Potential Problems

As is the case with any emerging technology, there are a number of areas of uncertainty and issues which can pose threats to clients utilizing cloud-based computing. These potential problems primarily center on security concerns. There are also issues to be considered from both a legal and an ethical standpoint.

Security Concerns

Perhaps one of the biggest drawbacks to cloud computing is the array of security concerns attached to it. Vulnerability of information remains one of the principal problems in the world of computing. There is an understandable fear that, by its very nature, cloud-based computing is even more susceptible to attack than the self-contained, hard-disk computers of old. For many companies, the utilization of cloud-based computing would involve “the action of outsourcing data centers and services to a third-party organization” (Osayamwen, 2010, para. 4). The security implications of this arrangement are significant. Through an arrangement of this kind, a company would be largely dependant on an outside organization for its day to day business operations (Osayamwen, 2010, para. 5). In the business sector, as in others, it seems there is a disinclination to shake the mindset of control and self-reliance regarding both data and daily operations.

Another major barrier to the proliferation of cloud computing is a lack of trust on the part of corporations. These trust issues stem largely from security concerns revolving around oversight of operations. In August of 2011, the Commission on the Leadership Opportunity in U.S. Deployment of the Cloud, a commission composed of 71 experts in the field, “determined that a lack of trust is the primary impediment to cloud adoption” (“Higher Education,” 2011, para. 5). This commission also found that “firsthand insight and lessons learned from successfully implementing a trusted, department-wide cloud computing environment” was “integral in defining decision roadmaps, developing metrics of trust, and establishing key findings and recommendations for the Transparency and Accountability portion of the Commission's report.” (“Higher Education,” 2011, para. 5) The lack of trust in cloud computing as a viable option is a direct correlation to both the lack of knowledge and a lack of proven success in the field. Essentially, it all comes back to the fact that people are hesitant to place their business operations under the control of a new technology which, although promising, is largely unproven.