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54-557: Cloud storage services may be accessed through a colocated cloud computing service, a web service application programming interface (API) or by applications that use the API, such as cloud desktop storage, a cloud storage gateway or Web -based content management systems . Cloud computing is believed to have been invented by J. C. R. Licklider in the 1960s with his work on ARPANET to connect people and data from anywhere at any time. In 1983, CompuServe offered its consumer users

108-475: A CAPTCHA to prevent automated downloading. Several programs aid in downloading files from these one-click hosts; examples are JDownloader , FreeRapid, Mipony, Tucan Manager and CryptLoad . File hosting services may be used as a means to distribute or share files without consent of the copyright owner. In such cases one individual uploads a file to a file hosting service, which others can then download . Legal assessments can be very diverse. For example, in

162-465: A storage area network (SAN). Cloud storage is: Outsourcing data storage increases the attack surface area . There are several options available to avoid security issues. One option is to use a private cloud instead of a public cloud. Another option is to ingest data in an encrypted format where the key is held within the on-premise infrastructure. To this end, access is often by use of on-premise cloud storage gateways that have options to encrypt

216-414: A degree, come to compete with P2P filesharing services. The sites make money through advertising or charging for premium services such as increased downloading capacity, removing any wait restrictions the site may have or prolonging how long uploaded files remain on the site. Premium services include facilities like unlimited downloading, no waiting, maximum download speed etc. Many such sites implement

270-501: A different cost associated with access vs storage. For example, in a cold storage scenario, the price per GB stored over time can be very low, but it may take longer to access an item at a higher per GB retrieval cost. In some cases, users may have to commit to retrieval being much higher latency as well. One-click hosting , sometimes referred to as cyberlocker generally describes web services that allow internet users to easily upload one or more files from their hard drives (or from

324-461: A file system. This storage is often supported with a Network Attached Storage (NAS) server, used for large content repositories, development environments, media stores, or user home directories. A block storage service like Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) is used for other enterprise applications like databases and often require dedicated, low latency storage for each host. This is comparable in certain respects to direct attached storage (DAS) or

378-521: A framework for firms to do so in Sections 251 and 252. Section 252(c)(1) for example ("Duty to Negotiate") requires Incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) to negotiate in good faith about matters such as resale and access to rights of way. New emerging technologies such as 5G bring new complexities to the network operators. With more stringent SLAs and customer expectations, problem resolutions must be prioritized based on impacted subscribers. With

432-688: A hosted object storage service, file storage , and block storage . Each of these cloud storage types offer their own unique advantages. Examples of object storage services that can be hosted and deployed with cloud storage characteristics include Amazon S3 , Oracle Cloud Storage and Microsoft Azure Storage, object storage software like Openstack Swift , object storage systems like EMC Atmos , EMC ECS and Hitachi Content Platform, and distributed storage research projects like OceanStore and VISION Cloud. Examples of file storage services include Amazon Elastic File System (EFS) and Qumulo Core , used for applications that need access to shared files and require

486-444: A number of design features of its operating model as being evidence showing a criminal intent and venture. Examples cited included reliance upon advertising revenue and other activities showing the business was funded by (and heavily promoted) downloads and not storage, defendants' communications helping users who sought infringing material, and defendants' communications discussing their own evasion and infringement issues. As of 2014

540-424: A per- gigabyte basis, and sometimes include a bandwidth cost component as well. Usually these will be charged monthly or yearly. Some companies offer the service for free, relying on advertising revenue. Some hosting services do not place any limit on how much space the user's account can consume. Non-paying users' accounts may be deleted or suspended after a predefined period of inactivity. Some services require

594-406: A periodic (annual) revisitation to make changes. Since the late 1980s SLAs have been used by fixed-line telecom operators. SLAs are so widely used these days that larger organizations have many different SLAs existing within the company itself. Two different units in an organization script an SLA with one unit being the customer and another being the service provider. This practice helps to maintain

