Securing an Enterprise Wireless Network (Cloud Computing)

Introduction

Within the Wi-Fi architecture debate, one of the many topics is that of cloud computing. Within the business technology world, there is a move to “almost-enterprise” applications, which is towards a network of smaller and simpler applications that can be provided remotely. In fact, this major development has been noted in the business world with the introduction of computers and the internet. It is the move to the delivery of computing as services rather than products. According to Stark (2013), like other computing elements, cloud computing provides a high level of scalability that is costly or hard to provide locally. Cloud networking provides enterprise advantages, the primary one being the capacity to provide an enterprise-class wireless solution with no extra cost and work for the information technology staff.

Cloud computing, simply stated, is the movement of computing services to the cloud where the services are provided from a remote location via a network (the Internet) (Stark, 2013). Cloud computing has greatly transformed the manner in which business firms and individuals exchange information, engage in collaborative activities, and computation. In spite of the fact that cloud computing is not a very new topic, recent development such as virtualization, high band-width, the institution of larger server agencies, and the capacity for low-cost connectivity have increased the amount of interest and attention accorded to cloud computing (Weil, 2011). The process has become a trend in the twenty-first century, and an increased number of commercial organizations make use of cloud computing in some form or way.

In fact, cloud computing has become a major innovation in information technology for organizations. Hence, this is a model of computing in which resources are provided as required for a remote setting but appears as if they are locally available. The services are paid for use just in the same way household utilities, such as telephone connection and electricity, are paid for (Weil, 2011). The management of the infrastructure with which the services are provided is the responsibility of the provider and not of the enterprise. While this is a major benefit for companies in the modern operating environment, the innovation has come up with possible security concerns when the data is moving through the network.

As a consequence of this development, it is important for business firms, and other relevant actors in the contemporary commercial realms to gain an awareness of the opportunities and risks which characterize cloud computing (Stark, 2013). The most attractive features of cloud computing that attract many commercial firms include the capacity by cloud computing to reduce the operational costs in firms, simplify the process of maintaining both software and hardware in firms, respond to issues of demand, and increase the efficacy in which services in the enterprise are delivered to clients.

This study focuses on cloud computing as a favorable change for organizations in this computing and information era. The emphasis of the study is the security of cloud computing. However, a clear understanding of what cloud computing is, as well as its benefits and drawbacks will be discussed. In cloud computing the underlying infrastructure is hidden from the end users as all the components of computing are provided by a third party. The potential security challenges of the model will be investigated with the aim of making their information more secure.

Literature Review

Although there is great excitement that surrounds the adoption of cloud computing/networking by many enterprises, it is important to carry out an objective assessment of the opportunities and risks, which characterize cloud computing, especially on issues such as security. According to Turner (2013), an attractive feature of cloud computing is the fact that it allows for the access of important or necessary information from other areas or locales that are remote. Unlike in the conventional days when workers had to be in their offices, making use of their workplace servers and access required information, cloud networking allows business firms to adopt a more flexible and effective culture of mobile work since employees can access information from servers away from the office and in the office from remote locations.

Cloud computing enables business enterprises to avoid being attached to information technology systems which are hard wired and very costly to set up; commercial organizations can try out new different technological solutions and easily revert to the original infrastructure if the new ones are not as successful (Stark, 2013). Therefore, it means that cloud computing equips commercial organizations with the flexibility required in the adoption and execution of new technologies at a reduced costs and risks as well as increase their efficiency, performance, and productivity (Turner, 2013). In addition to the fact that cloud computing is characterized by considerably low obstacles of entry, the process offers commercial organizations with systems such as pay per user (Stark, 2013). Thus, cloud computing is quite affordable for small and medium-sized companies and cost-effective for larger ones.

Cloud providers can present many different users with unlimited amounts of supplies; the capacity to be leased ensures that the expenses of cloud computing may be easily distributed amongst the different clients. In turn, this considerably lessens the time and financial costs incurred by a firm, and the business organization can focus on other areas, which increase its efficacy and profitability (Stark, 2013). Cloud computing also eliminates other costs related to the management of information technology systems, for instance, the use and licensing of the servers and stations of work and the extra costs involved in the hiring and coaching of information technology experts to handle the installation, maintenance, and upgrading of information technology structures (Turner, 2013). Indeed, this is possible since all these processes are passed on to the cloud-computing providers. In addition to this, the customization of clouds allows commercial organizations to forecast their budgets and expenses much easier.

