View on Security, Privacy and Trust Issues in Cloud Computing Environment

Cloud computing is not a new concept. It was envisioned very long back by John McCarthy as delivering computing services similar to the public utilities like water and electricity on metered basis. Cloud computing leverage the power of virtualization technologies which enables the deployment of dynamic workload and allows scale-in and scale-out of its capabilities through rapid provisioning and de-provisioning of virtual machines in an elastic manner. It paves the way to increase capacity or add capabilities dynamically in the existing system without investing in infrastructure. Cloud computing brings about not only convenience and efficiency but also the significant challenges of data security, privacy, and trust issue that make cloud customers reluctant towards its adoption. This paper presents a study on security, privacy and trust issues that are very much prevalent in cloud computing environment.