Mobile cloud computing and cybersecurity

The revolution of handheld, wireless, and mobile communication gadgets meant for “information at users’ fingertips anywhere, anytime” has significantly transformed our lives. A huge portion of the world’s population can now have seamless access to mobile devices (phones, tablets, and PCs) and extremely fast mobile networks offering global connectivity. Nevertheless, it’s long been known that the majority of mobile terminals like thin clients, mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), WiFi routers, tablets, et al., are inferior in computational capabilities like processor speed, memory capacity, as well as disk capacity.

Meanwhile, cloud computing is gradually becoming the mainstream solution for data storage and media for hosting services/applications. Particularly, the extension of cloud computing into the mobile realm has created an environment for a ubiquitous, interlinked mobile cloud that enables data owners, service vendors, developers, users, and mobile marketers to access critical network and billing capacities across numerous networks. Today, mobile cloud computing – grown from mobile computing and cloud computing – services have the capacity to enable the whole mobile ecosystem to enhance their services/applications with mobility.

Significance of mobile cloud computing

Essentially, mobile cloud computing (MCC) is meant to solve the challenges of mobile terminals including the inadequacy of computational resources (processing power and information storage), power (battery life), as well as communication. Different schemes have been introduced to overcome these limitations such as Mobile Devices as a Service (MDaaS), mobile device Cloud Computing Services/Resources, Network as a service (NaaS), Mobile Cloud Computing for Data Intensive Application, and Mobile Process as a Service (MPaaS).

1. Mobile Devices as a Service (MDaaS) 

The MDaaS is a comprehensive business mobility solution that leverages mobile device resources such as processing power, storage capacity, and network connectivity to allow joint data-intensive computing and seamless communication within a cloud of multiple mobile devices. This MCC class/model is very apt where the connectivity to the web and major cloud vendors is very strong. Besides, the model constitutes numerous approaches that support the migration of a whole application or sections of it to adjacent mobile devices. It’s cost-effective as it eliminates data charges, specifically, in data roaming incidents.

2. Mobile device Cloud Computing Services/Resources

This model is classified into two categories depending on how it exploits MCC services/resources: extending traditional cloud services/resources as supplemental capabilities and exclusive services. The former category centers on the extension of available services such as Software as a Service (SaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) to mobile terminals. Simply, the scheme focuses on augmenting the features of mobile terminals with cloud computing, CloneCloud, and Mobile photo sharing. The latter category focuses on the exploitation of the astounding capabilities of the mobile terminals like context-based functions/features/apps including camera, mobility properties, audio/voice, etc., to build unique cloud-dispatched service provisions (location-based services, forthwith translation, bar-code scanning, etc.).

3. Network as a service (NaaS)

The NaaS is an MCC service model where users hire networking services from cloud service vendors. The NaaS model allows users to run their networks without managing their networking infrastructure. In this model, NaaS providers operate networking functions via software, fundamentally enabling enterprises to configure their networks completely without hardware. The internet is all that they require. Essentially, the Network as a service (NaaS) is a handier option than adopting internally managed WANs that need frequent maintenance and usually create network traffic bottlenecks. Using the NaaS model, enterprises can directly connect to cloud services/applications through a virtual network maintained by a third-party provider, rather than hiring an IT team that is often overwhelmed by the high demands and complexities of the network.

4. Mobile Cloud Computing for Data Intensive Application

This model facilitates collaborative data-intensive across mobile device cloud rather than transferring the computational tasks to the cloud via cellular networks. Since the majority of processing capabilities/tools of mobile devices are not fully put into utility, mobile devices use local wireless networks to communicate and share data-intensive computational tasks with local companions by using the smaller bandwidth of ubiquitous cellular networks. For instance, Hyrax, a Hadoop-enabled system usually deployed on Android smartphones is used to transfer data and computational tasks in the mobile device cloud.

5. Mobile Process as a Service (MPaaS).

MPaaS is an MCC model/approach that offers a cloud-to-end multiservice solution for application development, assessment, operation as well as maintenance, effectively minimizing technical thresholds, reducing research and development costs, improving design efficiency, and helping enterprises quickly create stable, high-quality mobile apps with little technical hindrances to entry. The MPaaS scheme supports the containerization of business modules to reduce performance challenges like white screen errors and loading breakdown. It supports the integration of multiple mobile devices for users to tailor message delivery settings and obtain high retention rates while interacting with app users. Regarding data security, MPaaS offers a stable, convenient, and efficient security solution for mobile apps to avoid reverse engineering.

Conclusion

 With the tremendous growth of mobile applications/services and cloud computing approaches, cloud computing has become an incredibly important technology for mobile device consumers. Users can now store and/or retrieve information from anywhere, anytime via their mobile devices provided it has an internet connection. Besides, mobile cloud computing facilitates fast data and application execution as it features a built-in internet browser. It saves a device CPU time, memory storage, and battery life by offloading weighty apps to the cloud.