As with every technology, IaaS has its share of concerns. Principal among them is the privacy and security in the cloud followed by increased vulnerability, limited flexibility and control, down time and technical difficulties associated. Follow DoubleHorn updates on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/doublehorn-communications DoubleHorn is a leading cloud based Managed Services Provider, founded in January 2005 and based in Austin, TX. We specialize in delivering Cloud Services, Managed Communications and Consulting to the Enterprise, Government and SME (Small and Medium Enterprise) sectors. If you are new to the cloud and not sure how to get started, contact us for a complimentary initial assessment at solutions@doublehorn.com or (855) 61-VOICE.

1. Risks and Concerns about IaaS - Executive
Perspective
Part 2/5 of blog series on Infrastructure-as-a-Service
Now that we have extensively discussed about the several advantages cloud computing offers
and specifically discussing about the various advantages of IaaS in the previous blog, we will try
to analyze different concerns associated with adopting IaaS from a business owner's
perspective. As with every technology, IaaS has its share of concerns. Principal among them is
the privacy and security in the cloud followed by increased vulnerability, limited flexibility and
control, down time and technical difficulties associated. We will discuss them in detail.
Privacy and Security in the Cloud: Perhaps the biggest concern a business owner has in
adopting IaaS is the security of private and confidential enterprise data and information.
By leveraging a cloud based infrastructure that is remotely managed by a vendor, management
of mission critical data and information is assigned to a service provider and credibility of
service provider assumes utmost significance. A business owner thus evaluates all the possible
alternatives before arriving at a decision. On the similar lines, privacy is also an important area
of concern. Businesses have to trust their cloud service vendors to protect their data from
unauthorized users. Various stories of password leaks, data loss and the more recent hacks of
iCloud servers in the media don't help to reassure the same level of confidence business
owners have on cloud servers.
Downtime and Technical Difficulties: Businesses of smaller scale definitely will enjoy not

2. having to deal with the daily technical issues and would prefer assigning the task to an
established provider, however it’s a known fact that all systems face dysfunctions from time to
time. Outage and downtime is very much possible and even the best providers occasionally face
this situation. Additionally, given the fact that the whole setup is completely dependent on
Internet access and any connectivity or network related issues render the whole setup useless.
Although it may seem minor, it takes several minutes for the cloud to identify a fault in server
and to launch a new instance thereby impacting the efficiency.
Increased Vulnerability: With respect to the privacy and security issues discussed above, cloud
based solutions stand more risk of being exploited by malicious users and hackers. It is worth
mentioning that nothing is completely secure on Internet and major players too have had their
share of serious security breaches and malicious attacks. Due to the interdependency of the
cloud system, a compromise on one of the servers where the data is stored may lead to leakage
of personal information.
Limited Control and Flexibility: Businesses are generally concerned about the fact that they can
exercise limited control over the execution of software and hardware because of the fact that
services and applications run on third party, remote virtual environments.
Dependency on Vendor Lock-In: Among the most explicitly expressed concerns of a business
owner is the dependency on the service provider, Often referred to as "vendor lock-in",
businesses find it exceedingly difficult and sometimes impossible to switch from one provider
to another once they have enrolled with their services. It can be really cumbersome and painful
to transfer huge volumes of data from the old provider to the new one. This is one of the
reasons why business evaluate all the available options thoroughly before picking a service
provider.
All said and done, these issues raised by business owners are effectively being dealt by service
providers and they are taking every step in the process of becoming more reliable and
trustworthy. Service providers, using the latest technology advances are updating their
offerings to suit individual requirements of a business owner.
DoubleHorn offers a complimentary Cloud assessment and helps you understand the level of
security Cloud offers to your IT infrastructure. Contact us to get started with the Cloud
assessment.