In spite of the fact that cloud computing does possess the potential to transform several facets of the contemporary day’s software sector, Dutta, Guo and Choudhar (2013) purport that there are challenges and risks in cloud computing. The principle value proposition of cloud computing is the premise that business firms will greatly lessen their operating expenditures if they can charter applications via the internet (Stark, 2013). Regardless, the managements of many companies are unaware of the fact that many cloud-computing forums are challenged when it comes to the issue of identity management (Turner, 2013). It is not uncommon for identity management frameworks in this process to fail to adequately safeguard assets in the cloud computing realms.

Dutta et al., (2013) posit that one of the most significant risks of cloud computing is the fact that it is dependent on the wireless network, specifically the Internet. In spite of the fact that commercial organizations that have their information stored in the house are still confronted with the risks of data integrity and security, the threats are even higher for organizational information that is stored offsite (Turner, 2013). The fact that data stored off-site is more mobile makes it more susceptible to unwarranted interceptions; moreover, the possibilities of attack are much greater than those of data stored in-house (Stark, 2013). Regardless of the fact that improvements in technology enable for advanced levels of encryption, hackers are always sharpening their hacking skills.

Data through a network can be viewed, stolen, or compromised. Customer data being transmitted through a network can be hijacked and accessed or stolen, especially in the case where the service provider does not have adequate security measures (Sehgal et al., 2011). For any organization, various security complications are added to the current network technology by deciding to go the cloud computing way. Some of the security issues that can face an organization by using remote service providers for its computing services include eavesdropping, packet sniffing, Spam over Internet Telephony (SPIT), Denial of Service (DOS), or tampering with the network affecting the organization’s operations. These are some of the security concerns that an organization should understand and address while deciding to invest in cloud computing.

Rationale

The impact of cloud computing on businesses has been debated since the introduction of the concept in the 1960s. Notably, this is an area that has received a lot of interest in research. While most of the researchers are focused on the cost-related advantages of cloud computing, very little has been done on the security issue as far as this technology is concerned. Research on understanding what cloud computing is and the promise it gives to businesses is massive. However, the majority of researchers has left out the issue of security of an organization’s information on moving its services to remote service providers (Sehgal et al., 2011). The cost reduction advantage related to cloud computing is almost obvious. The idea that the end users of these services are shielded from the need to understand the underlying infrastructure of the network also comes out clearly in the research. The reduction in the cost of managing computing services in the use of this model is also evident in the research. However the question of the security risk involved in cloud computing has not been thoroughly researched (Stark, 2013). It is important for organizations deciding to adopt cloud computing to understand what security risks they are exposing their organizations to and thus what measures they can take to eliminate or minimize these security risks.

Organizations have come to rely on data a great deal for all their business operations. Compromised data of networks can cost an organization a lot or even completely mess with the normal working of the company. Various aspects of data security have been studied in the past, but it emerges that they have not been studied in the context of cloud computing. They are thus applicable in an environment where the organization uses its platforms for computing rather than having a third party provider for the services (Stark, 2013). Security measures, including data encryption, privacy, control, access control and security (server’s physical access and user logins), legal issues, as well as compliance with regulations have in the past been beneficial to organizations, but the changes that have taken place in the recent past (the move to cloud computing) necessitate an adjustment in security measures. More effective measures can only be developed where there is a clear understanding of the security threats in the use of cloud computing. From this perspective, understanding the security aspect of cloud computing is very crucial. Once an organization has this knowledge, collaboration with the third party service provider is possible in maintaining security.

The project’s main rationale is to provide a better appreciation of the way cloud computing works for the enterprises seeking to move their computing services to the cloud. Thus, the organizations will have a better idea of what they will be getting themselves into. The information will play an important role in their decision-making (Stark, 2013). Additionally, an understanding of the security issues relating to cloud computing will provide effective measures that would protect the information belonging to the enterprise. Given the reality that more companies are moving their services to the cloud, it is important to understand the novel information security measures and policies, which can ensure the security of their information. Thus, this is the significance of research on cloud computing and particularly as far as security is concerned.

Systems Analysis and Methodology

There is an increase in the use of cloud computing by business enterprises worldwide. In this study, the “working hypothesis,” business enterprises are implementing cloud computing without adequate understanding of the underlying security challenges. In fact, this is because the enterprises are leaving every aspect of computing to the provider of cloud computing services. Since this is not a new study in cloud computing, it will simply proceed by extending the earlier research. Hence, this is where the general rule is “Start from what is known. Proceed by enlarging the mapped area, and connect the new intelligence to the known facts.” (Sehgal et al., 2011, p. 782). Adjustment to the existing model is required as the study is aimed at giving grounds for a forecast and the environment for the implementation of the results slightly differs from earlier research. The world of IT is always changing giving the basis for the use of this model. In the present case, the only model will be used with the aim of developing a new theory (see figure 1 below).

