Microsoft, in an annual SMB Cloud Adoption Study 2011, found that nearly 50% of the small sized businesses plan to adopt cloud service in the next three years.

Businesses that have moved or are considering a shift to cloud computing are often concerned about the security of their data.

This concern is not unfounded. Jeff Beckham of Cisco lists the top five security risks of cloud computing. These relate to transfer of data, software interfaces, data storage, user accounts, and data separation.

Data Transfer

When businesses use cloud computing there is a great deal of data travelling over the internet, often from unsecure networks.

This means that data can be hacked while it is being transferred to and from the cloud. The first precaution therefore is to ensure that your data travels over a secure network.

Using (IPsec) Internet Protocol Security can also mitigate this risk to a great extent. IPsec is any internet protocol that uses encryption and decryption while transferring data over the internet.

What this means is that your data will be coded when it is despatched and decoded when received. In other words while your data travels over the intricate network it is coded and only the decoder stored in your computer and that of your provider can decode it.

User Interface

A user interface is a program or API that interacts with the database to store, retrieve, or update data.  The (CSA) Cloud Security Alliance recommends that you learn how your service provider keeps your data secure. This includes learning about the user interfaces the provider uses. A weak interface – one that does not include nor has checks and controls – can put your data at risk. Therefore it is important to discuss security issues with your provider before you sign the agreement.

Data Storage

Although your service provider may use encryption while transferring data between his server and your computer, few providers use encryption within their own network. Hyun-Suk Yu, Yvette E. Gelogo, & Kyung Jung Kim advise that ensuring data security within the cloud is one of the necessary factors to be considered before accepting the cloud computing package.

Conclusion

The security concerns discussed here are the three major concerns regarding data security. Organizations must keep in mind that employees of the CSP can always access their accounts and data. Therefore it is advisable to consider the sensitivity of the data before deciding to put it on cloud storage. In fact one must be extremely cautious when migrating to cloud computing and consider all aspects carefully before signing the dotted line.

Sources: Cloud Security Alliance, Wikipedia, Microsoft, IETF Tools, Science & Engineering Research Support Society