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648-501: A remote location) onto the one-click host's server free of charge. Most such services simply return a URL which can be given to other people, who can then fetch the file later. In many cases these URLs are predictable allowing potential misuse of the service. As of 2005 these sites have drastically increased in popularity, and subsequently, many of the smaller, less efficient sites have failed. Although one-click hosting can be used for many purposes, this type of file sharing has, to

702-514: A small amount of disk space that could be used to store any files they chose to upload. In 1994, AT&T launched PersonaLink Services, an online platform for personal and business communication and entrepreneurship. The storage was one of the first to be all web-based, and referenced in their commercials as, "you can think of our electronic meeting place as the cloud." Amazon Web Services introduced their cloud storage service Amazon S3 in 2006, and has gained widespread recognition and adoption as

756-601: A software download which makes files only available on computers which have that software installed, others allow users to retrieve files through any web browser. With the increased inbox space offered by webmail services, many users have started using their webmail service as an online drive. Some sites offer free unlimited file storage but have a limit on the file size. Some sites offer additional online storage capacity in exchange for new customer referrals. Many providers offer tiered storage levels, charging differently based on frequency of access and retrieval latency. There may be

810-501: A user. By demonstrating to a court how applying the convergent encryption methodology to an unencrypted copyrighted file produces the same encrypted file as that possessed by the user would appear to make a strong case that the user is guilty of possessing the file in question and thus providing evidence of copyright infringement by the user. There is, however, no easily accessible public record of this having been tried in court as of May 2013 and an argument could be made that, similar to

864-401: Is append-only , which is distinct from simple "read", "write", and "read-write" permissions in that all existing data is immutable. Append-only support is especially important to mitigate the risk of data loss for backup policies in the event that the computer being backed-up becomes infected with ransomware capable of deleting or encrypting the victim's backups. Secret key encryption

918-631: Is also a common metric, often used for data services such as shared hosting , virtual private servers and dedicated servers . Common agreements include percentage of network uptime, power uptime, number of scheduled maintenance windows , etc. Many SLAs track to the ITIL specifications when applied to IT services. It is not uncommon for an internet backbone service provider (or network service provider ) to explicitly state its SLA on its website. The U.S. Telecommunications Act of 1996 does not expressly mandate that companies have SLAs, but it does provide

972-973: Is an internet hosting service specifically designed to host user files . These services allow users to upload files that can be accessed over the internet after providing a username and password or other authentication . Typically, file hosting services allow HTTP access , and in some cases, FTP access . Other related services include content-displaying hosting services (i.e. video and image ), virtual storage, and remote backup solutions. Personal file storage services are designed for private individuals to store and access their files online. Users can upload their files and share them publicly or keep them password-protected. Document-sharing services allow users to share and collaborate on document files. These services originally targeted files such as PDFs , word processor documents, and spreadsheets . However many remote file storage services are now aimed at allowing users to share and synchronize all types of files across all

1026-425: Is considered the highest level of access security in cloud storage. This form of encryption is rapidly gaining popularity, with companies such as MEGA (previously Megaupload) and SpiderOak being entirely zero knowledge file storage and sharing. Since secret key encryption results in unique files, it makes data deduplication impossible and therefore may use more storage space. Convergent encryption derives

1080-407: Is especially common for companies with a major internet presence. Many businesses use file hosting services as part of their backup and disaster recovery strategies. By storing copies of important files offsite in a secure data center , they can quickly recover from data loss due to hardware failure, natural disasters , or other unexpected events. Some online file storage services offer space on

1134-448: Is researching aspects of multi-level, multi-provider SLAs within service-oriented infrastructure and cloud computing, while another EU-funded project, VISION Cloud, has provided results concerning content-oriented SLAs. FP7 IRMOS also investigated aspects of translating application-level SLA terms to resource-based attributes to bridge the gap between client-side expectations and cloud-provider resource-management mechanisms. A summary of

