Addressing Security Issues and Challenges in Mobile Cloud Computing

International Journal of Computer Applications Technology and Research
Volume 7–Issue 04, 158-162, 2018, ISSN:-2319–8656
www.ijcat.com 158
Addressing Security Issues and Challenges in Mobile
Cloud Computing
Nirmal Kumar Gupta
Jaypee University Anoopshahr
Anoopshahr, India
Gaurav Raj
Jaypee University Anoopshahr
Anoopshahr, India
Abstract: The emergence of cloud computing has brought tremendous impact on software organizations and software architecture
design. With the development of cloud computing and mobile internet, mobile cloud computing is becoming a new mode of
application. With the widespread development of mobile applications and advances in mobile cloud computing, some other forms of
requirements and security issues have been emerged. Mobile cloud computing provides resources residing over cloud and services
provided for mobile devices. These resources and services from cloud are available for mobile user over their mobile devices. It also
provides benefits for developing specialized mobile applications for them. However, increased security and privacy risks exists due to
data outsourcing and synchronization over the Internet. This research paper provides the review on mobile cloud computing, its
security issues, challenges and suggests some solutions.
Keywords: mobile cloud computing, cloud security, privacy, data security, challenges
1. INTRODUCTION
In today’s world of computing, cloud computing has provided
a new kind of computing environment different from
traditional computing, in which hardware, software and other
services are provided on-demand in a virtualized manner.
Cloud computing provides a service model which uses the
network to access shared resources to access remotely hosted
computing resources to the clients for their business needs.
The basic service model of cloud computing utilizes Software
as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and
Infrastructure as a Services (IaaS) for providing various
services [1]. Mobile Cloud Computing (MCC) is a computing
idea which connects mobile computing with cloud computing.
MCC combines the benefits of mobile computing and Internet
used on mobile devices with cloud computing [2]. That is the
reason for MCC to be called as cloud computing services
using the mobile Internet. MCC has enabled the data storage
and its processing possible outside the mobile device. Instead
of storing the software and data over the Internet rather than
on a single device, cloud computing seems to provide on-
demand access to resources and services. Using MCC the
earlier intensive computations performed on mobile devices,
storage of data and other control information has been
transferred to the cloud and therefore the computing power
and resources available with mobile devices are left to be used
for some other useful work. It also has facilitated for mobile
cloud applications and data storage to be shifted from mobile
phones to the cloud, thus enabling the applications and mobile
computing to reach a broader range of mobile users, not just
smartphone users.
2. MOBILE CLOUD COMPUTING
ARCHITECTURE
In MCC, the mobile network and cloud computing are
combined to provide the best service to the mobile users.
Since data and software is stored over the Internet instead of
on a single device, cloud computing is able to provide on-
demand access. The application runs on the remote server and
sends the results to the user. The overview of mobile cloud
computing architecture is shown in Fig. 1. In this
architecture, the individual mobile device is connected to the
base station of the mobile radio network. There exist Base
Transceiver Stations (BTS) which facilitates mobile devices
to communicate with the network. Their purpose is to provide
an interface to establish a network connection between mobile
devices and the network. The requests generated from the
users are communicated over the wireless network to the
cloud through the mechanism called Authentication,
Authorization and Accounting (AAA). Once the requests
generated from the users is reached to the cloud, these
requests are processed through the cloud controller and
corresponding cloud service accesses these requests.
Fig. 1. Mobile Cloud Computing Architecture [3]
3. CHARACTERISTICS OF MOBILE
CLOUD COMPUTING
Mobile Cloud Computing has some major characteristics
which includes Security, Reliability, Scalability, less
maintenance, less cost and platform independence etc. [4]
3.1 Computing as a Service
A very fundamental principle of cloud computing is that it is
considered “as a service” where specific services are provided
through cloud to its users by the cloud service provider. The
services provided in this way are generally categorized based

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upon the applications used through it [5]. Here are some
examples of areas of application offering services: like
financial, managerial or analytical. For using the services
through the cloud there must be some agreed terms of use
between user and service provider. Such an agreement
describes the actions which can be taken in case of failure
from either side. This failure can result in denial of service to
the customer from the service provider or may result in a legal
liability for service provider. Besides the actions which could
be taken from either side, such agreement also includes a
privacy policy which describes the way in which a user’s data
will be stored and managed for its privacy.
