Developing Economies and Cloud Security: A Study of Africa

Cloud computing promises to bring substantial benefits to how organizations conduct their businesses and the way their services reach out to potential consumers. Cloud computing is a welcome initiative for small businesses that cannot afford to invest in ICT infrastructure but need to benefit from the rewards of conducting business online. In developing economies, there are challenges that face cloud services providers and their consumers. Broadband network access was identified as the main essential service for a successful cloud computing offering. The objective of this paper is to give background information on the security issues in cloud computing, and highlight the potential of cloud computing and the associated challenges in utilizing services on the cloud for small businesses in developing economies. We discuss security concerns specifically related to the small businesses, such as service availability, privacy and SLA terms.