Digital Privacy and Data Security in Cloud-Based Services: A Call for Action

Abstract

The emergence of cloud-based services over the past two decades has created a paradigm shift in computing. Fueled by the universal reach of internet services, all the knowledge areas have openly embraced digitization of data storage, computation and communication. Social connectivity has made a village out of our digital world and we are more connected than ever before. With this multitude of facilities, comes the challenge of dealing with security and privacy concerns of our socially and digitally connected world. This work discusses the real-world scenario and highlights these concerns from the perspective of each stakeholder for our holistic understanding. The need for trustable solutions for secure cloud-based solutions is highlighted. Possible solutions that have been proposed include user identity protection by data masking and secure data sharing, incorporation of tools and practices for building a secure development life cycle, and developing holistic, universal privacy laws that are technically correct and auditable in real time. We call upon fellow researchers to take up research in these open research areas to defend the fortress of digital privacy and data security of cloud-based web applications.