Cloud Implementation Security Challenges

Mervat Bamiah, Sarfraz Brohi, Suriayati Chuprat Muhammad Nawaz Brohi

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia Preston University Ajman, UAE
abmervat3@live.utm.my mnbrohi@preston.ae
nbsarfraz2@live.utm.my, suria@ic.utm.my

Abstract- Cloud computing offers significant features such as II. CLOUD SECURITY CHALLENGES
resource pooling, scalability, on-demand self service, availability,
and reliability to organizations to improve their quality of
Several security challenges should be addressed in cloud
services. For example by using cloud computing services in
computing before adopting it in information critical industries.
healthcare it is possible to reach large population of people in These challenges are described as follows:
isolated geographical areas which will assist in saving their lives
A. Insecure Applications Programming Interfaces (APIs)
in critical situations. It enables the use of latest technologies
through its various service delivery and deployment models via Cloud services are accessed and managed by clients via
the internet on pay-per-use billing pattern. However, cloud software interface and APIs. These APIs have significant roles
computing has dark side when it comes to security and privacy in provisioning, monitoring, orchestration and management of
considerations. Critical industries such as healthcare and the processes running in a cloud computing environment. The
banking are reluctant to trust cloud computing due to the fear of
security and availability of cloud services depends on security
losing their sensitive data, as it resides on the cloud with no
of APIs so they must include features such as encryption,
knowledge of data location and lack of transparency of Cloud
activity monitoring, and authentication as well as access
Service Providers (CSPs) mechanisms used to secure their data
and applications which have created a barrier against adopting
control mechanisms [3]. Insecure cloud computing software
this agile computing paradigm. This paper addresses cloud services interfaces and APIs may lead to major security
computing security concerns that must be considered in order to concerns for both CSPs and clients. APIs should be designed to
adopt cloud services in information critical industries. protect against both accidental and malicious attacks. Some of
the security concerns include cyber attacks and illegitimate
Keywords- Cloud Computing, Healthcare, Security Challenges control over user accounts. Hackers and unauthorized users
always fmd new ways into networks that may result in data
I. INTRODUCTION
breaches which can damage businesses that operates from the
Cloud computing evolved as a new IT paradigm to cloud. CSPs have to enhance their security by encryption,
provide an agile method to deliver real time scalable services abstraction, and encapsulation mechanisms [3]. Attackers also
to industries, organizations and individuals in cost effective are targeting the digital keys used to secure the internet
way. It is a business model that has inherited the benefit of infrastructure. The unique codes (API keys) are used by cloud
other technologies such as distributed, pervasive, ubiquitous, services to identify third-party applications that are using them.
utility computing and virtualization [1-2]. In-spite of the These keys can be attacked which may cause Denial-of-Service
unique features of cloud computing, still there are several (DoS) or rack up fees on behalf of the victim. An improper
challenges regarding to its dynamicity and multi-tenancy that implementation that allows simple access to an API via a
requires significant isolation between its computing resources, secret key may facilitate the attackers to have absolute access
beside implementing strong security and privacy techniques. if the secret key can be sniffed out or stolen from an
These challenges are shown in Fig.l which will be discussed authorized user's electronic device, which will have vital
in section-II. impact on the client's data. There is a need to protect these
cloud API keys with best practices in a secure manner.
B. Virtualization Vulnerabilities
On a cloud infrastructure virtualization is achieved by
using a hypervisor or Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM) that
allows multiple Virtual Machines (VMs) to run on a single
Cloud
-, "" f SLA; 1 host OS or directly on the underlying hardware concurrently to
Implementation 1� facilitate sharing of cloud resources. Associating multiple
servers with one host removes the physical separation between
servers, increasing the threats of malicious attacks on VMs and
root to access the hypervisor. By exploiting this vulnerability,
I _� i �ualization an attacker can gain access and target numerous areas of a
erabiliti es virtualized cloud infrastructure e.g. hypervisor, hardware,
L
guest OSs and the applications within individual VMs [4].
Figure1. Cloud Computing Implementation Challenges Some threats such as VM escape, system configuration drift,

