6.5
Security in the Cloud Computing Environment
Synopsis:
1.
Different security emphases on different cloud services
2.
The characteristics of cloud computing and their security threats
3.
Security in the cloud environment
Cloud computing is a business model that services are obtained from the configurable
resource pools in a convenient, on-demand manner from the network. These resources
include network, servers, storage devices, applications, and services system. The cloud
computing service resources, during the simple management or interactive process, should
be able to support the rapid deployment and service delivery requirements. This is industry's
most widely accepted cloud computing definition.
From users’ perspective, no matter what types of cloud services are adopted, the move
toward the cloud is always a complex decision-making process. Cloud computing
technology can indeed significantly reduce IT infrastructure and applications deployment
time, but it’ll also expand the IT risks for supporting business operations. The division of the
traditional network security domain is dependent on the topological boundary of the Internet,
and the traditional security techniques are based on ensuring the security of the network
boundary. However, in a cloud environment, multiple business systems share the same
physical infrastructure, so the security domains become virtual, and there are no controllable
physical boundaries for operating systems. Therefore, defining the network boundaries, and
dividing the security domain are the challenges for the network security group in the cloud
computing environment.
As the security risk is being amplified, it also introduces new challenges. As previously
mentioned, the different cloud computing service model creates different security boundaries
(
Refer to Table 6-2). The new security management model presents new security
management challenges for the cloud computing platform’s maintenance and operation staff.
The key areas of attention include: defining the security management boundary, feasibility of
the original security management standards, the interaction between cloud service providers
and users, and the management of the commons issues such as feasibility, security leakage,
reinforcement, configuration, and incidence response.
