The use of cloud computing helps create a rare event where a major enterprise technology will help people on their computers at home. This document will provide a snapshot of the benefits and risks of cloud computing and will also explain how the cloud works and how it can help you better access your data and software. The future of cloud computing may be very exciting, but moving much of our lives online means we will inevitably have to consider the consequences, as we are already starting to see in this new digital age. Cloud computing means dependence on things that are not in front of us and which may limit our privacy due to policies on access to our information. Security could be a big issue and large companies like Amazon and Google could eventually monopolize the market, as we already see in the US with a similar case where Comcast potentially monopolizes the Internet service provider market. The cloud is a metaphor for the space on the Internet that can store your data, as well as the applications that have the ability to modify it. No one can agree on when the term “cloud computing” was first defined. However, there is agreement on the definition of cloud computing. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) defines cloud computing as “a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be provisioned and released quickly with minimal management effort or service provider interaction."(1) A computer's operating system, data, and applications are typically installed and stored in the computer's traditional configuration, where a hard drive is connected to...... half of the paper... a due to access policies to our information, security could be a big issue and large companies like Amazon and Google could continue to monopolize the market. The Cloud provides an online environment that can be scaled to meet user needs of the cloud could be the security of information stored by a large company. It is not yet clear how secure the outsourced data is as ownership of the data is not always clear. Companies should monitor cloud providers, have protocols in place to ensure compliance with vendor rules, and ensure policies are in place to monitor and manage cloud providers, offshore providers, and their associated outsourcing relationships. The future of cloud computing is certainly exciting, but moving much of our lives online means we will inevitably have to consider privacy, security and ownership of information.