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Abstract

Cloud computing is a novel paradigm capable of combining multiple computing technologies and concepts of the internet to come up with an agile and cost-effective business platform and information technology infrastructure. Adoption of cloud computing in various industries has been on the rise in the recent past. This has enticed organization yearning to go digital get interested with the technology. Adoption of cloud computing requires migration of data and information from the existing servers to cloud servers, a process known as data migration. The purpose of the process is making information available for use over the network. Data migration is vulnerable to several cloud computing risks, as revealed in this paper.

Keywords- Security; Cloud Computing; Data Migration

Effect of Cloud Computing Risks in Data Migration

Introduction

Cloud computing is a novel paradigm capable of combining multiple computing technologies and concepts of the internet to come up with an agile and cost-effective business platform and information technology infrastructure. In the recent past, the adoption of cloud computing in various industries has been on the rise. This has positively impacted the maturity of the markets associated (Hammami et al., 2017). Despite the increasing popularity of cloud computing services like Amazon EC2, a good number of people are still unclear on the path to take because of the associated security issues. Some people lack a solid understanding of what cloud computing is. Cloud computing, in its simplest definition, can be said to be the provision of computing resources over a network. Most of the recent technology discussions must bring in the element of cloud computing. This is because of the attention the issues has been giving in various sectors. Most enterprises in different industries have been working towards finding strategies through which costs can be minimized (Elzamly et al., 2019). Cloud computing is one of the options that can be followed. In the real sense, the cloud is a metaphor on the internet that I used in describing the complex platforms and infrastructures associated with the handling of data in the cloud (Bo, 2018). When consumers look up to moving their data with purpose od delivering services over the IT network, security is always the question. It is justifiable that security ought to be prioritized during data migration to ensures that the information is sent to the right destination without being tampered with. Secure data migration in the cloud might require legal considerations and the adoption of the right strategies, which will guarantee an efficient flow of information from one platform to another. In this light, the paper sought to examine cloud risks and security approaches associated with security and future data migration for purposes of service delivery over networks.

Types of Cloud Providers

PaaS, which means platform as a service gives application platform as a service. An example is the Google App Engine. The software platform allows customers to deploy uses based on the language used by providers. The clients only have control over application settings and programming tools built within the organization. The management of the fundamental infrastructure of the application remains a serious responsibility of the providers. Lastly, IaaS refers to infrastructure as a service delivers all its services through hardware resources, network components to be used or even the allocated disk size (Habjan & Pucihar, 2017). The hardware resources are allocated virtually, and the clients have full control on how to manage the services they have paid for.

Security Challenges and Risks in Data Migration

Incompatibility with Existing Architecture

There is so much information about the compatibility of the existing IT infrastructure and cloud service that ought to be provided. Much of the risks are associated with the complexity of the infrastructure in place (Ahuja & Deval, 2018). Highly complex platforms slow down the process of migration. This demands that the organization should have the right people in place with sufficient IT skills and experience to facilitate the flow of information (Caldarell, Ferri & Maffei, 2017). The big and risky question remains, “who can make the entire architecture fit for the cloud at the speed they require?”.

Enterprises that already own broken down/ simplified structures and microservices in the architectures tend to migrate easily compared to other complex structures. This is because various elements of the data can be sorted out well. It is worth noting that not all broken down structures guarantee a safe transfer of data(Sharma, Husain & Ali, 2017). Some simple architectures might be vulnerable than others when it comes to the management of data as well as its migration. This in this will, in turn, result in overall challenges to the organizations.

Perception of Data Migration

According to Hammami et al. (2017) in their article “A Security Approach for Data Migration in Cloud Computing Based on Human Genetics,” data migration, which is a cloud-based activity is several ways risk-oriented exercise. The issue incorporates both qualitative and quantitative analysis of issues to balance the risks available with benefits and safeguards. The balancing must be applied in a manner that takes into account the issue of accountability in data management practices within the organization. In case the benefits associated with the organization outweigh the ineffectiveness and inefficiencies within the organization, then the risks of migrating data remain high (Corcoran & Datta, 2016). Therefore, it is a must to ensures a balance between possible risks associated and the strengths of control.