Figure 1.

The participant in the study will be a company that has implemented cloud computing for its business operations. The CK Services Company is the main company from which the data will be collected. The study will use a quantitative study design where a survey will be used. The data, using the survey, will be collected from IT experts within and outside the organization. A total of 10 IT experts five from CK Services Company and five from the cloud computing service provider will be used. The experts will be individuals with an adequate understanding of the working of cloud computing to provide the kind of information that will answer the questions and provide the necessary recommendations. The sample of the participants will be required to fill in the surveys that will be statistically analyzed to provide results and recommendations.

Besides the questionnaires used to collect data from the participants, the researcher will also collect data from secondary sources, including from the Internet and the security policy of the involved company. If the executives of the company allow, data will be collected on possible past cases security breaches since the company started using cloud computing. Permission from the management, including the IT manager, will be requested for the researcher to access such private and confidential information from the company. The information will form a major part of the study, and the report will indicate whether cloud computing is secure or has vulnerabilities that should be addressed.

The project will be a meta-analysis study, which will be used for the review of the secondary information from the company and the Internet. The researcher will integrate previous findings on the problem of security as relates to the use of cloud computing by enterprises. The results of the study, both the survey, and review of documents will be analyzed and reported statistically. The meta-analysis design is the selected due to the fact that it enables for generalizations (Sehgal et al., 2011). There is also the chance to offer practical patterns within the blended data. Data from the structured questionnaires will be analyzed using SPSS. These will form the basis for the report of findings, conclusions, and recommendations.

Project Goals and Objectives

There are various areas of research in cloud computing. Research can begin from trying to understand what cloud computing is. In fact, as cloud computing becomes very popular in the world of business today, the question of its benefits to businesses is also important to answer. A major benefit that is worth researching on is the cost-related benefit of cloud computing. Many businesses are going for professional clouds; is there a benefit of choosing this element of cloud computing? Another area that should be studied is the role of performance cloud in computing, the three cloud computing models, the advantages and disadvantages of each, as well as which of the three is more favorable is an important question to investigate. While looking at the drawbacks of cloud computing, the security aspect of the cloud computing can be investigated in details.

The main goal of this study is to establish the security issues relating to cloud computing with the primary aim of recommending ways of addressing these issues. Another goal is to establish the most feasible cloud-computing model that will provide the greatest level of security. The particular objectives of the study will be:

1. To determine the kind of service accessibility the organization needs and the privacy, security and compliance mandates that should be met.
2. To establish which among the common cloud computing models, private, public and community will provide the greatest level of security for the organization’s data.
3. To provide recommendations on the best practice in achieving a seamless move to the cloud by the organization and the greatest level of security for its information.

Evaluation of the objectives is critical in finding out whether they have been achieved or not at the end of the project, whether they need to be changed or revised. To begin with, it should be noted that the system being evaluated has already been implemented and running. The evaluation will involve assessment of the objectives relating to its working and security of the information it delivers. Thus, after collecting the information from the experts and review of documents, the data will be used to establish whether the objectives will have been achieved. The researcher will evaluate each of the objectives separately so that in the case of the need for change the particular objective will be affected.

To determine the kind of service accessibility the organization needs and the privacy, security and compliance mandates that should be met, the evaluation will be done with the information collected from the experts who have interacted with the system.

To establish which among the common cloud computing models, private, public and community models, will provide the greatest level of security for the organization’s data, the evaluation will involve information obtained from the experts from the service provider, as they have an adequate understanding of the three models of cloud computing, private, public and community.

The recommendations on best practice in achieving a seamless move to the cloud by the organization and the greatest level of security for its information will be provided based on the information obtained from the questionnaires, the documents from the company, and the information from the internet. The recommendations should be implementable at the organizational level for them to be effective.

Project Deliverables

In whatever project, success is said to have been achieved based on the project deliverables, the outcomes, or products of the project. In some information technology projects, the main deliverable is a system, which is created and forwarded for implementation at the organizational level. However, in the case of the current project, the system is not the main deliverable because the system being studied, cloud computing is already in place (Stark, 2013). Thus, the system will be evaluated based on the proposed goals and objectives with the findings being presented to the implementers. The main product from this project will be a report to the policy makers within the organization detailing the security issues relating to securing an enterprise wireless network. The report will primarily provide the recommendations resulting from data analysis to the policy makers. The implementation of the recommendations will be the basis for success in the project.

