An overview of threats to data security and integrity in cloud computing

Abstract

Cloud computing has become an integral part of our lives, and today it is used almost everywhere. In general, cloud computing is a concept of providing IT resources in the form of services. There are two cloud computing models: deployment models, which differ in the type of cloud management and access to the cloud and the level of security, and service models, which differ in the level of service provision, which affects, among other things, the level of responsibility of the service provider and the consumer. Cloud services began to gain popularity in 2009, and the demand for them has grown exponentially every year. They became especially popular during the pandemic in 2019, when people had to stay at home without interrupting their work processes, and now, in post-covid times, they also remain popular due to their convenience, high availability, easy scalability and cost savings. Due to the widespread use of cloud computing services, a high level of security is required. Unfortunately, the popularity of cloud computing has its drawbacks – in addition to the fact that it is more difficult to monitor the security of a remote environment than the security of a local computer, there are many other threats. In today's reality, people use cloud computing technologies in large volumes, for example, at work, for personal purposes, etc., as they have great trust in these technologies. This is the reason why it is necessary to maintain a high level of security and constantly improve it. Cloud computing security threats are usually divided into confidentiality, integrity, and availability threats. To prevent the loss of confidential information, service providers must ensure its integrity. Users want to be sure that their data will not fall into the hands of an intruder or third-party services. Therefore, this article discusses the most common threats to data security and integrity in cloud computing and the existing methods that prevent these vulnerabilities and possible problems at different levels and with the help of different tools.