Data security is among the common topics in the field of cloud computing. Perhaps, it is because the service providers do not have direct physical access to the security system, and they heavily rely on the cloud data centres. Service providers can only specify the security measure that can be taken but does not have the capacity of determining whether the measures have been implemented or not (Hammami et al., 2017). The risks are further accelerated if the infrastructure is incapable of attaining confidentiality and auditability of the data that is migrated through space. Reliance on remote transfers requires that the organization use a trusted platform module in generating the non-forgeable system reports and summaries. Failure to use TPM can create risky situations that can result in organizational losses.

Urge for Secure Data Migration Process

Data migration in the cloud is among the areas where managers face serious problems. Provision of cloud services will imply that providers will have to move information over the network to make virtual task execution a possibility. That is information need to be moved from the company’s server to a cloud server that is situated elsewhere. There exist several reasons as to why service providers and managers in charge face several issues (Jain & Menache, 2017). This is because of the associated risks of moving data from one point to another. To begin with, cloud operates within an interface, through which organizations and clients are allowed to access data and information in a virtual environment. Therefore, the smooth execution of the functions fundamentally lies in how well and knowledgeable the cloud providers within the area are.

Moreover, failure to comply with systematic data migration procedures will eventually result in further problems about data privacy and the overall security involved (Patrignani et al., 2016). Thus, having to hire cloud service providers who have sound experience and skills in data management will ensure that cloud-based data migration is managed properly and in the required manner.

For instance, in case, there is an organization that is planning to shifts its data to the cloud so that it can be capable of providing solutions; the first step should be contacting cloud service providers. The providers will eventually start initializing the necessary steps that need to be taken to ensure that security is taken into consideration throughout the process. Failure to follow the right procedure will not only create loses to the organization but also face reputation degradation and heightened data issues.

Added Latency and Poor Visibility and Control

Data migration involves several underestimated risks. These are risks that exist and have effects, but they are assumed to be negligible or too small to have any impact in place. The truth of the matter is that added latency is a serious risk and can have adverse effects on the organization involved in the data transfer process. The risks result when application, systems and databases used during data transfer and cloud service provision are not in line with the urgency of the services needed (Tchernykh et al., 2019). Latency becomes critical when dealing with eCommerce services and the internet of things because the activities require a vital customer experience. Data migration incorporates the execution of certain tasks which require immediate processing of data and information. In this light, added latency will result in not only frustrations but also disappointment in data migration.

Inadequate or lack of visibility and control in cloud computing is another serious cause of data migration risks. Visibility significantly impacts the utilization and performance of networks. When an organization relies on individually owned data centres, they tend to have better or full control on the issues which ought to be addressed. Besides, the organizations have full control over the resources utilized and how they are normally used. The physical and the host networks tend to be managed properly also. Data migration involve switching to external cloud service providers. In such situations, the organization do not have full control of the services provided, the networks in uses as well as the resources that are put to work. This makes the company lack visibility on what is being executed with the presence of data in the cloud and public cloud workloads.

The recent survey undertaken by Dimensional Research revealed that more than 95% of the sample group interviewed confirmed that visibility issues are the major causes of cloud service challenges. It is through visibility that the performance of organizations in the management and handling of data over the cloud has resulted in network issues (Zelenkov, 2016). The results further revealed that 38% of the total sample interviewed points visibility as a major issue in network outages within a cloud server.

Data Loss and Wasted Costs

Data loss is among the common most cloud risks that face data migration to deliver services over a network. Before initiating data migration, there is a need to ensure that right procedure that will prevent data loss are put in place. The files of data that are being migrated need to be taken good care of so that permanent data loss is avoided (Al-Badi, Tarhini & Al-Qirim, 2018). Errors, corrupted data and missing files are common issues which might be encountered during the data migration process. Pre-defined solutions like having data backups should be put in place before starting the actual migration information.