3.2 Service Model
The services provided by cloud computing are generally
classified using SPI (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS) model which
represents the various levels of services provided by the
service provider to the user through the cloud services. Using
SPI model the various services such as the software to be used
for development of some application, the platform required or
other needed infrastructure can be provided in a seamless
manner [6]. SPI service model is summarized in Fig. 2.
Fig. 2. Summary of the SPI Service Model
3.2.1 Software as a Service
The highest layer of SPI model is “Software as a Service”
(SaaS). The applications needed by the users are hosted
through SaaS layer of SPI model which provides protocols
and other services through the network, defined by the service
provider. With the development of support technologies for a
better web services the use of SaaS is becoming more popular.
Once the service provider is chosen carefully security of data
can be assured.
3.2.2 Platform as a Service
The PaaS provides the next layer of SPI model which is
mostly used as a software development platform by the
software developers. This layer provides the services which
are used by the developers to write code and manage it
through the use of the cloud. In this regard cloud is used to
provide development tools and data management and other
services required for security.
3.2.3 Infrastructure as a Service
The last and lowest level of SPI model is known as
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). IaaS is a single-tenant cloud
layer where the provider of cloud services provides dedicated
resources, which are shared among different customers.
Therefore, the requirement of for a large starting investment
of various hardware resources including networking devices,
servers, switches etc. are minimized. Such provisions provide
a greater degree of flexibility in terms of achieved
functionality and economically. Such kind of flexibility are
generally not available in centralized data and hardware
centers. Whenever needed more resources can be added in
less time over cloud which can be utilized by the users.
4. SECURITY IN THE MOBILE CLOUD
COMPUTING
One of the major issues about MCC is that most cloud
providers are concerned about is ensuring the privacy of the
user and the integrity of data or applications. Security issues
in MCC must be handled in an effective manner because it
considered is a combination of mobile networks and cloud
computing. We can divide security issues mainly in two
categories:
1. Security issues associated with the cloud
2. Mobile network user’s security
4.1 Security issues associated with the
cloud
The various technologies like virtualization, operating
systems, scheduling of resources, database management,
concurrency control, load balancing and memory management
etc. are included in cloud technologies. This introduces
various security related risks in cloud whose intensity and
nature may be different than the risks associated with
traditional software and services [7]. Figure 3 shows data
protection risks to regulated data [8] Network connection
dependency and data sharing. Integrating applications and
security are some of the major challenges in MCC
environment.
Fig. 3. Data Protection risks in MCC
In MCC, sharing of infrastructure between multiple clients
may cause the risk of data visibility by other users. In
addition, cloud users want to ensure that critical data is not
accessible and utilized illegally, even by cloud providers.
Since the web-based interface is used for on-demand services
to be provided to clients which causes the probability of
unauthorized access to the interface which might be higher
than the traditional systems. According to Gartner [9], before
making a choice of cloud vendors, users should ask the
vendors for seven specific safety issues: Privileged user
access, regulatory compliance, data location, data segregation,
recovery, investigative support and long-term viability.
According to [10], there can be two types of communication,
namely, external "customer-to-cloud" communication and
internal "cloud-to-cloud" communication. In the first case the
cloud services are accessible via the internet using standard
internet mechanisms and protocols to transmit data or
applications between clients and the cloud. This type of
communication is similar to any other communication on the
Internet. Indeed, data in transit can be the target of several
malicious attacks [9] [10]. These attacks include denial of
service (DoS), eavesdropping, identity theft, altered

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environment etc. The second type is related to the
communication between the VMs. This communication is
targeted for malicious attacks because of the various factors
which includes the shared communication infrastructure, the
virtual network, and the bad security configuration. Cloud
security has close relationship with the corporate security
policies. They must go beyond the difficult requirement of
passwords and login privileges. It is necessary to move to the
next level and think about security in terms of usage and types
of data. The more sensitive they are, the higher the security
must be and the more the choice of the type of Cloud is
critical and crucial.
The level of security of the public cloud is not optimized for
professional use, but its flexibility and value can make it
attractive to many small organizations. The Private Cloud is
based on the same principle as the public cloud, but it is of
course owned by a company and intended for a smaller
number of users, customers or partners of the company owner.
Finally, the hybrid cloud is a mix of private and public clouds.
It is made up of several internal and external partners. Its
interest lies in its ability to navigate data between the public
and private according to their sensitivity to optimize costs.