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 157731234: Cloud Implementation Security Challenges

insider threats and root kits might take place due to use of E. Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
vulnerable access control mechanisms [5]. This requires SLAs refer to a legal contract that describes the minimum
deploying strong security isolation mechanisms to eliminate performance criteria CSPs promises to meet while delivering
the threats by modifying the hypervisor directly access, or the required service(s) to their client(s). It defines the
installing a rootkit on virtualization host, in addition to the responsibilities of the related parties and sets out the remedial
probability of targeting the virtualization management system. action plus any consequences that will take effect if
C. Key Management performance falls below the promised standards [9]. Lack of
trust by clients will create a barrier against adopting cloud
There are several key management challenges within the
computing paradigm. This lack of clients trust may occur as a
cloud environment such as: Key stores that must be protected
result of SLAs not offering a commitment to allow cloud users
in storage, in transit, and in backup. Improper key storage may
to audit their data. The loss of data governance causes
lead to the compromise of all encrypted data. Accesses to key
concerns when user's sensitive data and mission-critical
stores have to be limited to the authorized personnel who
applications move to a cloud computing environment where
require the individual keys. These keys ought to be under
providers cannot guarantee the effectiveness of their security
policies governing them. They should not be with the same
and privacy controls [10]. Clients must understand their
person who is given the keys and who is storing them since
security requirements, what control and federation patterns are
loss of keys means loss of data which keys are protecting [6].
necessary to meet those requirements in order to protect their
Several possible threats can occur in 1) Communication
rights and themselves against critical business security threats,
channels between CSP and end users during cloud migration
besides holding CSP responsible for service failure and their
and other business communications between CSP-to-CSP. 2)
confidential data loss.
Storage areas of clients' data. 3) Hypervisors and VMs.
Vulnerable area to threats should be securely protected and F. Multi-Tenancy
isolated by the use of appropriate up-to-date cryptography In cloud environment, multi-tenancy means clients can
systems with efficient key management to secure clients' data share infrastructure and databases in order to take advantage of
and their applications on the cloud [4]. cost and performance that comes with economies of scale.
Sharing IT resources may encounter threats of data loss,
D. Data Governance and Regulatory Compliance
misuse, or privacy violation. Ensuring security by means of
Clients are responsible for their data and applications even integrity, availability, confidentiality and non-repudiation is a
if it resides on third party storage such as cloud [7]. There must in cloud computing environment where the clients' data
should be shared data security terms and conditions included are under the control of CSP in multi-tenant shared
in Service Level Agreements (SLAs) initiated between CSPs environment [11]. Security must be considered in all aspects of
and clients based on their data sensitivity. Cloud computing cloud infrastructure as shown in Fig. 2 [12] below.
must be under well developed information security governance
processes, as part of the client's overall corporate governance �
f Auditing and
obligations with due care in terms of scalability, availability, SJtflwate SecuriiY_

l
Compliance

J I II I II
measurability, sustainability and cost effectiveness. Since cloud
l -.-k
MuitHenant Access Se(1J �ty In t ernet Application Security
Um
J
Identity Identity
J
physical storages are widely distributed across multiple Arti·DDoS Arti·Villl s
deratlon Auth entication Management

J � J I1
jurisdictions that have different laws regarding to data
security, privacy, usage and intellectual property. CSPs are
responsible for incorporating the corresponding regulatory
.l Acc e .. Con tlol J1M Identity t
ana ge m ..
An tl .S pam Jl Appl
Asse;;".
Autho r i z ation
Management I
compliance with government and legal country specific Access
management
1
I II II ID II
policies when deploying clients' data and applications [4]. Platform Security

JI :� J
CSPs ought to satisfy privacy rules by using up-to-date
Framework Environment Comp o � ent interrace
security techniques such as encrypting clients' data and ... man a ment
S�n ty S�rtty Se ru nty Secunty
documents on the fly, and on the cloud with the use of strong
I M onito ri ng