Wasted costs is another common risk that data migration is vulnerable to. Models of cloud computing come with different prices. The prices depend on the flexibility and reliability of the cloud services that the model is expected to be providing. Cloud computing involves making payments for storage, transfer and storage services independently. It is worth noting that failure in one service can have a significant impact on the other services provided even though the payments have been made (Al-Badi, Tarhini & Al-Qirim, 2018). Finding a reliable platform that is capable of taking into account all organizational issues is quite challenging. At times, it incorporates the trial and error process that is costly before arriving at the right model or platform to be used. This risks the right allocation of the funds that might be present within the organization.

Proposed Solutions and Recommendations

The issues of security in cloud computing have been discussed in several ways. Although the paper has not cited out several safety conventions of the networking systems, mitigating all possible errors remains one of the best options of clinching the benefits of the process (Hyseni & Ibrahimi, 2017). Despite all the advantages that have been pointed out, several people and forms find cloud computing security lacking, particularly when it comes to data migration (Sharma et al., 2017). Firms that deal with sensitive data and information like the banking sector worry much on the security of data migration. Slight tampering of the information can result in massive loses within the organization. Therefore, there is need to take extra caution when transferring data to an onsite. In light of the risk mentioned above activities and issues, the following are the possible solutions and recommendations on how the issue can be addressed.

There exist several solutions through which risks of data loss can be addressed. These include but not limited to; understanding the possible causes of data loss within an organization. Anything ranging from power outrages to security issues associated with the information and data centre can result in data loss (Lin, Yao & Huang, 2016). Therefore, having backups of the information being migrated can be a better strategy as it will ensure availability of information in case data is lost with backups, one should not worry about the potential of losing the data. in case the infrastructure in place fails to work better, then another one can be deployed, and the process continues without the risk of losing any information

Akinrolabu, New & Martin (2017) points out that wasted costs can also be secured through optimization of costs in areas which are not relevant to the organization and the essential activities that the organization is associated with. The practices that can be mitigated wasted costs include getting rid of underutilized instances, rightsizing the available workload, capitalizing on out scaling issues and capitalizing on discount instances so that expenditures can be minimized.

Efforts to get rid of latency within the organization and includes having a proper understanding of the root cause of issues. Understanding the existing geographic distance between service providers and clients is essential because it will minimize delays and mitigate misconfiguration issues (Weil, 2020). Alternative ways on how latency can be mitigated include segmenting the traffic flows, having the right multi-cloud connectivity in place and offloading the internet in case some components are not in use at any given time (Akinrolabu, New & Martin, 2017). If such activities do not help to keep the application in use within the premises can be of great importance.

There exist various tools that can be used in addressing visibility. These are the tools which support the monitoring of cloud services and third-party vendors responsible for offering multiple cloud solutions (Ahmed et al., 2017). Having an automatic response team in place and activity monitoring solutions can help embrace visibility and control. Proper understanding of Distributed Systems can help ensure that the distributed system in place addresses all the possible issues of platform associated with data migration. Having a solid understanding of distributed systems ensures that efficient service provision and delivery has been attained. Besides, it ensures reliable access to the data and information that might be nee

Conclusion

In conclusion, cloud computing has gained popularity over the recent past, and many cooperate organizations are adopting the technology in executing its operations. Once organizations have agreed to adopt cloud technology, data ought to be moved from the areas where it stored to cloud platforms. This is known as data migration. Several clouds risks impact data migration. The risks make it difficult to migrating data successfully and using it for the intended purposes. Different cloud servers determine the type and frequency of the risks are hitting data migration processes. Three common cloud providers are Saas, PaaS and IaaS. The risks associated with data migration include the perception of the data migration process, the data migration strategies applied, latency and poor visibility, data loss and wasted costs. The possible solutions to the highlighted issues include utilizing the costs for essential services to avoid wasted costs, utilization of the right tools to avoid latency, selection of the right procedures and tools to ensures that perception and migration process is completed in the right way.

References