Regardless of its type, cloud solution providers rely on a mix
of proprietary and open source code to ensure the security and
integrity of the data they host and protect. According to [11],
whatever the form of the Cloud Computing contract is, this
contract must absolutely include these five key points,
namely, data localization, law and Jurisdiction, service levels
provided by the MCC provider, reversibility and access to
data and data security. In addition, the order of importance of
these five key points will vary according to the service used
(IaaS, PaaS, SaaS) and its purpose (storage space,
development environment, billing tool).
According to [12], cloud security challenges are the
dispersion of international data and privacy laws, the need to
be addressed for various issues like local management, multi-
tenancy, logging challenges, data ownership issues, and
Guaranteed quality of service, dependence of secure H-
viewers, interest for hackers, security of virtual OS in the
Cloud, possibility of massive interruptions of service,
encryption needs for security in the Cloud, public cloud
security versus private cloud security etc. According to [13],
there are nine main risks, namely Data Breaches, Data Loss,
Account Hijacking, Insecure APIs, Denial of Service,
Malicious Insiders, Abuse of Cloud Services, Insufficient Due
Diligence and Shared Technology Issues. Regarding the legal
responsibilities for data security and privacy in the cloud,
according to [13], they find that the customer is legally
responsible for its data and usage, including anything
concerning their compliance with legal obligations, while, the
provider is subject to technical and organizational obligations.
It is committed to preserving data integrity and
confidentiality, protecting and recovering data, encrypting
data etc.
4.2 Mobile network user’s security
Some of the security concerns in mobile network user are
discussed below:
Loss of control over data: The paradigm of MCC is
changing the way information is managed, especially with
respect to the processing of personal data. Storing personal
data on a server somewhere in cyberspace could pose a great
threat to privacy. Because tenants and users lose physical
control over their data and applications, this raises a number
of issues.
Data security and privacy: With public or community
clouds, the data may not remain in the same system, which
poses multiple legal problems. The biggest concern that
everyone seems to agree with the cloud is security. Data
security and privacy are at the forefront of almost all the
concerns. The main challenge for MCC is how it addresses
the security and privacy concerns of the companies that are
considering adopting it [14]. The fact that the company's
valuable data resides outside the company's firewall raises
serious concerns. Piracy and various attacks on the cloud
infrastructure would affect multiple clients, even if only one
site is attacked. These risks can be mitigated through the use
of security applications, encrypted file systems, data loss
software and purchase of security hardware to track unusual
server behavior.
Data control: Data can reach the provider in several ways
with some data belonging to others. A host administrator has a
limited scope of control and accountability within a public
infrastructure implementation as a service (IaaS), not to
mention a platform as a service (PaaS). Hosts must have
confidence that their provider will provide adequate control,
while recognizing the need to tailor their expectations to the
amount of reasonable control in these models.
Quality of service: quality of service is one of the most
important factors that companies consider a reason not to
move their commercial applications to the cloud. They
consider that SLAs (Service Level Agreements) provided by
cloud providers are not currently sufficient to guarantee the
requirements to run cloud-based development applications,
particularly in terms of availability, performance, reliability
and scalability. In most cases, companies are reimbursed for
the duration of the non-availability of the service, thus most
current SLAs reduce commercial losses [15]. Without a
guarantee of service quality, companies will not host their
critical infrastructure in the cloud.
Transparency: When a cloud provider does not expose the
details of its own internal policy or technology, hosts or users
must rely on vendor security claims. Hosts and users may still
require some transparency from providers as to how they
handle security, privacy, and security incidents in the cloud.
Legal and Regulatory Compliance: It may be difficult or
unrealistic to use public clouds if your data is subject to legal
restrictions or regulatory compliance. You can expect vendors
to create and certify cloud infrastructures to meet the needs of
regulated markets. Achieving certification can be a challenge
because of the many non-technical factors, including the
current state of general knowledge of the cloud. As best
practices for MCC encompass a broader scope, this concern
should disappear.
Incompatibility Issue: The storage services provided by a
cloud service provider may be incompatible with the services
of another provider in case some user decides to switch from
one to the other. Providers are known for creating what the
world of hosting calls "persistent services," services that an
end user may have difficulty moving from one cloud provider
to another.
Performance and cost of bandwidth: Companies can save
money on hardware, but they have to spend more on
bandwidth. This can be a low cost for a smaller application,
but it can be high for an application that requires a large
amount of data. Providing intensive and complex data through
the network requires sufficient bandwidth. For this reason,

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many companies expect a reduced cost before moving to the
cloud.
