Cloud Computing And Banking Security
Financial institutions need to approach cloud computing the same way they approach most ventures; with an eye on security. When planning due diligence for a cloud computing vendor, banks need to consider the following:
- Information Security
- Audits
- Legal & Regulatory compliance
- Business Continuity
Large banks may have the ability to build their own virtual cloud while smaller institutions may either avoid the cloud altogether or outsource smaller parts of their business. Big or small, the lack of standards is a challenge for financial institutions trying to decide how to approach entering the cloud in a safe and prudent manner. Bank Systems Technology recently published a document, "Is the Cloud Safe" which you can download here. The National Institute of Standards and Technology has also issued a set of cloud computing guidelines. Here are more details
One more related resource on cloud computing and banking security is here
Cloud Computing and IT Cost Reduction.
From the Rackspace survey, of those already using cloud computing:
- The largest sample, 41 percent, said cloud computing reduced costs from 10 to 25 percent, while 19 percent said it providing 25 to 50 percent in IT savings, and 27 percent said it only cut costs by 10 percent or less.
- 54 percent said use of cloud services helped accelerate IT project implementation, including application development, while 17 percent begged to differ. The rest weren't sure.
- 56 percent saw increased profits while 18 percent reported no benefit to the bottom line, with 26 percent unsure.
- 49 percent said cloud computing helped grow their businesses, with 21 percent seeing no such benefit, and 30 percent unsure.
- 59 percent said cloud services provided better disaster recovery.
- 56 percent were using open source cloud technology, though in the United States that figure is 70 percent.
Teaching Computer Science in Tune with Times
In a recent article published here , Marty Humphrey, an associate professor in the Department of Computer Science at University of Virginia, said one task for educators is to ensure that students are able to author new cloud-based applications.
"On the one hand this will not require a radical rethinking of computer science curriculum because at the core, cloud applications are based on algorithms and data structures, which have been the foundation of computer science courses since the beginning," he said by email.
"But on the other hand, cloud applications are so important that we will need to ensure that computer science students are up-to-date with the latest frameworks and data analysis tools," Humphrey said. "This can be a challenge because the field is changing so quickly."
Students in our department, have started doing cloud-based projects. Here are some of the examples
Cloud based Teaching system uses cloud resources to build system to support teaching learning process.
MarkmeLive is another cloud API based project that connects Facebook and Google maps and results in an useful application such as Alumni Maps
Cloud Computing beckons Big Players
Here is a set of examples from WSJ on Cloud Computing charming Big Companies
- Royal Dutch Shell plc, the largest company in the world by revenue, could afford to build all the data centers that it desires. But like many other major corporations, it has enthusiastically embraced cloud computing, which has been introduced at multiple layers of its information technology, from routine applications to the very core of the energy giant's global IT infrastructure.
- Large organizations are adopting cloud technology for many of the same reasons smaller organizations have been attracted to the idea of renting rather than owning computing resources — greater flexibility and cost savings, resiliency in the event of natural disasters, and the ability to try new technologies without having to commit to them. And while they acknowledge concerns about cybersecurity, they believe they can safely pursue their cloud strategies while taking appropriate precautions.
- "For every application, we look at whether the cloud can be used, and at that moment we look at all aspects, including security. When all criteria are met we will launch on the cloud and therefore we believe that the cloud is secure enough for a number of scenarios," said Johan Krebber, Shell group IT architect and lead architect for the Projects and Technology Business.
- Joe AbiDaoud, CIO of Hudbay Minerals Inc., says security is of course "a big deal," but says customers of cloud computing can take steps to ensure security. He says the company only works with reputable vendors, that can provide the "level of service that's required." He also says he'll only work with applications that support single sign-on using Active Directory, which allows employees to access approved cloud services by signing on to a single, federated system.
- While Shell maintains the majority of its IT on its own data centers, "we already have quite a lot of computer resources that we use in the cloud," Mr. Krebber says. Approximately three years ago Shell started to make use of Amazon Inc.'s Amazon Web Services public cloud service to host various types of applications. In some cases, the service was used to explore emerging applications, such as predictive analytics, in which leadership was interested without being obligated to commit significant resources. But in others it is using the service "to run our business applications," Mr. Krebber said. The most significant cloud-based business applications include software used for training management, business planning services and engineering design service.
