloud access security is related to access to the enterprise’s information and applications. This security provides complete control on different parameters like who is uploading and downloading files, what are the sensitive files and what are they not, what documents are exposed to the Internet, which users have anomalous behavior, what cloud applications are inherently risky, and several other variables. In a nutshell, Cloud access security provides the security of the interaction between the user and the cloud application in a SaaS deployment.
Cloud Computing Security and Privacy issues
There are substantial security concerns associated with cloud computing as it involves many technologies including networks, databases, operating systems, virtualization, resource scheduling, transaction management, load balancing, concurrency control, and memory management. Therefore, security issues for many of these systems and technologies are applicable to cloud computing. For example, the network security is important because the network that interconnects the systems in a cloud has to be secure.
Insider User Threats:
- Malicious cloud provider user
- Malicious cloud customer user
- Malicious third-party user
External Attacker Threats:
- Remote software attack of cloud infrastructure
- Remote software attack of cloud applications
- Remote hardware attack against the cloud
- Remote software and hardware attack against cloud user organizations’ endpoint software and hardware
- Social engineering of cloud provider users, and cloud customer users.
What NetworkFort is offering for cloud security?
NetworkFort offers different security services and products to achieve cloud security and contain the threats associated with it. To combat the challenges of cloud attacks and to eliminate the chances of cloud breach, NetworkFort has come up with a unique cyber product called NetworkFort which deploys AI and machine learning approaches to IDS to enhance cloud security. NetworkFort uses AI algorithms to learn from traditional data. That’s why NetworkFort includes AI integrated cloud IDS capabilities as part of its network security essentials.
For further details, please visit our website 
http://www.networkfort.com
