Al Qaeda, the market leader in cloud computing

After the 9/11 attacks by the al Qaeda, US foreign policy changed quickly in that it intensified the will backing its intentions in South Asia and the Middle East. Earlier, it had classified its enemies as different nation states but after the attacks, that classification had to be deconstructed to militant groups that dotted the arid plains of Iraq, Afghanistan and northern Pakistan. If any military action had to be taken, it wouldn't be geographically defined by international borders nor would the authority for retaliation emerge from a centralized system. In fact, the latter aspect posed the greater threat: the decentralization of authority.

• The shifting of storage from decentralized computing machines to a central cloud provider


• Access to servers' processing power and reduction of dependence on individual CPUs

The decentralization of authority, in turn, is not a nuclear concept but one that is a careful and skillful assembly of mobilization, cooperation and coordination. The mobilization of authority is essentially the mobilization of intention, and in order to accomplish that perfectly, initial access to resources followed by continued access play a dominating role. Because of the logistical considerations, it can be assumed that this is more of a technical problem than anything else.

• Applications are run from client's web browser instead of from an installed client-end platform


• Access to a pool of computing power requires only an internet connection


• Centrally stored data removes the need for carrying a storage device around

Cooperation, on the other hand, can become quickly intractable if mismanaged because, on the battlefield against an enemy that moves like the eight legs of a spider, the securing of objectives can take sufficient precedence over counterattacking so as to become disconnected, even detrimental.

• Performance of the cloud application is reliant on speed of the internet connection, its consistency, and processing speed of the client device


• Cloud-distributed data can become a single point-of-access (POA) for consumers' needs

During the initial weeks of the US' invasion of Afghanistan, the Taliban operated out of Kabul and, therefore, presented an easy and accessible target for the invading forces. However, after the Taliban government was toppled, senior militant leaders fled to Waziristan, where a significant Islamic tribal population provided safe harbour for a time. At that point, with Afghanistan finally being "liberated", the war spread out to include the whole region, stretching their supply chains. However, that is not what caused the palpable slowdown in the war's progress: now, the Americans were fighting an ideology. Power no longer stemmed from the will of one man, and so losing any one man meant nothing to the militants. Instead, the Americans were going up against an unseen enemy - an ideology - that suffused the actions of those who followed it with purpose, and with purpose came reward.

• Centralized data storage poses threat to the privacy of users' information


• Problems about data storage and sharing may arise when servers are located outside the country of usage


• "Rich become richer and poor become poorer" could be furthered by a digital divide


• Malfunctioning remote devices cannot be repaired by the worst impacted people

It must be noted that the "war on terror" meant something to the two factions that were involved in it: the GWB administration was employing it to destabilize the seat of religious fundamentalism and extremism, and the militants were employing it to deplete their one enemy - the Western power - and eventually establish an Islamic state in the region. Therefore, irrespective of enemies being seen or unseen, neither side was at any point clueless enough to be considered vulnerable because, in the absence of strategic options, tactical moves provided a fruitful alternative. The gap in policy between these two options was marked by the level of cooperation, and for the terrorists faced with near-worldwide opposition, presenting a distributed front united in its goals was the best modus operandi. The worst method, on the other hand, was a united front with different means to the end.

• With centralized data storage, data migration becomes easier


• Business continuity and disaster recovery are aided if multiple redundant processing sites are used


• On-demand scalability for peak loads reduces need to engineer hardware accordingly

The mobilization of authority was complete and absolute when it was coordinated on the battlefield. This required the presence of able commanders and loyal soldiers, and that loyalty was purchased by their adherence to religious ideals and doctrines. While short-term goals defined short-term moves, the warriors had to ensure that they did not suffer any defeat that would set them back from achieving their main goal. Consequently, quick raids by the US armed forces resulted only in the loss of human lives as opposed to the more essential (but less bloody) loss of networking. To accomplish the latter, the invaders had to attack in such a manner that imposed a greater strain on the maintenance of cooperation with the cause than coordination with each other.

• Private cloud installations could individuate advantages of cloud computing as well as address specific problems about security of sensitive information


• Deployment models include public, community, private and combined cloud models, each addressing very specific needs

This comparison between the two is neither fully complete nor fully consistent if their full architectures are taken into account, but these are indeed some striking similarities considering their dissimilar foundations: in terrorism and in information-sharing. Even though they address different needs, they seemed to have evolved to embrace a common administrative model that is equipped to face the challenges of the present day and age. ___