Securing Cloud Services: A Pragmatic Approach to Security Architecture in the Cloud

Cloud services, such as SalesForce, Amazon Web Services and Microsoft(R) Azure, offer enterprise grade computing power to businesses of all sizes, without them having to invest in the hardware, software and staff usually needed to support equivalent on-premise services. Cloud Computing represents a major change to the IT services landscape, but it also introduces a different set of potential security risks, which need to be understood and addressed. Securing Cloud Services - A pragmatic approach to security architecture in the Cloud goes beyond the subject of generic Cloud security and, instead, offers a more detailed, architectural approach to securing Cloud services. It describes how security architecture processes may be used to derive a set of security controls to manage the risks associated with working in the Cloud. It uses a conceptual security reference model (SRM) to define a set of common security services, and then explains how these services can be delivered across the various Cloud service models in order to secure a Cloud-based service. Lee Newcombe is an enterprise architect with commercial experience gained at numerous high-profile companies, including a retail bank, a systems integrator and one of the Big 4 consultancies. He has worked within various Cloud programmes and acted as the IT industry security expert during the early days of the UK Government's G-Cloud programme. Lee has been writing about, presenting on, and working with Cloud technologies since 2007, and is a named contributor to the Cloud Security Alliance guidance document.

Table of Contents:
Part One: Introduction Chapter 1: Introduction to Cloud Computing Chapter 2: Overview of existing Cloud Taxonomies and Models Service models Deployment models Jericho Forum(R) Cloud Cube model Chapter 3: The Security Balance Security benefits Potential pitfalls Chapter 4: Security Threats associated with Cloud Computing Cloud provider staff Image/application providers Competitors Crackers/hackers Insiders Governments Transport agents Identity providers Attribute providers Cloud management brokers Chapter 5: Privacy and Data Security Concerns Data protection issues Payment card industry issues Others Part Two: Pragmatic Cloud Security Chapter 6: Introduction to Security Architecture What is security architecture? What is a service? Architectural layers Advantages of security architecture Chapter 7: Application of Security Architecture to Cloud Computing Security reference model Security service descriptions Service levels and contracts Service models and the security reference model Conclusions Chapter 8: Security and the Cloud Existing guidance Common security services Cloud deployment models Chapter 9: Security and Infrastructure as a Service IaaS and the SRM Conclusion Chapter 10: Security and Platform as a Service PaaS and the SRM Conclusion Chapter 11: Security and Software as a Service Conclusion Part Three: Conclusion Chapter 12: Looking Ahead Overview Chapter 13: Conclusion and Summary Appendix A: SRM Security Service Assignments ITG Resources

About the Author :
Lee Newcombe is an enterprise architect with commercial experience at numerous high-profile companies, including a retail bank, a systems integrator and one of the Big 4 consultancies. He has worked within various Cloud programmes and acted as the IT industry security expert during the early days of the UK Government's G-Cloud programme. Lee has been writing about, presenting on, and working with Cloud technologies since 2007, and is a named contributor to the Cloud Security Alliance guidance document.