Risks and Concerns about IaaS - Executive Perspective

Part 2/5 of blog series on Infrastructure-as-a-Service Now that we have extensively discussed about the several advantages cloud computing offers and specifically discussing about the various advantages of IaaS in the previous blog, we will try to analyze different concerns associated with adopting IaaS from a business owner's perspective. As with every technology, IaaS has its share of concerns. Principal among them is the privacy and security in the cloud followed by increased vulnerability, limited flexibility and control, down time and technical difficulties associated. We will discuss them in detail. Privacy and Security in the Cloud: Perhaps the biggest concern a business owner has in adopting IaaS is the security of private and confidential enterprise data and information. By leveraging a cloud based infrastructure that is remotely managed by a vendor, management of mission critical data and information is assigned to a service provider and credibility of service provider assumes utmost significance. A business owner thus evaluates all the possible alternatives before arriving at a decision. On the similar lines, privacy is also an important area of concern. Businesses have to trust their cloud service vendors to protect their data from unauthorized users. Various stories of password leaks, data loss and the more recent hacks of iCloud servers in the media don't help to reassure the same level of confidence business owners have on cloud servers. Downtime and Technical Difficulties: Businesses of smaller scale definitely will enjoy not

having to deal with the daily technical issues and would prefer assigning the task to an established provider, however it’s a known fact that all systems face dysfunctions from time to time. Outage and downtime is very much possible and even the best providers occasionally face this situation. Additionally, given the fact that the whole setup is completely dependent on Internet access and any connectivity or network related issues render the whole setup useless. Although it may seem minor, it takes several minutes for the cloud to identify a fault in server and to launch a new instance thereby impacting the efficiency. Increased Vulnerability: With respect to the privacy and security issues discussed above, cloud based solutions stand more risk of being exploited by malicious users and hackers. It is worth mentioning that nothing is completely secure on Internet and major players too have had their share of serious security breaches and malicious attacks. Due to the interdependency of the cloud system, a compromise on one of the servers where the data is stored may lead to leakage of personal information. Limited Control and Flexibility: Businesses are generally concerned about the fact that they can exercise limited control over the execution of software and hardware because of the fact that services and applications run on third party, remote virtual environments. Dependency on Vendor Lock-In: Among the most explicitly expressed concerns of a business owner is the dependency on the service provider, Often referred to as "vendor lock-in", businesses find it exceedingly difficult and sometimes impossible to switch from one provider to another once they have enrolled with their services. It can be really cumbersome and painful to transfer huge volumes of data from the old provider to the new one. This is one of the reasons why business evaluate all the available options thoroughly before picking a service provider. All said and done, these issues raised by business owners are effectively being dealt by service providers and they are taking every step in the process of becoming more reliable and trustworthy. Service providers, using the latest technology advances are updating their offerings to suit individual requirements of a business owner.

DoubleHorn offers a complimentary Cloud assessment and helps you understand the level of security Cloud offers to your IT infrastructure. Contact us to get started with the Cloud assessment.