Low Performance of the network: the provision of complex
services through the network is clearly impossible if the
bandwidth of the network is not enough. Many companies
expect improved bandwidth and lower costs before
considering switching to the cloud. Many applications in the
cloud still consume too much bandwidth.
Integration: Many applications have complex integration
needs to connect to other applications in the cloud, as well as
other local applications. This includes the integration of
existing cloud applications with enterprise applications and
existing data structures. It is necessary to connect the
application in the cloud to the rest of the company in a simple,
fast and profitable way.
5. SOME SOLUTIONS TO SECURITY
PROBLEMS IN MCC
The correct implementation of security measures is mandatory
in MCC to provide a secure infrastructure that can only ensure
and increase confidence that the stored data is safe with the
service provider. This can be achieved by the following
means:
Data encryption: In the public cloud, resources are shared by
multiple users in the cloud and, as a result, the responsibility
of their providers is to entrust the separation of data to their
customers. Data encryption is a common approach that
providers follow to protect their customers' data, but the
question is whether the data is stored in encrypted format or
not. Many providers follow private/public key encryption to
ensure data security. To store critical data, organizations can
think of a private or hybrid cloud where the data will be in a
secure corporate firewall. An important way to increase data
protection, privacy and integrity is to ensure that data is
protected in transit and when stored in the cloud by using file-
level encryption. As CSA (Cloud Security Alliance) [16]
Guidance notes, “Encryption offers the benefits of minimal
use of the cloud service provider and dependence on
operational failure detection.” Encrypted data-centric
protection means that data cannot be used by anyone without
the key to decrypt it. It does not matter if the data transmits or
is stored, it remains protected. The owner of the decryption
keys maintains the security of this data and can decide whom
to allow access to what data. Encryption procedures can be
integrated into the existing workflow for cloud services. For
example, an administrator could encrypt all data in the backup
before sending them to the storage cloud. One of the best
security solutions for cloud and virtualized environments is
portable encryption at the file level, focused on data on all
computer platforms and operating systems, and operates in a
private, community, public or hybrid cloud.
Refactoring Data: Simply applying the encryption method
does not guarantee the security of the data transfer. In the case
of data transmission, the greatest risk is related to the
encryption technology in use. Instead of using encryption and
decryption, the data can be divided into smaller packets that
can then be transmitted to the receiver through different
routes. Such an approach will reduce the chances of capturing
information by unauthorized persons. The data does not make
sense unless all the data is received.
Restricted access: Restricted user access can range from
simple username/password protection to some challenge-
response test in login forms. When an employee no longer
needs to access the data center, their access privileges to the
data center must be immediately revoked. Cloud providers
can also consider password authentication at a time when
customers will get a temporary password from the
SSN/mobile device, which contributes to data security even if
the password is compromised.
Backup and recovery: In MCC, the data is stored in a
distributed location. Cloud clients will never be able to
determine the exact storage location of their records and the
importance of data backup and recovery appears. The backup
software must include cloud-based APIs, which allows simple
backup and recovery in the main cloud storage providers. The
backup and restoration services guarantee that one can always
recover the data. A questionable question is whether to back
up all the data or make a backup of critical and vital data. If
the provider agrees to save crucial data, the question is how to
determine the priority of the data. The simplest and least
complicated way is to protect the entire workstation or server.
It is essential that the backup application encrypts confidential
data before sending it to the cloud off-site, protecting data in
transit through a WAN to a storage location in the cloud and
data storage on the site as cloud storage.
Access control: Access control and management of user
profiles become more complex with cloud services because
information sources can be hosted somewhere other than the
cloud service that needs them. Clients must identify reliable
sources for this information and ensure mechanisms to
transmit information from the reliable source to the cloud
service. It is also important to periodically reconcile the
information between the cloud service and the source.
Customers must confirm that cloud providers support their
access control requirements appropriately for cloud resources.
6. CONCLUSION
Mobile Cloud Computing (MCC) is an emerging and
futuristic technology due to the variety of benefits and
applications offered to mobile subscribers. The main reason
for the possible success of MCC and the great interest of
organizations around the world are due to broad category of
services provided with the cloud, but the current technology
does not provide all the requirements that MCC needs.
Researchers face many challenges to make MCC work in
reality. Besides the various benefits provided through MCC
some security issues need to be addressed to ensure that it is a
safe and reliable services could be provided. This paper has
discussed some security issues and possible solutions
concerning MCC. Securing MCC user’s privacy and integrity
of data or applications is one of the major issues most cloud
service providers have given attention.
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