Cloud Security and Green Cloud Computing Related to MIS3406
Cloud Security and Green Cloud Computing
Cloud security and green cloud computing are only becoming more and more important to our everyday lives. In 2021 cloud systems are forecasted to grow by almost 27 percent (Mlitz 1). With that type of growth, there is a need for security more than ever. But what is cloud security, in a way it’s self-explanatory, it’s security for the cloud. A more detailed definition would be that cloud security is the practice of protecting cloud-based data, applications, and infrastructure from cyber-attacks and cyber threats (Froehlich 1). But with this rapidly growing industry there comes a cost to the environment. Therefore, green cloud computing is taking the steps to help the issue. Green computing is the concept of trying to reduce the increase in energy consumption and the waste disposed to the environment (Ohri 1). It is doing this by exploring energy-efficient options as well as reducing carbon emissions. It is important that any drastic change to our ways of life does not harm the environment more but attempts to help it.
In a world where technology is constantly evolving, new threats begin to arise. Instead of security guards being on watch for someone to rob a bank, we now have hackers and other criminals who attack through online pathways. These individuals will try to access millions of accounts to steal whatever they can. In 2017 alone, hackers stole 172 billion dollars from individuals (Condliffe 1). This just shows how costly bad cloud security can be, and how important it is for big companies to have good cloud security. A study by Google in 2013 found that the change of systems to cloud computing reduced total consumption by 87% ( Ohri 1). This is huge for the development of improving our impact on the environment.
During the spring of 2021, I was fortunate enough to take the class MIS3406 where we dove straight into working with AWS (amazon web services). Within this class, we created instances, AMI’s, load balancers, private and public subnets all important aspects of cloud computing. One important aspect of the class was when we set up our security groups for our instances. Security groups are virtual firewalls that control the traffic between instances. The way the security groups work is they will have set rules that are created by the account holder, then before anything is allowed to communicate with the running instance, the security group makes sure no rules are violated. Cloud security adds to the concepts taught in class by focusing on the security of what we are doing. While going through the semester we never cared about where the cloud was only that it was somewhere and working. But with green cloud computing we start to care more about how these servers are being powered. The best part about cloud computing is that it is becoming eco-friendlier. However, it is still important that these servers are being powered with sustainable energy. Therefore, even though we never cared about where the cloud was green cloud computing adds the self-awareness of making sure we have efficient instances that aren’t running for no reason. As well as having auto-scaling groups that only scale when needed. Improving the impact cloud computing has on the environment.
MIS3406 is built on cloud computing, but there is so much more to cloud computing than just servers. There’s cloud security and all that goes into protecting the servers, as well as green cloud computing which is focused on the impact to the environment from cloud computing. These two topics relate to having such a connection to cloud computing. While cloud security would be used to keep servers safe from unwanted individuals, green cloud computing is focused on the energy that is used to make these servers run. Cloud computing has become a spiderweb of concepts that all relate in different ways. Green cloud computing creates the most environmentally friendly setup to run the cloud computing, which then runs the security for those servers. These topics can be seen in everyday corporations and companies.
Big corporations all over the world have online servers for their users to access private information. To prevent outsiders from accessing this information employees have to sign in using their credentials to access the company’s database. Once someone signs into the company’s website that information will travel to a security group. The security group will then run that data through its firewall program making sure it doesn’t violate any rules. Only then will that user be allowed to access the other side of the firewall. For green cloud computing, Microsoft and Google are both major companies that have made the change to become more eco-conscious with cloud computing. Microsoft alone reduced their emissions by 9.5 metric tons, recycled 10 million kilograms of consumer eWaste, and purchased 500 megawatts of new wind and solar energy (Baskerville 1). These companies are taking big steps for the future of cloud computing and hopefully, other companies follow their steps.
Work Cited
Baskerville, S. (2021, February 23). 3 major ways that green cloud Computing helps the environment. Retrieved April 20, 2021, from https://www.proserveit.com/blog/environmental-impact-green-cloud-computing
Condliffe, J. (2020, April 02). Hackers stole $172 billion from people in 2017. Retrieved April 19, 2021, from https://www.technologyreview.com/2018/01/23/146077/hackers-stole-172-billion-from-people-in-2017/
Froehlich, A., Shea, S., & Cole, B. (2021, February 01). What is cloud security? Retrieved April 19, 2021, from https://searchcloudsecurity.techtarget.com/definition/cloud-security
Mlitz, K. (2021, March 19). Public cloud services Growth 2019-2022. Retrieved April 19, 2021, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/258718/market-growth-forecast-of-public-it-cloud-services-worldwide/
Ohri, A. (2020, November 23). Green cloud computing: An easy 4 step beginner’s guide. Retrieved April 20, 2021, from https://www.jigsawacademy.com/blogs/cloud-computing/green-cloud-computing/