Challenges and Issues Within Cloud Computing Technology

Abstract-Cloud computing refers to an emerging computing model where machines in large data centres can be used to deliver services in a scalable manner. It has become popular for corporations in need of inexpensive, large scale computing. Organizations and government agencies increasingly utilise cloud computing architectures, platforms and applications to deliver services and meet the needs of their clients. There are many challenges and issues such as privacy, security and trust that can have major impacts on the information and services supported by this technology. This paper summarises the technology background and discusses challenges and issues that can arise by the use of cloud computing in organizations and government agencies. Keywords-privacy; security; trust; issues; cloud computing. I. I NTRODUCTION Information Technology (IT) has been adding significant benefits to various aspects of people’s life, either in terms of convenience or comfort or entertainment. One of the latest developments in the IT industry is cloud computing, also known as on-demand computing. This new technology provides higher performance at relatively low cost compared to the existing dedicated infrastructures. Moreover, it can be applied to larger scale with greater reliability. Cloud computing offers a shift in the way organizations invest in their IT resources. The new model removes the need for organization to invest a substantial sum of money for the purchase of limited IT resources that are internally managed. Instead, the organization can outsource its IT resource requirements to a cloud computing service provider and pay per use. Cloud computing is a computing model that provides a pool of computing resources which users can access through the internet. The basic principle of cloud computing is to shift the computing from a local computer to the network. It offers the capacity to utilize a common collection of resources on request. It proves extremely attractive to cash-strapped IT departments that want to deliver better services under pressure. It can offer access to greater infrastructure resources which include network, server, storage, application, services and other components, as required, without huge investment in purchase, implementation, and maintenance. Cloud computing can be deployed either as: private cloud (where organizations develop their own applications and run their own internal infrastructure),community cloud (where the cloud infrastructure is shared by several organizations and supports a specific community), public cloud (where the cloud infrastructure is made available to the general public or a large industry group and is owned by an organization selling cloud services), or hybrid cloud (where the cloud infrastructure is an integration and consolidation of two or more clouds which are private, community, or public) [1]. Cloud computing offers many advantages for IT organizations. There are, however issues and challenges that still exist and which must be dealt with. A key concern in adopting cloud computing is data security, privacy and trust. This paper presented the state-of-the-art of research into cloud computing technology and its characteristics. It highlighted the main important challenges, barriers and risks related to the cloud computing. Also, the paper presented some mitigation steps to overcome the challenges and issues that discussed. II. CLOUD BACKGROUND