I
II
SelVl ces
techniques (e.g. 256 bit AES algorithms) as well as using f
Infrastructure Sec�rffir
Auditing
J
frrewalls to restrict the traffic to each cloud instance by source

l
Vi rtual Environment Security Sha red Storage Secu rity Services
IP address. In addition to allowing the access to clients data
I
JI J1 I
Semel , loading V irtu al Ma c h i ne Data Data
through Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encrypted endpoints. Reporti ng
Il Virtual Images Iso lation Segre gati on EnciJ'Pti on
I
I
Ser\lf ces

I
Furthermore, providing a disaster recovery mechanism that
starts quickly in case of a server failure and developing an
authorization model to provide discretionary, role-based and
I
Virtua l nehVOIK
border control
, ..
I Data
Destruction
...
,I ...
I,
context-aware authorizations to prevent any unauthorized
access [8]. Figure 2. Cloud Computing Security Architecture [12]

Proceedings of 2012 International of Cloud Computing, Technologies, Applications & Management 175
 Mervat Bamiah, Sarfraz Brohi, Suriayati Chuprat, Muhammad Nawaz Brohi

Table 1 [13] illustrates the security requirements that should This isolation of data, and maintaining proper compliance and
be considered to eliminate the threats and create clients trust in SLAs is a must in cloud computing environment [4]. Strong
all cloud service layers as follows: security and privacy mechanisms should be applied to gain
TABLE.l User's Specific Security Requirements [131
clients confidence of cloud paradigm.

level Service level Users Security Requirements Threats

G. Insider's Attack
According to The CERT Insider Threat Center [15], a
Application Software as a End users 'Privacy in multi·Tenant 'Interception malicious insider refers to "current or former employee,
level Service (SaaS) Environment 'Modification of data at rest and in contractor or other business partner who has or had authorized
• Data protection from transit
exposure
access to an organizations network, system or data and
'Data interruption (deletion)
'Accesscontrol 'Privacy breach intentionally exceeded or misused that access in a manner that
Communication protection
• 'Impersonation negatively affected confidentiality, integrity, and availability
• Software secur�y 'Session hijacking of the organizations information or information systems".
'Service availabil�y 'Exposure in network
According to International Data Corporation (IDC) survey
which posed 440 organizations to specifically address the
Virtual Platform as a Developers 'Accesscontrol 'Programmingflaws insider threat, stated that organizations are increasingly aware
level Service (PaaS) 'Application security 'Software modification that stronger application identity controls are necessary to
Infrastructure 'Datasecurity 'Software interruption
meet data security challenges by strong authentication, data
as a Service Cloud management control
• (deletion)
(laaS) security 'Impersonation
monitoring, and advanced access control technologies against
'Secure images 'Traffic flow analysis insider attacks [11]. There are several types of malicious
• Session hijacking • Exposure in network insiders identified by [16] such as rogue cloud provider
Virtual cloud protection Defacement
• •
administrator, or an unauthorized access by an employee in a
• Communication security • Connection flooding
' DDOS
specific organization who exploits cloud weaknesses, and the
• Impersonation insider who uses cloud resources to carry out attacks against
• Disrupting communications the organization's local IT infrastructure. The risk of a
malicious insider is high since CSPs control the clients' data,
and there is lack of transparency in the way processes and
Physical DataCenter Owners of 'legal use of cloud computing • Network attacks
level the • Hardware security • Connection flooding
procedures are done (how CSPs grant their employees access
infrastructure • Hardware reliability ' DDOS to physical and virtual assets, and how they monitors these
• Network protection • Hardware interruption employees, or how they analyzes and reports on policy
Network resources protection Hardware theft
• •
compliance)[10). Fig.3 [16] describes the threats by various
• Hardware modification
• Misuse of infrastructure
malicious insiders.
• Natural disasters

Hosting Organization Administrators

Privacy, on the other hand varies from country to country in
terms of cultures and jurisdictions. It is about compliance with May update VM driver to compromise hosted images.

