UPSC Mains 2015 GS3 Q13 — Cloud Computing
Discuss the advantages and security implications of cloud hosting of servers vis-a-vis in-house machine-based hosting for government businesses. (Answer in 200 words)
Question Decoded — examiner's intent
- Directive verbs
- Discuss
- Scope keywords
- cloud hosting of serversin-house machine-based hostinggovernment businessesadvantagessecurity implications
- Implicit sub-parts
- A comparative analysis of operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness (Capex vs Opex) for government entities.
- Evaluation of data sovereignty and jurisdictional risks associated with third-party cloud vs local control.
- The trade-off between centralized cloud vulnerability and localized physical security risks.
- Relevance to national initiatives like GI Cloud (MeghRaj).
- Common pitfalls
- Focusing only on private corporate benefits without addressing unique 'government business' needs like public accountability and citizen data privacy.
- Treating 'security implications' as purely negative rather than discussing enhanced security through professional managed services.
- Failing to mention the transition from Capital Expenditure (buying hardware) to Operational Expenditure (pay-as-you-go).
- Ignoring the 'in-house' benefits such as air-gapping for sensitive strategic data.
- Dimensions required
- Economic (Cost-benefit analysis)Technical/CybersecurityAdministrative/ScalabilityLegal/Regulatory (Data sovereignty)
- Marks allocation hint
Allocate roughly 40-50 words to the direct comparison of advantages (scalability vs control). Devote the bulk of the remaining 120-130 words to security implications, categorizing them into risks (data breaches, vendor lock-in) and rewards (DDoS protection, disaster recovery), framed within the context of Indian e-governance.
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