Auditing security for the Cloud

Author:Dragos Marian MANGIUC

JEL:L86

DOI:10.20869/AUDITF/2016/135/302

Keywords:Cloud computing security, Software as a Service, Platform as a Service, Infrastructure as a Service, Security audit

Abstract:
Following the pattern of any major paradigm shift in the history of computing, the migration to cloud-based computing has known both praise and criticism. As its advantages, especially for the small and medium-sized companies, are too obvious to be doubted or questioned, the critics mainly focus on the drawbacks. Among the drawbacks, security is considered to be the most important. The paper proposes an outline of the real image behind the many cloud computing security-related myths and misconceptions that an auditor has to deal with. The research is based on the literature review in the field of cloud-based computing and it is built starting from a synthesis of results achieved by means of a thorough analysis of the recent opinions and experience of Romanian and foreign auditors that were available for interviews. The main purpose of the paper is to find whether cloud-systems are more or less secure than traditional in-house systems from an auditor’s perspective. The paper is part of a broader research process in the field of cloud computing and the neighboring technologies.

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