Cloud computing, undoubtedly, has become the buzzword in the IT industry today. Looking at the potential impact it has on numerous business applications as well as in our everyday life, it can certainly be said that this disruptive technology is here to stay. Many of the features that make cloud computing attractive, have not just challenged the existing security system, but have also revealed new security issues. This paper provides an insightful analysis of the existing status on cloud computing security issues based on a detailed survey carried by the author. It also makes an attempt to describe the security challenges in Software as a Service (SaaS) model of cloud computing and also endeavors to provide future security research directions.