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1188-506: Is responsible for reporting faults or paying fees; responsibility for various data rates; throughput ; jitter ; or similar measurable details. A service-level agreement is an agreement between two or more parties, where one is the customer and the others are service providers. This can be a legally binding formal or an informal "contract" (for example, internal department relationships). The agreement may involve separate organizations or different teams within one organization. Contracts between

1242-433: Is sometimes referred to as zero knowledge , meaning that only the user has the encryption key needed to decrypt the data. Since data is encrypted using the secret key, identical files encrypted with different keys will be different. To be truly zero knowledge, the file hosting service must not be able to store the user's passwords or see their data even with physical access to the servers. For this reason, secret key encryption

1296-501: Is uploaded or while it is stored. While encryption is generally regarded as best practice in cloud storage how the encryption is implemented is very important. Consumer-grade, public file hosting and synchronization services are popular, but for business use, they create the concern that corporate information is exported to devices and cloud services that are not controlled by the organization. Some cloud storage providers offer granular ACLs for application keys. One important permission

1350-432: Is usually managed by the organization, while the public cloud storage provider is responsible for the management and security of the data stored in the cloud. Hybrid cloud storage can be implemented by an on-premises cloud storage gateway that presents a file system or object storage interface which the users can access in the same way they would access a local storage system. The cloud storage gateway transparently transfers

1404-461: The cloud , they need to achieve the same even more demanding levels of service than classical installations. SLAs for cloud services focus on characteristics of the data center and more recently include characteristics of the network (see carrier cloud ) to support end-to-end SLAs. Any SLA management strategy considers two well-differentiated phases: negotiating the contract and monitoring its fulfillment in real-time. Thus, SLA management encompasses

1458-586: The SLA contract definition: the basic schema with the QoS parameters; SLA negotiation; SLA monitoring; SLA violation detection; and SLA enforcement—according to defined policies. The main point is to build a new layer upon the grid, cloud, or SOA middleware able to create a negotiation mechanism between the providers and consumers of services. An example is the EU–funded Framework 7 research project, SLA@SOI, which

1512-526: The ability to cache frequently used data on-site for quick access, while inactive cold data is stored off-site in the cloud. This can save space, reduce storage costs and improve performance. Additionally, hybrid cloud storage can provide organizations with greater redundancy and fault tolerance, as data is stored in both on-premises and cloud storage infrastructure. Cloud storage service A file-hosting service , also known as cloud-storage service , online file-storage provider , or cyberlocker ,

1566-650: The case has not yet been heard. A year later, Megaupload.com relaunched as Mega . In 2016 the file hosting site Putlocker has been noted by the Motion Picture Association of America for being a major piracy threat, and in 2012 Alfred Perry of Paramount Pictures listed Putlocker as one of the "top 5 rogue cyberlocker services", alongside Wupload, FileServe , Depositfiles, and MediaFire . The emergence of cloud storage services has prompted much discussion on security. Security, as it relates to cloud storage can be broken down into: Deals with

1620-659: The case of Swiss – German file hosting service RapidShare , in 2010 the US government's congressional international anti- piracy caucus declared the site a "notorious illegal site", claiming that the site was "overwhelmingly used for the global exchange of illegal movies, music and other copyrighted works". But in the legal case Atari Europe S.A.S.U. v. Rapidshare AG in Germany, the Düsseldorf higher regional court examined claims related to alleged infringing activity and reached

1674-461: The cloud and are offered by service providers as a service-based agreements rather than a customer-based agreements. Measuring, monitoring and reporting on cloud performance is based on the end UX or their ability to consume resources. The downside of cloud computing relative to SLAs is the difficulty in determining the root cause of service interruptions due to the complex nature of the environment. As applications are moved from dedicated hardware into

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1728-434: The conclusion on appeal that "most people utilize RapidShare for legal use cases" and that to assume otherwise was equivalent to inviting "a general suspicion against shared hosting services and their users which is not justified". The court also observed that the site removes copyrighted material when asked, does not provide search facilities for illegal material, noted previous cases siding with RapidShare, and after analysis

