How the Advent of Cloud Computing Is Transforming Information Technology and Business

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would take this opportunity to thank my research supervisor, family and friends for their support and guidance without which this research would not have been possible.

DECLARATION

I, [type your full first names and surname here], declare that the contents of this dissertation/thesis represent my own unaided work, and that the dissertation/thesis has not previously been submitted for academic examination towards any qualification. Furthermore, it represents my own opinions and not necessarily those of the University.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTII

DECLARATIONIII

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION1

Background of the Research1

Cloud Computing2

Impact Of Cloud Computing On The Global Competitive Landscape5

Problem Statement7

Purpose of the Study7

Rationale8

Aims and Objectives9

Significance9

Research Questions10

Theoretical Frame work11

Limitation of the Study13

Reliability13

Validity14

Ethical Concern15

Outline of the Study16

REFERENCES17

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Background of the Research

Cloud Computing is efficient and time saving because of the centralized storage, huge memory, speed processing and high bandwidth. The term cloud computing was adapted from the cloud symbol that is used in Internet flowcharts and diagrams very often. The online email services are the most simple example of cloud computing. The service is used without any special software or installation. Only Internet connection is required for using the email service. The server and email service software is all on the cloud i.e. the Internet and is administered by the cloud service provider such as yahoo, hotmail etc. The basic theme of cloud computing is that, if you only need milk, you do not need to buy a cow. As users, do not need to buy a software or hardware to get the benefit of email service (Kormann and Rubin 2000).

Essentially securing an Information System (IS), involves identifying unique threats and challenges which need to be addressed by implementing the appropriate countermeasures. Cloud computing due to its architectural design and characteristics imposes a number of security benefits, which include centralization of security, data and process segmentation, redundancy and high availability. While many traditional risks are countered effectively, due to the infrastructures singular characteristics, a number of distinctive security challenges are introduced. Cloud computing has “unique attributes that require risk assessment in areas such as availability and reliability issues, data integrity, recovery, and privacy and auditing”. Security in general, is related to the important aspects of confidentiality, integrity and availability; they thus become building blocks to be used in designing secure systems. These important aspects of security, apply to the three broad categories of assets which are necessary to be secured, data, software and hardware resources. The cloud infrastructure proposes unique security challenges which need to be considered in detail.

Cloud environment deteriorates the perception of perimeter security (Kaufman, 2009). Perimeter security is a set of physical and programmatic security policies that provide levels of protection on a conceptual borderline against remote malicious activity. Traditionally, it is believed that any connectivity to systems or organizations outside of an organization provides an opening for unauthorized entities (personnel or processes) to gain access or tamper with information resources (Hayes, 2008). Upon this static conceptual boundary, security controls were deployed ...