Security Type and Benefits and Issues
The aim of the report is to discuss the different risks and security issues that Webb’s Stores might face by moving the existing data present in the Auckland data center top the cloud storage. The report gives an insight of the major risk associated with this process and suggests different risk mitigation approaches for successful implementation of the project (Li et al., 2015). The different security issues associated with this project and risk mitigation approaches are elaborated in the following paragraphs.
The security essentials that is recommended for securing the data over cloud instance includes, proper use of two basic security essential, encryption and authentication, in order to prevent the unauthorized access to the data (Boyd & Mathuria, 2013).
- Authentication helps in validating the identity of a user and in turn prevent the unauthorized access of the data
- Encryption is a process of converting a readable information or plain text to hypertext. It helps in preventing the unauthorized access of the data (Malawski et al., 2013).
1) The major benefit of Webb’s store is integration of all the operations in a single place, which would further help in reducing the cost of data maintenance. Furthermore, it will help in improving the business processes.
2) The basic security measures of encryption and authentication helps in maintaining the integrity can confidentiality of the data (Doan, Halevy & Ives, 2012).
3) The storage of data in cloud instance offers a huge amount of flexibility in access and storage of data.
4) Furthermore, it is very cot effective and therefore, Webb’s Stores will definitely be benefited after implementation of this project.
However, there are certain security issues that are associated with the deployment of the security standards, which are listed below (Tao et al., 2014)-
1) The IaaS instance of a hybrid cloud environment is complex and therefore, incorporating a proper security measure becomes difficult.
2) The database is vulnerable to Brute Force attack, which is a trial and error method used by a hacker with an aim of decoding an encrypted data. Therefore, the cloud database is exposed to this attack even after incorporating the security measure of data encryption (Wei et al., 2014).
The major risk associated with the migration of database in cloud infrastructure includes corruption of data due to the data transfer in a bulk amount. Furthermore, if the data transferred is not protected using proper data protection standard such as encryption, it may lead to the severe loss of data in form of data theft (Hashem et al., 2015).
The major risk associated with the moving of data in IaaS infrastructure is privacy and security risk. The IaaS instance would possibly be monitored, controlled and managed by the service provider and therefore, there remains a huge risk of data loss and data theft. This risk comes under the category of risk from an insider (Zissis & Lekkas, 2012).
Database Risk, IaaS Infrastructure Risk, and Communication Risk
Apart from that, there is a risk of outside attack by launching a malware attack, as nothing is secure over internet. This may further lead to the loss of modification of the data.
Denial of service attack is another risk associated with the IaaS infrastructure, which prevents the use an access of the resources by the legitimate users. DOS attack may considerably affect the normal operations of the store and in turn affect the business process.
The risk associated with the communication between Webb and its IaaS database is the risk of interception of data by an attacker. This can result in data theft and loss of confidential information. Furthermore, the working of IaaS largely depends on the network and therefore, any issue with the internet may result in the entire operations coming to a hault (Fernando, Loke & Rahayu, 2013).
i) The different risks associated with the backing up of data in a cloud are elaborated below-
1) The process of data backup will be controlled by the IaaS service provider and therefore, there remains a possibility of major security risk (Gonzalez et al., 2012).
2) If the process of data backup is not properly done, it can lead to loss of data.
ii) The different risks associated with the storage of data in cloud are listed below-
1) If the data present in the database are not properly secured with the method of encryption, it may lead to the possibility of data theft and modification of data.
2) The cloud database is prone to malware infection and a planned malware attack may lead to loss of data or the removal of the entire database (Chou, 2013).
iii) The risks that the Webb’s Store might face while retrieving the data are listed below-
1) Snooping is a method of intercepting a data while it is being transferred. Therefore, retrieval of data includes high chances of snooping and a resulting data theft (Leippold & Lohre, 2012).
2) Another risk associated with the retrieval of data is the data leakage. As the data retrieval would require internet connection, an attacker may use this opportunity to launch an attack with an intention of data theft.
The disaster recovery technique in cloud includes the maintaining a copy of all the data and records in order to manage an event of data loss. The migration of the database in the cloud instance can definitely help in effective disaster recovery. The IaaS offers a function of regular backup, which makes the process of data recovery much easier. Furthermore, the process of data recovery is in cloud is very simple and mostly controlled by the service provider (Phillips, 2015).
Risks and Issues Associated with Backup Data to the Cloud
4. Access control or access protection is a process of protecting the data from unauthorized access. Therefore, access protection is used to limit data access to registered person only.
The primary process of ensuring access control in IaaS infrastructure is controlling the physical access of the data by incorporating the process of multiphase authentication and password protection in order to prevent the unauthorized access to the database and server.
Use of unsecure API in accessing the data further increases the risks of malware infection into the server. Therefore, use of unsecure API should be prohibited.
The access control procedures that can be implemented in order to protect the data in the MS SQL server are listed below-
1) Proper encryption of the data present in the database helps in preventing the unauthorized access to the data and further prevents the data loss. With the involvement of the process of encryption, only the authorized person with the access to decryption key will be able to access the data (Biham & Shamir, 2012).
2) Proper monitoring of the content and access to the database is another effective method of access control.
The different methods that can be used to effectively control the access to the cloud network infrastructure are listed below-
1) Proper monitoring of the cloud database server will help in keeping a track of the person accessing the network and therefore it is an important process ensuring access control in cloud network infrastructure.
2) Controlling the access of data by the service provider will help in risk mitigation as well. Webb’s Stores should have an idea about the times when service provider is accessing the data.
The backup and restore procedure of the data should incorporate password protection. This will help in preventing the access of the data by unauthorized person as the backup can be completed only after using a proper password. Furthermore, the data encryption will help in preventing the unauthorized access to the data.
Conclusion
Therefore, from the above discussion, it can be concluded that there are certain risks and security issues associated with the migration of data in the cloud instance. Webb’s Stores should incorporate proper risk mitigation approaches in order to avoid the risks discussed in the report. The report further discusses the different risk mitigation techniques along with proper back up and disaster recovery plan.
References
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