1782-669: The court concluded that the plaintiff's proposals for more strictly preventing sharing of copyrighted material – submitted as examples of anti-piracy measures RapidShare might have adopted – were found to be "unreasonable or pointless". By contrast in January 2012 the United States Department of Justice seized and shut down the file hosting site Megaupload.com and commenced criminal cases against its owners and others. Their indictment concluded that Megaupload differed from other online file storage businesses, suggesting

1836-451: The customer, it is not an "SLA". SLAs commonly include many components, from a definition of services to the termination of agreement. To ensure that SLAs are consistently met, these agreements are often designed with specific lines of demarcation and the parties involved are required to meet regularly to create an open forum for communication. Rewards and penalties applying to the provider are often specified. Most SLAs also leave room for

1890-691: The data prior of transfer. Companies are not permanent and the services and products they provide can change. Outsourcing data storage to another company needs careful investigation and nothing is ever certain. Contracts set in stone can be worthless when a company ceases to exist or its circumstances change. Companies can: Typically, cloud storage Service Level Agreements (SLAs) do not encompass all forms of service interruptions. Exclusions typically include planned maintenance, downtime resulting from external factors such as network issues, human errors like misconfigurations, natural disasters , force majeure events, or security breaches . Typically, customers bear

1944-490: The data to and from the cloud storage service, providing low latency access to the data through a local cache. Hybrid cloud storage can be used to supplement an organization's internal storage resources, or it can be used as the primary storage infrastructure. In either case, hybrid cloud storage can provide organizations with greater flexibility and scalability than traditional on-premises storage infrastructure. There are several benefits to using hybrid cloud storage, including

1998-622: The devices they use. File syncing and sharing services allow users to create special folders on each of their computers or mobile devices, which are then synchronized across all devices. Files placed in this folder can be accessed through a website or mobile app and easily shared with others for viewing or collaboration. Consumer products such as OneDrive and Google Drive have made file hosting and sharing more accessible and popular for personal and business use. Content providers who encounter bandwidth congestion issues may use specialized services for distributing cached or static content . This

2052-466: The encrypted files could thus easily determine if a user has uploaded a particular file simply by encrypting it themselves and comparing the outputs. Some point out that there is a theoretical possibility that organizations such as the RIAA , MPAA , or a government could obtain a warrant for US law enforcement to access the cloud storage provider's servers and gain access to the encrypted files belonging to

2106-406: The encrypted files through various forms of hacking or other cybercrime . Service-level agreement A service-level agreement ( SLA ) is an agreement between a service provider and a customer . Particular aspects of the service – quality, availability, responsibilities – are agreed between the service provider and the service user. The most common component of an SLA is that

2160-518: The financial stability of the storage provider (because, even if perfectly fit from a technical point of view, if the provider financially goes out of business, then its services go offline too). The question of who can access and, potentially, change, their data, ranges from what physical access controls are in place in the provider's data center to what technical steps have been taken , such as access control, encryption , etc. Many cloud storage services state that they either encrypt data before it

2214-399: The following components: A service-level agreement can track multiple performance metrics . In this context, these metrics are called service level indicators (SLIs). The target value of a given SLI is called a service-level objective (SLO). In IT-service management , a common case is a call center or service desk . SLAs in such cases usually refer to the following SLIs: Uptime

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2268-466: The introduction of 5G network slicing , the need of having a 360º view of the 5G slices becomes imperative to deliver premium SLAs and monetize service faster. For fixed networks subscribers, service modeling appears to be one of the most suitable ways to effectively monitor SLA's and ensure they are met. A web service level agreement ( WSLA ) is a standard for service level agreement compliance monitoring of web services . It allows authors to specify

2322-411: The key from the file content itself and means an identical file encrypted on different computers result in identical encrypted files. This enables the cloud storage provider to de-duplicate data blocks, meaning only one instance of a unique file (such as a document, photo, music or movie file) is actually stored on the cloud servers but made accessible to all uploaders. A third party who gained access to

