Cloud (service): Difference between revisions
see also, moved links to wikipedia links (should be cr wiki links, or removed) |
→Ineffective access controls: There is also a ToS page |
||
| (10 intermediate revisions by 2 users not shown) | |||
| Line 27: | Line 27: | ||
Because cloud computing providers, which cloud services are often built upon, have to be '''large''' in order to offer competitive advantages to their customers (as pertains to this article, particularly product manufacturers), there are very few cloud computing providers in existence. Thus, every one of them operates the infrastructure under a large number of cloud services. | Because cloud computing providers, which cloud services are often built upon, have to be '''large''' in order to offer competitive advantages to their customers (as pertains to this article, particularly product manufacturers), there are very few cloud computing providers in existence. Thus, every one of them operates the infrastructure under a large number of cloud services. | ||
Some of the most famous cloud providers include Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and Oracle Cloud | Some of the most famous cloud providers include Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and Oracle Cloud. | ||
While they take great care to ensure their smooth operation, they sometimes fail and cause widespread service disruptions because of the great number of companies relying on their services.{{ | While they take great care to ensure their smooth operation, they sometimes fail and cause widespread service disruptions because of the great number of companies relying on their services.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-10-21 |title=Amazon says AWS cloud service back to normal after outage disrupts businesses worldwide |url=https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/amazons-cloud-unit-reports-outage-several-websites-down-2025-10-20/ |website=Reuters}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-10-09 |title=Kubernetes kicks down Azure Front Door |url=https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/09/kubernetes_azure_outage/ |website=The Register}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-10-24 |title=Multiple GCP services impacted in the europe-west3-c zone |url=https://status.cloud.google.com/incidents/e3yQSE1ysCGjCVEn2q1h |website=Google Cloud Service Health}}</ref> | ||
===Ineffective access controls=== | ===Ineffective access controls=== | ||
A service provider requires some level of access to the data it processes. Unless access to the service is engineered on consumer's side to minimize such access (e. g. end-to-end encryption), all of the processed data is visible to the service provider<ref name=":0" />, where it can be leaked as a result of a cybersecurity incident or used for purposes to which consumers did not consent (such as included in machine learning datasets{{Citation needed}} or sold to advertising companies{{Citation needed}}). | A service provider requires some level of access to the data it processes. Unless access to the service is engineered on consumer's side to minimize such access (e. g. end-to-end encryption), all of the processed data is visible to the service provider<ref name=":0" />, where it can be leaked as a result of a cybersecurity incident or used for purposes to which consumers did not consent (such as included in machine learning datasets{{Citation needed}} or sold to advertising companies{{Citation needed}}). | ||
Providers may offer some access controls for the data they possess and process, but most of the time they are also the ones enforcing them, which renders them ineffective for restricting providers' access due to a conflict of interest. There may be legally binding promises of effectiveness of these controls in | Providers may offer some access controls for the data they possess and process, but most of the time they are also the ones enforcing them, which renders them ineffective for restricting providers' access due to a conflict of interest. There may be legally binding promises of effectiveness of these controls in their [[terms of service]], but violations of policies established through these controls are difficult to detect and legal enforcement is difficult in general. | ||
===Less legal protection=== | |||
In the United States, federal limits on gathering evidence mean you are not usually required to supply a password to unlock a device that you have, however others may be compelled to release your data. | |||
===Loss of control=== | |||
Service company can deprive you of your data/services. For example if you lose login credentials, as might happen when a person dies, or your account is stolen, or the service provider terminates the account. (see for example, [[Microsoft account]], [[Google account]]). | |||
==Alternatives== | |||
===Generic protocols=== | |||
A lot of cloud services use needlessly specialized protocols, which allows service providers to maintain monopolies over their respective niches. Use of more generic protocols provides more choice to consumers, incentivizes competition between service providers and creates business opportunities for new service providers to emerge. | |||
For example, the impact of [[Amazon PhotosPlus discontinuation]] would be minimal if it were to allow connection to generic file storage rather than relying on Amazon's specialized photo storage service. | |||
===Self-hosting=== | |||
{{Main|Self-hosting}} | |||
Some cloud services can be adequately replaced with self-hosted alternatives, where consumers run compatible software on hardware they control. | |||
==Examples== | ==Examples== | ||
*File synchronization services like [[wikipedia:Dropbox|Dropbox]], [[wikipedia:Google_drive|Google Drive]], [[OneDrive]], [[ICloud]], [[Mega.io cloud storage service|Mega]]. | |||
*Remote device access, as in [[Wyze|Wyze cameras]] and [[Bosch Cloud Dishwasher Incident|select Bosch dishwashers]]. | |||
* | *[[Software as a service]] online applications, like Google Workspace, [[Microsoft Office 365]], [[Adobe creative cloud]], [[Games as a service]]. | ||
* | *AI compute (inference) servers which power AI chatbots and agents. (for example, [[Google Gemini]], [[ChatGPT]], [[Microsoft Copilot]]). | ||
== Further reading == | ==Further reading== | ||
*[[Self-hosting]] | |||
* [[Self-hosting]] | *[[Internet of things]] | ||
* [[ | |||
==References== | ==References== | ||
<references /> | <references /> | ||
[[Category:Common terms]] | [[Category:Common terms]] | ||