Cloud Security

How Do You Secure the Cloud?

This Bloginar's goal is to chat about why large corporations are interested in the cloud and how the cloud is being secured. You’ll also be discussing the latest trends and biggest impacts of the future of cloud computing.

Presenter:

Jackie Brewer, PhD. Jackie brings to the table 10 years of experience managing the network infrastructure for the University of Kansas Medical Center.  She also taught insurance regulators across the country how to effectively conduct information systems audits at insurance companies for the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC).  Jackie earned certifications from ISACA while working at the NAIC.   She has many years experience in government information systems security assurance and teaching information systems security. Joining Jackie, will be Bob Cox, CTO Kryterion Systems, who was the CTO at the US Army and the Deputy CIO at FEMA. Also on the faculty at the National Defense University.

Event Date: 11/4/2009

Event Time: 11:30 am EDT, 10:30 am CDT, 9:30 am MDT, and 8:30 am PDT.

Event Place: This Page - just watch for event activity below.

URL: http://www.wgu.edu/securityblogs/cloud

Click here to email a question to the presenter.

ENISA Offers Security Recommendations For Cloud Services

New report outlines benefits and risks, offers guidelines for choosing providers
Nov 19, 2009 | 11:04 PM
By Tim Wilson

Dark Reading

Are cloud services safe to use? What are their security weaknesses? What do enterprises need to know before they sign up?
The European Network and Information Security Agency http://www.enisa.europa.eu/  (ENISA) today is publishing a 124-page report that is designed to answer these questions for enterprises all over the globe. Nearly a year in the making, it covers the technical, policy and legal implications of cloud services and makes recommendations for how to address the risks and maximize the benefits.

The report identifies 35 specific risks associated with cloud services, as well as some potential security benefits.
Loss of governance is one chief category of risks, ENISA says. "In using cloud infrastructures, the client necessarily cedes control to the Cloud Provider (CP) on a number of issues which may affect security. At the same time, [service level agreements] may not offer a commitment to provide such services on the part of the cloud provider, thus leaving a gap in security defences."

Enterprises also run the risk of being "locked in" to a single provider, the report says. "There is currently little ... that could guarantee data, application and service portability," ENISA observes. "This can make it difficult for the customer to migrate from one provider to another or migrate data and services back to an in-house IT environment. This introduces a dependency on a particular CP for service provision."

In addition, enterprises also risk losing separation from other enterprises in a multi-tenant service, ENISA says. "Multi-tenancy and shared resources are defining characteristics of cloud computing. This risk category covers the failure of mechanisms separating storage, memory, routing, and even reputation between different tenants (e.g., so-called guest-hopping attacks)." These risks are still smaller than the risks posed by attacks on traditional operating systems, the report says.

Cloud services may also jeopardize an enterprise's compliance with some regulatory environments, the report notes. In some cases, it may be difficult to audit and certify a specific enterprise's security in a cloud environment, where many enterprises share a common infrastructure.

Some cloud services may not be able to fully delete data after carrying it, the report says. "When a request to delete a cloud resource is made, as with most operating systems, this may not result in true wiping of the data," ENISA says. "Adequate or timely data deletion may also be impossible, either because extra copies of data are stored but are not available, or because the disk to be destroyed also stores data from other clients."

Cloud services could expose enterprises to new forms of insider threat, ENISA says. "Cloud architectures necessitate certain roles which are extremely high-risk," the report says. "Examples include CP system administrators and managed security service providers." The customer management interfaces to a service provider may also be vulnerable to attack, ENISA warns.
In all, the report identifies 35 specific risks associated with cloud services, including organizational, technical, and legal risks. But the report also suggests that there may be benefits to cloud services, even on the security level.

"The scale and flexibility of cloud computing gives the providers a security edge," ENISA says. "For example, providers can instantly call on extra defensive resources like filtering and re-routing. They can also roll out new security patches more efficiently and keep more comprehensive evidence for diagnostics."

The full 124-page report is available for free via the the ENISA Website

http://www.enisa.europa.eu/.

Why Information Assurance?

At another university, when asked why the program is called “information assurance” and not “cybersecurity”, my response was that the National Security Agency and Department of Defense called it information assurance while the Department of Homeland Security called it cybersecurity.  The questioner persisted—why use the Defense name—and I replied, because they have the money for grants and scholarships…
 
But times have changed.  Now we have the National Cybersecurity Initiative, an umbrella program that calls for upgrading all forms of information security not only across the federal government, but also across the critical infrastructure of the country—all areas touched by information technology (IT).  The power grid, for example, is dependent upon SCADA systems.  The telecommunications system is migrating from the SS-7 base to the TCP/IP world—Voice Over IP (VOIP), for example, with all the security challenges of IP offered in a small, mobile, hand-held form.
 
For information assurance and cybersecurity professionals, there is a growing market.  Expenditures for cybersecurity are growing much more rapidly than expenditures for IT generally.  Legal requirements to protect privacy and require due diligence are placing new burdens on all IT shops and many senior managers.  Increased dependence on IT to store records, host intellectual property, and manage our lives both professionally and personally means more vulnerabilities and greater consequences if there is a data breach, modification, or extrusion.
 
And the nature of the threat is changing.  Where half a dozen years ago the average cracker was a teenager having “fun” by spawning a denial of service attack, the current world sees thieves stealing money online, robbing enterprises of their intellectual property, and generally following the Willie Sutton view—when asked why he robbed banks, Sutton’s response was “because that’s where the money is”
 
At the level of the nation-state, both Estonia and Georgia have been the victims of massive denial of service attacks in the past two years, designed to shut down their IT infrastructure.  The source, suspected but unconfirmed, was Russians in both cases.  Similarly, a large, populous Asian nation has been slurping data from American corporations for a number of years.
 
A lot of government money will be going in to countering those threats and to reducing the consequences of any attack.  Much of that intended funding is coming to the west.  The Defense Department has Data Centers at Ogden, the new DHS Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) will be built in Utah.   The National Security Agency <http://www.fcw.com/Articles/2009/03/11/cybersecurity-review.aspx>  will run the center that Utah Gov. Gary Herbert said would cost $1.5 billion to build and employ 4,000 to 5,000 people statewide. The facility will be built at the Utah National Guard’s Camp Williams, near Salt Lake City.  All this spending will create job opportunities for people with the right knowledge, skills, and abilities.

So the plan for the next few weeks is to explore some of the issues and opportunities presented in this expanded cybersecurity arena, discussing the technologies, the policies, and the economics, and having a good old-fashioned brain storming session in a new, modern, environment.
 
Enjoy the opportunity to participate.

v/r,
 
Don Goff, Ph.D.