Experimental Analysis of Data Security Challenges on Cloud

Cloud computing is in todays time an ever changing and growing phenomenon, due to its ability of global resource sharing. It is a shift towards efficient resource utilization and hence attracts such serious attention from both users and developers. It offers services related to storage, computation and networking by utilizing various types of virtualization techniques. Every coin is two faced, with its set of benefits, come the downsides of cloud computing. Security of the data is perhaps the major concern of all users (current and willing). This paper highlights the various data security challenges and their individual attributes that add up to pose the challenge. The challenges can either be consequences of loose ends or violations of direct or indirect attacks by several factors. These consequences and violations, in the paper, have been classified in terms of 1st, 2nd and 3rd party. The paper attempts to understand the factors and their attributes in depth and also tries to bring together the several factors affecting user acceptance of cloud, when it comes to the fear of security of the data stored on it. The paper can be hence used as reference by users to understand potential threats or even by developers to understand the causes of failures and the fears that are involved around wide range usage.