In Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), what is outsourced?

• A. The organization outsources the equipment used to support operations, including storage, hardware, servers and networking components
• B. The organization outsources only software
• C. The organization outsources only personnel
• D. The organization outsources only security

Answer: (A)

In IaaS, you outsource the hardware layer—the equipment that supports operations, including storage, servers, and networking components, along with the virtualization layer that ties it together. The provider hosts and maintains this infrastructure, and you consume it as a service, deploying and managing your own operating systems, applications, and data on top of it. This model keeps the underlying physical resources off your hands while you control the software stack and data. Security is a shared responsibility, with the provider handling physical and infrastructure security and you handling the security of your operating systems, applications, and data.