2376-444: The opinion expressed by Attorney Rick G. Sanders of Aaron | Sanders PLLC in regards to the iTunes Match "Honeypot" discussion, that a warrant to search the cloud storage provider's servers would be hard to obtain without other, independent, evidence establishing probable cause for copyright infringement. Such legal restraint would obviously not apply to the secret police of an oppressive government who could potentially gain access to

2430-410: The performance metrics associated with a web service application, desired performance targets, and actions that should be performed when performance is not met. WSLA Language Specification, version 1.0 was published by IBM in 2001. The underlying benefit of cloud computing is shared resources, which are supported by the underlying nature of a shared infrastructure environment. Thus, SLAs span across

2484-426: The question of confidentiality and availability , and may be expressed with questions of the kind: Will the user be able to continue accessing their data? Who else can access it? Who can change it? Whether the user is able to continue accessing their data depends on a large number of factors, ranging from the location and quality of their internet connection, and the physical integrity of the provider's data center, to

2538-421: The responsibility of monitoring SLA compliance and must file claims for any unmet SLAs within a designated timeframe. Customers should be aware of how deviations from SLAs are calculated, as these parameters may vary by other services offered within the same provider. These requirements can place a considerable burden on customers. Additionally, SLA percentages and conditions can differ across various services within

2592-477: The results of various research projects in the area of SLAs (ranging from specifications to monitoring, management and enforcement) has been provided by the European Commission. Outsourcing involves the transfer of responsibility from an organization to a supplier. This new arrangement is managed through a contract that may include one or more SLAs. The contract may involve financial penalties and

2646-591: The right to terminate if any of the SLA metrics are consistently missed. The setting, tracking and managing SLAs is an important part of the outsourcing relationship management (ORM) discipline. Specific SLAs are typically negotiated upfront as part of the outsourcing contract and used as one of the primary tools of outsourcing governance. In software development, specific SLAs can apply to application outsourcing contracts in line with standards in software quality , as well as recommendations provided by neutral organizations like CISQ , which has published numerous papers on

2700-457: The same provider, with some services lacking any SLA altogether. In cases of service interruptions due to hardware failures in the cloud provider, service providers typically do not offer monetary compensation. Instead, eligible users may receive credits as outlined in the corresponding SLA. Hybrid cloud storage is a term for a storage infrastructure that uses a combination of on-premises storage resources with cloud storage. The on-premises storage

2754-504: The same quality of service amongst different units in the organization and also across multiple locations of the organization. This internal scripting of SLA also helps to compare the quality of service between an in-house department and an external service provider. The output received by the customer as a result of the service provided is the main focus of the service level agreement. Service level agreements are also defined at different levels: A well-defined and typical SLA will contain

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2808-399: The service provider and other third parties are often (incorrectly) called SLAs – because the level of service has been set by the (principal) customer, there can be no "agreement" between third parties; these agreements are simply "contracts." Operational-level agreements or OLAs, however, may be used by internal groups to support SLAs. If some aspect of service has not been agreed upon with

2862-496: The services should be provided to the customer as agreed upon in the contract. As an example, Internet service providers and telcos will commonly include service level agreements within the terms of their contracts with customers to define the level(s) of service being sold in plain language terms. In this case, the SLA will typically have a technical definition of mean time between failures (MTBF), mean time to repair or mean time to recovery (MTTR); identifying which party

2916-576: The storage supplier to popular services such as SmugMug , Dropbox , and Pinterest . In 2005, Box announced an online file sharing and personal cloud content management service for businesses. Cloud storage is based on highly virtualized infrastructure and is like broader cloud computing in terms of interfaces, near-instant elasticity and scalability , multi-tenancy , and metered resources. Cloud storage services can be used from an off-premises service ( Amazon S3 ) or deployed on-premises (ViON Capacity Services). There are three types of cloud storage:

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