Abstract
The study evaluated cloud computing risks against IT governance frameworks. The research has become relevant because of the increasing reliance on cloud computing as a mechanism of data storage. Cloud computing is an IT service that is offered to clients on a contract basis by a third party that owns the infrastructure. Thus, organisations must consider the risks and mitigating controls to address these risks. Cloud computing risks, such as security risk, privacy risk, data integrity risk, availability and network capacity, data segregation and multitenancy risk, access controls, governance and data location risk are very common to organisations. Consequently, organisations must fully understand the impact of these risks and the mitigating controls provided by IT governance frameworks. An empirical study and a literature review were conducted to address the research problem and objective. An analysis was conducted on cloud computing risks in the context of IT Governance frameworks. The study found that IT Governance Frameworks play a vital role in mitigating cloud computing risks and organisations can place reliance on them when adopting the cloud.
M.Com. (Computer Auditing)