There are an increasing number of private companies adopting cloud services and delivery models, which allows them to increase business and services to customers while reducing IT costs. Therefore, this study examined the benefits and risks involved in making the transition to the cloud. The aim of this paper was to identify where vulnerabilities and limitations lie within each cloud service and delivery model to allow companies to make an informed decision about adopting cloud services, but more importantly to provide insight on how incident responders and forensic investigators can effectively respond to incidents that occur in the cloud. In addition, this study showed how traditional incident response and forensics techniques for brick and mortar IT data and systems are not in-line with cloud-based technology. This paper concluded by addressing how companies can reduce their chances of suffering a cyber-attack when adopting cloud services, duties in responding to cyber incidents that occur in the cloud, and the lack of proper incident response and digital forensic procedures for cloud service providers.
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