- In addition to Amazon, Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. also allow third parties to lease the use of their computing infrastructure through an Internet-based connection. The on-demand cloud service is known as infrastructure-as-a-service.
- The cloud can in many cases lower the cost of computing resources on the basis of price, but it also eliminates wasteful expenditures, because the company only pays for the computing resources it needs. Many "large scale systems" often "run inside" of company-owned data centers, though, Mr. Krebber said.
- Mr. AbiDaoud says cost "is definitely a factor" in considering cloud, but AbiDaoud warns "you have to think what cost means." Renting cloud applications over a long period of time may eventually cost more than buying it outright, but Mr. AbiDaoud says other factors, including the cost of upgrading purchased technology and employing engineers to maintain it, should be factored in as well. "You have to think about total cost of ownership, the ability to support it," he said.
- One advantage in using public cloud resources is that companies like Shell can experiment with analytic technology based on the open source Hadoop framework. Many executives believe this type of software can provide their companies with a significant competitive advantage, but there is still little consensus about how best to use it, and even fewer engineers and analysts with extensive experience using it in a corporate environment . "In the case of the Hadoop architecture, we are in a small-scale proof of concept and pilot phase and we do that in a cloud-based environment," Krebber says. "We are running it in a public cloud environment to validate and to determine how best to run it inside Shell. Once we have decided that, we might still remain inside the cloud, depending on the amount of data we want to store in that environment.".The Hadoop trial is running on AWS.
- Nissan Motor Co. is using Microsoft's IaaS service, Azure, to develop telematics, a term that describe the use of sensors to gather data from vehicles, which is wirelessly transmitted back to the company for analysis. The use of the Azure, which provides computational power and business solutions, has allowed Nissan to cut the cost of its telematics program in half, according to its CIO, Celso Guiotoko.
- Hudbay also uses public cloud infrastructure to reduce infrastructure costs related to maintaining email and document storage. Mr. AbiDaoud says Hudbay started rolling out Google Gmail in 2012. Now he plans to start promoting other Google apps, such as Hangout video conferencing, instant messaging, and Drive document storage and sharing. He says Google Drive replaces the need for all employees at the company to have a personal virtual drive maintained in the data center.
- Cloud computing also allows companies to build redundancy and resiliency into their systems. CIO Alexander Pasik of IEEE says Hurricane Sandy taught the professional organization for technologists a lesson about the need for network redundancy – "no one ever thought we'd have a two week outage," he says. The organization was closed for four days in the aftermath of the hurricane and "important applications were down."
- IEEE uses Amazon templates for 50% of the websites IEEE maintains on behalf of member organizations, including chapter websites, conference websites. Those sites didn't go down during Sandy.
- No one believes cloud computing will completely supplant traditional data centers run by individual corporations. But the flexibility it provides organizations to increase or decrease their use of computing and storage power on an as-needed basis is compelling enough that most agree its use will only increase. In addition to freeing financial resources, cloud computing also allows organizations to reassign software engineers and other IT workers from mundane maintenance tasks to efforts that could directly affect business performance, such as developing new applications needed by their organizations to compete more effectively. Mr. AbiDaoud says he doesn't anticipate the corporate data center "completely disappearing." But he believes it is "going to shrink."
Cloud Computing's Value Proposition: Liberty to Innovate
At its core, cloud computing's inherent value proposition centers on answering a perennial challenge of every organization faces: Lack of budget to really improve a enterprise's competitive edge in the business market space. Cloud computing promises to help IT organizations to relay back maintenance costs so they can spend on business value creation process. Behind that promise are the benefits for small enterprises.
- Low start-up costs
- Low costs for sporadic or seasonal use
- ease of management
- scalability
- Device and location independent
- Rapid innovation
Cloud Computing for Educators
suggests " Using technology in the classroom has a myriad of benefits. Not only do teachers have the option of using thousands of cloud computing applications, they can also use efficient course management systems, which makes manual creation of assessments, grading, and grade book maintenance a thing of the past. If you struggle to meet the individual learning needs of your students, consider the ways cloud-based tools can help.
