Forensics Journal - Stevenson University 2015

FORENSICS JOURNAL Security in the Cloud Jonathan May (Griffith, 2013).) There are three types of cloud services that an organization may choose to implement: Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS). SaaS is a subscription-based service that allows business to subscribe to an application and access it over the Internet (Griffith, 2013). A popular SaaS on the market is Sales Force. Sales Force allows businesses to manage their sales from remote destinations and interconnect sales trends in real-time. PaaS is similar to SaaS, but instead of subscribing to an application, the business creates its own custom application. All users within the company can then access the custom application from any location. The final type of cloud service is IaaS. Businesses are consumers of IaaS when they use a third party’s equipment to support business operations, such as data storage, servers, hardware, and networking components (Rouse, 2010). INTRODUCTION In 2009, a major incident occurred with Internet powerhouses Twitter and Google. An unauthorized intruder accessed a significant amount of Twitter’s corporate and personal records which were stored remotely through the cloud-based application Google Apps. The intruder gained control of this information by accessing a Twitter employee’s email account, and thereby the remotely stored information on Google Apps. Fortunately, no major financial catastrophe occurred. However, the incident raised questions regarding the security environment of cloud computing operations. Cloud computing is a technology that allows users to store information on virtual servers over the Internet. Users of cloud computing technologies often hire third party cloud providers to manage the data storage. Many businesses are becoming more interested in outsourcing their data processing to cloud providers because of the benefits the cloud offers; however, this fairly new technology comes with potential fraud risks. The attack on Twitter’s storage information servers identified weaknesses in the cloud provider’s security measures and highlighted the importance of implementing a dual security system to protect both the provider and the customer. Fraud prevention and detection techniques used by cloud providers and their customers can reduce potential attacks aimed at cloud-based servers. In a recent study, the International Data Corporation (IDC) predicts cloud related services, such as SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS, will become a $100 billion dollar industry by the year 2017 (Columbus, 2013). Many businesses have either considered using cloud services or already done so. In most cases, there are two main parties involved in the cloud: the cloud provider and the organization using the service. A factor that makes the cloud so appealing to the consumer is its cost efficiency. The cloud provider maintains the software and hardware and offers it as a service, which ultimately saves businesses from spending additional capital on purchase, installation, and maintenance costs (Unal & Yates, 2010). Other beneficial factors of the cloud include ease of accessibility and real-time access. Users connected on a network over the Internet are able to access cloud functionalities. The emergence of wireless Internet and Wi-Fi hotspots has enabled cloud users to access and share company’s files from any location at any time. As businesses learn more about what the cloud computing industry has to offer, there will be a significant increase in the amount of businesses offering cloud services, as well as businesses utilizing the cloud service. THE CLOUD COMPUTING INDUSTRY Although the computer era began in the early 1940s, this advanced technology was limited to government uses, such as the military. The challenge emerged: how to shrink room-sized supercomputers? And how to create a network of computers? The end results were the desk-size computer and the Internet. The Internet offers massive amounts of information while communicating and exchanging that information on a global basis in real time. DATA STORAGE IN THE CLOUD Allowing users to access and share information over the Internet has evolved into the virtual world of cloud computing. Cloud computing allows users to store information on virtual servers over the Internet. Users of cloud computing technologies often hire third party cloud providers to manage data storage over the Internet. On a more technical level, Nancy King, Oregon State College of Business, describes cloud computing as a convenient means of accessing information in real time from a “shared pool of configurable computing resources,” such as networks, servers, storage applications, and services, without significantly relying on service provider interaction (King & Raja, 2012). As the cloud computing industry matures, an increasing number of individuals and businesses store data on cloud servers. Cloud computing is open to any individual or business willing to pay a third party for services rendered and/or to an internal server for cloud-related functionalities. Not all data stored on the cloud is the same as it reflects the business or purpose for using the cloud. Entertainment businesses, such as Netflix or Pandora, use cloud servers as infrastructures for their movie and music files. As a service provider for movies and television shows, Netflix offers their customers the ability to stream movies and shows over the Internet and view them remotely from their homes through the use of cloudbased network services. Commercial businesses, government agencies, and accounting firms use the servers to store sensitive information The cloud industry appeals to businesses due to its cost efficiency, faster response times, and flexible support. (Cloud users have the ability to access data over the Internet, but the cloud of data is essentially different w

Forensics Journal - Stevenson University 2015 | Page 27