Understanding Data Privacy in Cloud Computing

What is data privacy in cloud computing? In general, data privacy refers to the fact that your critical or vital data on the internet is not seen or spread by others. You may exchange data while preserving your personal information using data privacy.

Cloud computing is becoming synonymous with data privacy. With the expanding popularity of the cloud, millions of individuals are storing their private, public, or professional data on it. Several cloud customers are unaware of the geographical location of the server where their data is stored or how their data or information is processed on such servers.

Similarly to how the cloud facilitates data access, it is possible to lose control of data on the cloud. Might we trust the cloud for data privacy? is one of the issues that can be posed about data privacy in the cloud. Is it possible to lose data on the cloud? Is the cloud dependable enough? Does changing cloud providers have an impact on data privacy?

The term data privacy refers to personally identifiable information (PII) (Personally Identifiable Information). Personal information assists in uniquely identifying or locating a certain individual. This information can also be used with other resources to help identify a person.

If illegal access to data in the cloud occurs, or if data is unlawfully acquired, stored, or shared, the customer's confidence may be eroded. Customer information may be acquired in two ways via the cloud: user information and personal information.

Protecting Data Privacy 

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been teaching cloud users about the significance of particular data privacy when it is stored, collected, and distributed over the cloud. To ensure data privacy, the FTC has identified a few parameters, which are outlined below:

• Data collection: Applications or systems that gather data must have a good rationale for doing so.
• Notice: Before collecting, keeping, transferring, revealing, or exchanging personal data, cloud service providers or organizations must provide a clear notice to the data owner.
• Choice and Consent: The data owner must express explicit consent to the cloud provider for the collection, storage, management, and exchange of personal data.
• Use: The gathered personal data must be used for a legitimate purpose, as stated in the notice.
• Security: When transporting, storing, maintaining, and exchanging personal data, precise security measures must be used to secure the data's confidentiality, integrity, and validity.
• Unauthorized access to personal data must be prohibited in order to preserve data privacy protection.
• Retention: The acquired personal data must be kept for as long as the business aim is met or as long as the law requires.
• Disposal: The gathered personal data must be disposed of in a safe way so that no trace remains.

Future of Data Privacy in Cloud

The privacy and security of personal data is a legal and policy concern in business models that support the technological architecture of cloud computing. The future of personal data privacy and confidentiality in the cloud may be explored using the points below.

To strengthen data privacy in the cloud, cloud providers must utilize better rules and procedures, data privacy regulations must be improved, and consumers must be more vigilant.

Some criteria must be established in order for customers to assess and access different cloud providers.
Cloud customers must be more aware of the terms and services provided by cloud providers.