3 Cloud Computing Tools for Educators
- WordPress. Creating your own website or blog provides a one-stop-shop for students to get answers to direct questions, find additional learning support and tools for their classes, and to communicate with you when necessary. WordPress is free and simple to use.
- Scribd. Use Scribd to share published works with your students via a link on your website or blog. In addition to providing learning support for your classes, students will be able to use Scribd for other classes as well.
- BigHugeLabs. Try your hand at BigHugeLabs and create puzzles, trading cards, posters and more using your students' images. It's easy and fun to use, but most important is that it's free!
Opening Up for OpenStack
The cloud computing world is opening up for the OpenStack. This open source project, launched by NASA and Rackspace in late 2010, is assembling a private cloud "operating system" for the data center that promises vast increases in operational efficiency. The momentum behind it is phenomenal ; at last count more than 150 companies back the project including CISCO, Citrix, Dell, HP and Intel. With OpenStack, there is a vibrant, fast growing open source project for creating private cloud, flanked by VMware that offers a proprietary portfolio of private cloud software. OpenStack private cloud is compelling in part because it follows a Linux like open source model. Today, under an Apache license , the OpenStack "kernel" has three components:
- Compute( for managing large networks of Virtual Machines)
- Object Storage ( for massive storage clusters)
- Image Service ( for managing virtual disk images).
- Identity- for authentication and authorization
- Dashboard - UI for managing OpenStack services
Cloud Computing Deployment Model 4: Community Clouds
A community cloud in computing
is a collaborative effort in which infrastructure is shared between
several organizations from a specific community with common concerns
(security, compliance, jurisdiction, etc.), whether managed internally
or by a third-party and hosted internally or externally. The costs are
spread over fewer users than a public cloud (but more than a private
cloud), so only some of the cost savings potential of cloud computing
are realized.
For example, a group of SMEs could profit from community clouds to which different entities contribute with their respective (smaller) infrastructure. Community clouds can either aggregate public clouds or dedicated resource infrastructure.
- In community clouds smaller organizations may come together only to pool their resources for building private community clouds.
- In contrast, cloud resellers may pool cloud resources from ddifferent providers and resell them.
Cloud Computing Deployment Model 3: Hybrid Clouds
Business deploy private and public clouds for different purposes. Although public cloud enables business to outsource parts of their infrastructure to cloud providers, they at the same time would loose control over the resources, distribution and management of the code and data. In certain cases, this is not desirable by a particular enterprise. In such cases, enterprises use a combination of public and private clouds. Hybrid clouds consists a combined deployment of private and public cloud infrastructure so as to achieve an optimal in cost reduction through outsourcing while still maintaining the desired degree of control over data and management.
Industry example
Source : IBM Juniper Hybrid cloud
Cloud Computing Deployment Model-2 - Public Clouds
Enterprises use private cloud to meet their internal needs. However enterprise may offer cloud functionalities and services to outside of the company. A cloud built for providing services to outsider is called a Public Cloud. Providing the outside user- individual or enterprise with the actual capability to exploit the cloud features for their own purposes allows enterprises to outsource their services to such cloud providers. This outsourcing will reduce costs and efforts to build their own infrastructure. The type of service provided by a cloud service provider may differ.
i
Example for Public cloud companies
On-Premise and On-demand Computing
Today ,we all need computing and our computing needs can be met by two different approaches.
On-premise Computing
The first and traditional approach is called on-premise computing. In this approach individuals or institutions determine their computing needs, procure required hardware and software, install and run on the computers located on the premise- personal office or company building. Until very recently , up to 2005, the on-premises approach to deploying and using business software was
the most common.
The second approach for meeting computing needs is called on-demand wherein user can access computing resources directly from remote location via Internet. In the early days, only software was available on-demand and was called hosted service. Today this mode of availing resource is called cloud computing. In this cloud computing on-demand computing user can access all types of computing resources- hardware, software, tools and more directly the service providers.
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