User Awareness of Existing Privacy and Security Risks when Storing Data in the Cloud

Many studies have ranked the security and privacy of cloud-based systems to be a major concern for their adoption by companies, however, there are not many studies investigating users’ awareness level about these issues. An online study was conducted to study users’ attitude towards privacy and security of data in the cloud-based systems. The research was conducted by delivering an online questionnaire to Computer Science students and employees working in software development companies. The results showed that users in general are aware of existing privacy and security risks when storing data in the cloud, but they lack knowledge when asked to describe those risks and threats in detail. This study indicates a necessity to increase the privacy and security awareness to cloud users about the risks when storing their data in the cloud.