As modern as cloud computing is, it’s also vulnerable to old attacks. A solution that quickly comes to mind is the advantage of using a cloud. Specialized cloud services provide customers with unrestricted capacity or unlimited bandwidth and resources and a level of security mechanisms and experience that can be impossible to enforce at the local level.
However, there is no place where the old cliché, a chain that is only as strong as its weakest component, relates more than in cloud computing. Here’s a situation that might seem stupid, but it’s completely plausible and actually one of the weakest ties of any defense system—social engineering. A small government department keeps confidential legal records in its computer space. Both data must be stored in a physical location. Also, the largest cloud has its endpoint where the data is still alive. In this situation, the records are stored in a computer room on the floor of a building that the Department shared with several other departments.
In an attempt to prove that nothing is safe, a college student placed her bag over her shoulder and walked into the building displaying her student id, and said she had an appointment with the education agency. She was allowed to use the elevator. She went up to the law office floor and informed the receptionist that she was a student intern and was invited to go to the staff part of the department where she set up her bag and pulled out a file folder. Then she piggybacked on someone’s entry to an inner, more accessible place, and the file folder flourished. She put a stern smile on her face and walked to the door to the server space, waiting for a guy to come along.
She said she wanted to go back to the server space, and “Bob (person name),” who had opened the door for her, had evidently gone for coffee and left her locked up. She turned her head aside and vowed that she wouldn’t be looking for her when this guy tapped the code for her. And he did it. This is social psychology which is unlikely to succeed now. The need for protection has become more inherent in the world of the 21st century. But this is an extreme example of how individuals can undermine the most stable device. Bringing social innovation to the field of cloud computing, the strongest infrastructure in the world will be undermined if there is a flaw in any of the environments where cloud users are. If an outsider can get into the system of the consumer, that person has the potential to disrupt the system or compromise or steal information.