The project will be said to have achieved its objectives once the recommendations are successfully implemented, the same way they are presented or with some amendments to suit the context of the company. The formal report will be presented to the general management of the organization and copy to the information technology manager. The availability of the tentative model as used in the study will assist in the choice of the logic structure of the report from the project and the planning for the implementation of the recommendations (Sehgal et al., 2011). The model will be used as the basis for deciding the project materials to collect, from which cases, and regarding which variables or attributes to be used. The aim of this aspect is to achieve success in the implementation of the recommendations from the report. The model will also facilitate the recording of observations, as the use of the earlier definitions is possible. Recording of the observations is particularly important since it will be the basis of the overall project.

Analysis methods for performing the research and writing the report will be borrowed from the earlier works. Evidently, there are various other studies in the past that have come up with effective reports, which have been successfully implemented. Such will provide the blueprint for the current project and the resulting project. In descriptive research, like the case in the current project, the whole assignment has been organized in separate phases. The initial phase is the demarcation of the population from which the data will be collected (in the case of the current research, the organization, which has implemented cloud computing for securing the wireless network). The second phase is the selection of the sample (a few IT experts who will be interviewed). As such, this is followed by gathering of the empirical data from the selected sample, analysis of the data follows, and finally the assessment of the findings. These will be done using the same model from earlier studies.

Once the data has been collected and analyzed to provide findings and recommendations, the researcher will take the time to write the report. The statement will be written in different sections revealing the process taken in performing the project. The first section of the report will be the introduction, which will provide the background on the adoption of cloud computing by business enterprises in securing wireless networks. The introduction will provide important information on the meaning of cloud computing and how it is implemented (Sehgal et al., 2011). The introduction will be followed by a review of the previous research projects on the topic of cloud computing. It is important to note that the current project is not the first on the use of cloud computing. Thus, past studies will shed light on what has been done on the topic and show the gaps that will be addressed by the current study.

The third section of the report will be on the actual implementation of the project. At this stage, it will include the description of the current system and the environment within which it operates and the methodology that will be used in collecting and analyzing the collected data. The methodology marks the most important part of the project as it is the actual implementation and it is the basis for the successful collection of the important data. Once a target has been found and defined with the assistance of the descriptive model, the research project goes on as a plan for practical operations, possibly even identifying them and measuring the finding, and the basis for the implementation. It is the basis for putting the plan into action since it is necessary to investigate the current state of the system and provide solutions for the identified problems.

The third section of the report will be the analysis of the data collected from the use of cloud computing by the organization and recording of the results. The section involves the exploration of possibilities for change and relationships that take place in relation to the use of the system. Results from the discourse analysis and statistical analysis will be provided in this part of the report. The results will be provided in figures, tables, and charts. Discussion of the findings will also be presented in the report. The section is a step further from the analysis and results because it is the discussion of what is obtained from the analysis. In the discussion, results from each of the three objectives will be presented and discussed detailing the implications of the study to the use of cloud computing by business organizations.

The final and very important section of the project will be the conclusion and recommendations made to the policy makers for implementation. While the entire project will be important for the policy makers and the main stakeholders, the recommendations are even more important as they will provide the way forward in the use of cloud computing. If the system is to be found to have security vulnerabilities, a proposal for improvement will be provided. In essence, the recommendations will be specific, detailing the steps that should be taken in implementing the solutions to make the system secure.

Project Timeline with Milestones
November-December 2016

References

Dutta, A., Guo C. A. P., and Choudhar, Y. A. (2013). Risks in Enterprise Cloud Computing:  The Perspective of IT Experts. Journal of Computer Information Systems, 53(4), 39-48.

Han, Y. (2011). Cloud Computing: Case Studies and Total Costs of Ownership. Information Technology & Libraries, 30(4), 198-206.

Sehgal, N. K., Sohoni, S., Ying, X., Fritz, D., Mulia, W., & Acken, J. M. (2011). A Cross Section  of the Issues and Research Activities Related to Both Information Security and Cloud           Computing. IETE Technical Review, 28(4), 279-291.

Stark, B. (2013) Risks/Rewards of Moving Treasury to the Cloud. Financial Executive, 29(3), 54-56.

Turner, S. (2013). Benefits and risks of cloud computing. Journal of Technology Research, 4, 1-  11

Weil, M. (2011). Managing Assets in the Cloud: Keeping Track of an Ever-Expanding Amount   of Technology Assets Can Be a Daunting Task for an Understaffed District IT           Department. Two Schools Turn to the Cloud for Assistance. THE Journal (Technological        Horizons In Education), 38(5), 14-21

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