Cloud Computing

July 18, 2014

Module 6 Activity 6.5 Journal Entry

Title of Summary: Cloud Computing

What are the benefits and risks of cloud computing? Do you use a cloud to store any of your files or photographs? Does your employer use a cloud to store files or sensitive documents?

http://www.business.qld.gov.au/business/running/technology-for-business/cloud-computing-business/cloud-computing-benefits

Some of the benefits would be lower capital costs, lower IT operating costs, No required installation for software, optimized IT infrastructure provides quick access to need computing services.

Lower capital costs – businesses can provide a unique set of services using cloud computing, and add/remove IT capacity to meet peak and fluctuating service demands while only paying for their capacity uses. Lower IT operating costs – your business can rent more server space for hours at a time rather than maintain proprietary servers without having to upgrade their resources when a new app is available.

The risks with cloud computing would be environmental security, data privacy/security, and data availability and business continuity.

Environmental Security - Your computing resources creates the potential for security threats and depending on the size potential for malware, brute force attacks, and many other attacks. Data privacy/security – If your business is hosting highly confidential information through cloud computing than this increases the amount of security needed to protect it. You have to ensure your business is aware of the privacy/security needed for your data, and your cloud provider should be aware of the needs for privacy and security. A couple of other risks could be disaster recovery, and record retention requirements. Disaster recovery is crucial for your cloud-computing provider, and they should have a disaster recovery plan in place. If your business is subject to record retention requirements than you should ensure your cloud service is aware of...