applicable data protection laws and regulations relating to data May add devices to the hosting software to monitor internal
processes, etc.
transfer or location, as well as the purpose of processing and
Can perform Man - in - the - Middle attacks.
subject rights of data access and controL The challenge is how
to protect the privacy while sharing the personal data [12].
V�ls Administrators
When addressing privacy in the cloud, two aspects must be
distinguished: 1) applications running in the cloud should Can create alternate that do not conform to the baseline but reports
that they do.
protect the privacy of the data they process; 2) CSPs should
Can copy VMs or disks
protect clients' data that is stored or processed on their
Can modify VM so it performs in wrong way.
infrastructure [14]. In cloud computing environment usually
clients can access, use, store and deliver their data across the
System Administrators
globe via Internet. However, they do not control their data
Can perform as attacks - root compromises, Troj ans, etc.
since it resides on the cloud, there is a strong possibility that
Can update VMs drivers to vulnerable instances.
clients and their competitors data can reside on the same
physical storage device with logical segregation which can
Appli cation Administrators
result in one client's private data can be viewed by other users.
Can perform VM aware attacks that targets VM drivers to gain control
This can create an issue of data theft. In addition, the data
on the hosting platform .
being on a multi-tenant model raise the concerns of the Malicious application configurations.
security an auditing mechanisms applied by the CSP that Can copy all application data.
should ensure proper data isolation for protecting data from
threats or external penetrations, also preventing unwanted
changes by the CSP or any unauthorized access or attacks. Figure 3. Cloud Administrators and Potential Threats [161

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 157731234: Cloud Implementation Security Challenges

H. Identity Management accountability or carelessness of internal personnel, however,

Identity management is the building block of achieving system attack and information leakage are caused by
confidentiality, integrity and availability. Due to heterogeneity unprofessional operation of internal personnel. These threats
in cloud systems and models, a federated identity management are illustrated in Fig.4 [17] as follows.
system which allows users single sign on (SSO) is required
across mUltiple type of cloud systems that satisfies legal and Natu ral Disastersl

policy requirements [18]. Cloud computing has various

service delivery and deployment models that raised the need Hardware and Software
for an appropriate identity management (IDM), in terms of Failures

security, privacy, and provisioning of services to ensure the

A b use, Misuse an d
authorised access as well as to manage access control points, Tamp er ing w it h

Virtual Machines (VMs) or service identities, etc. Meanwhile I nformation

access to its relevant stored data has to be monitored and Malicious Attacks on
granted by the defmed access level for that mode as mentioned Networks and Systems

in the SLA [19-20]. The security challenges for adopting these

models and the relative advantages and disadvantages are O rgan ization

listed in Table 2 [21].

Managem ent
TABLE.2 IDM Security Challenges [21]

10M Advantages Disadvantages Security Challenges

Figure 4. Cloud Information System Threat Factors [17]

Independent 10M • Easy to implement • The user needs to remember • Should be highly configurable Strong authentication and access control mechanisms
stack • No separate integration with separate credential's. to facilitate compliance with the should be applied in addition to security and privacy tools and
the organization'sdirectory. organization's policies.
techniques to provide isolation of clients from each other's
VMs, as well as applying disaster recovery methods to provide
data availability and to secure the data from environmental
Credential • Users do not need to remember • Require integration with the • There isa need to ensure incidents that causes data loss.
Synchronization multiple passwords. organization's directory. security of users credentials'
• Has higher security risk value during transit and storage to III. CONCLUSION
due to the transmission of user preventtheirleaicage.
Several industries are moving towards adopting cloud
credentials' outside the
computing regarding to it significant features and low cost.
organization perimeter.
However, the industry data being under the control of CSP
created a risk of data leakage that posed a barrier against
trusting this agile paradigm. Clients must make sure that the
Federated 10M • Users do not need to remember • M ore complex to implement. • There isa shared need CSP is willing to undergo external audits and/or security
multiple passwords. between the cloud vendor and certifications. In this paper we tried to view cloud challenges to
• No separate integration with client to ensure that proper be considered and solved in order for clients to be confident to
the organization's directory. trust relationship and validation
implement the cloud paradigm in critical industries.
are established for secure
• Low security risk value as
federation of user ident�ies. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
compared to credential
synchronization.
Our gratitude goes to God Almighty who gave us the
knowledge to complete this work.

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