Cloud computing has grabbed significant attention of organizations due to its potential benefits. It is a delivery model of on-demand computing resources over the Internet on a pay-for-use basis. The computing resources are elastic, which means it can be scaled up and down as per the demand easily and quickly. The resources can be everything from applications to data centers. The cloud services operate following the self-service pattern and a client only pays for what he/she uses.

However, cloud computing comes with several security threats arising from the shared and on-demand nature of the cloud resources. The multi-tenancy in public clouds throws critical threats such as data breaches and service abuses. If a multitenant cloud database is not designed with care, a single flaw in one tenant’s application could allow attackers to get access to not just that tenant’s data but every other tenant’s as well. The malicious hacker might delete the target’s data resulting in catastrophic consequences for the tenant. Another is traffic hijacking, where an attacker gains access to a tenant’s credentials; he/she eavesdrops on the activities and transactions and redirects the tenant’s clients to illegitimate sites. Denial of service has been a threat for years on the Internet. It has become more problematic with cloud due to the fact that tenants depend on the service 24/7. It proves costly not only for the cloud provider but also the tenants. Cloud computing becomes very attractive and effective when adequate tough security measures are in place. As a result, security in cloud computing attracts ample research attention.

The first paper, “Hybrid Model for Data Security in Cloud”, by Ogwueleka Francisca Nonyehem and Moses Timothy, proposes a hybrid model for data security in cloud computing. The model combines a novel spectral graph theoretic approach to user identification using hand geometry and block-level deduplication with encrypted data model. The hybrid model has two authentication layers that ensure data is not being abused or leaked. The authors claim that the approach provides a greater security solution in cloud computing.

The second paper, “An Assessment of the Websites of Power Distribution Companies in the National Capital Region”, by Varun Prakash and Vipin Khurana, presents a quality assessment of the websites of power distribution companies. The paper reports that the companies running on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode score high based on Web Assessment Index (WAI), while the state run companies fail to meet the quality parameters.

The third paper, “E-Governance: An Analysis of Citizens’ Perception”, by Shruti Agrawal, Poojae Sethi and Manish Mittal, provides an analysis of citizens’ perception of e-governance. The paper finds that the demographic factors considered in the study do not influence e-government acceptance and usage.
The last paper, “An Analysis of Xbrl Adoption in India Using Technology Acceptance Model”, by Vineet Chouhan and Shubham Goswami, presents a study on the adoption of Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) in the country. Using technology acceptance model, the paper finds that the perception of financial experts towards XBRL is encouraging and it offers a lot of benefits to them.

-- A C Ojha
Consulting Editor