Cloud Multi-Tenancy: Issues and Developments

Cloud Computing (CC) is a computational paradigm that provides pay-per use services to customers from a pool of networked computing resources that are provided on demand. Customers therefore does not need to worry about infrastructure or storage. Cloud Service Providers (CSP) make custom built applications available to customers online. Also, organisations and enterprises can build and deploy applications based on platforms provided by the Cloud service provider. Scalable storage and computing resources is also made available to consumers on the Clouds at a cost. Cloud Computing takes virtualization a step further through the use of virtual machines, it allows several customers share the same physical machine. In addition, it is possible for numerous customers to share applications provided by a CSP; this sharing model is known as multi-tenancy. Though Multi-tenancy has its drawbacks but however, it is highly desirable based on its cost efficiency. This paper presents the comprehensive study of existing literatures on relevant issues and development relating to cloud multitenancy using reliable methods. This study examines recent trends in the area of cloud multi-tenancy and provides a guide for future research. The analyses of this comprehensive study was based on the following questions relating to recent study in multi-tenancy which are: what is the current trend and development in cloud multi-tenancy? Existing publications were analyzed in this area including journals, conferences, white papers and publications in reputable magazines. The expected result at the end of this review is the identification of trends in cloud multi-tenancy. This will be of benefit to prospective cloud users and even cloud providers

An Intelligent Access Control Model

Cybersecurity is a critical issue as the world is moving towered IR4 era (Industrial Revaluation 4.0) where technology is involved, and access to the internet is an imperative need. The traditional computing systems are not able to meet the huge computing demand and growing data (Big-Data). Therefore; new technologies have been evolved such as cloud computing. This chapter is exploring the need for a dynamic access control approach to enhance the Cybersecurity. The scope in this chapter is focusing on IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) layer of cloud computing. The research approach aims to enhance the basic ABAC (Attribute-Based Access Control) model by adding a context-aware feature and SoD principle. The enhanced model called ABACsh. This proposed enhancement is implemented through a framework based on AI (Artificial Intelligent) to meet the requirements of dynamic systems. The framework is tested in the OpenStack testbed. The results show better performance in the term of computation speed

Multi-tenant attribute-based access control for cloud infrastructure services

Cloud Computing is developed as a new wave of ICT technologies, offering a common approach to on-demand provisioning of computation, storage and network resources that are generally referred to as infrastructure services. Most of currently available commercial cloud services are built and organized reflecting simple relations between single provider and customers with the simple security and trust model. New architectural models should deliver multi-provider heterogeneous cloud services environments to organizational customers representing multiple user groups. These models need to be enforced by consistent security services operating in virtualized multi-provider cloud environment. They should incorporate complex access control mechanisms and trust relations among cloud actors. In this paper, we analyze cloud services provisioning use-cases and propose an access control model for multi-tenant cloud services using attribute-based access control model. We also extend the model for Intercloud scenarios with the exchanging tokens approach. To facilitate attribute-based policy evaluation and implementing the proposed model, we apply an efficient mechanism to transform complex logical expressions in policies to compact decision diagrams. Our prototype of the multi-tenant attribute-based access control system for Intercloud is developed, tested and integrated into the GEYSERS project. Evaluations prove that our approach has a good performance in terms of numbers of cloud resources and numbers of clients

Ontology-based Access Control in Open Scenarios: Applications to Social Networks and the Cloud

La integració d'Internet a la societat actual ha fet possible compartir fàcilment grans quantitats d'informació electrònica i recursos informàtics (que inclouen maquinari, serveis informàtics, etc.) en entorns distribuïts oberts. Aquests entorns serveixen de plataforma comuna per a usuaris heterogenis (per exemple, empreses, individus, etc.) on es proporciona allotjament d'aplicacions i sistemes d'usuari personalitzades; i on s'ofereix un accés als recursos compartits des de qualsevol lloc i amb menys esforços administratius. El resultat és un entorn que permet a individus i empreses augmentar significativament la seva productivitat. Com ja s'ha dit, l'intercanvi de recursos en entorns oberts proporciona importants avantatges per als diferents usuaris, però, també augmenta significativament les amenaces a la seva privacitat. Les dades electròniques compartides poden ser explotades per tercers (per exemple, entitats conegudes com "Data Brokers"). Més concretament, aquestes organitzacions poden agregar la informació compartida i inferir certes característiques personals sensibles dels usuaris, la qual cosa pot afectar la seva privacitat. Una manera de del.liar aquest problema consisteix a controlar l'accés dels usuaris als recursos potencialment sensibles. En concret, la gestió de control d'accés regula l'accés als recursos compartits d'acord amb les credencials dels usuaris, el tipus de recurs i les preferències de privacitat dels propietaris dels recursos/dades. La gestió eficient de control d'accés és crucial en entorns grans i dinàmics. D'altra banda, per tal de proposar una solució viable i escalable, cal eliminar la gestió manual de regles i restriccions (en la qual, la majoria de les solucions disponibles depenen), atès que aquesta constitueix una pesada càrrega per a usuaris i administradors . Finalment, la gestió del control d'accés ha de ser intuïtiu per als usuaris finals, que en general no tenen grans coneixements tècnics.La integración de Internet en la sociedad actual ha hecho posible compartir fácilmente grandes cantidades de información electrónica y recursos informáticos (que incluyen hardware, servicios informáticos, etc.) en entornos distribuidos abiertos. Estos entornos sirven de plataforma común para usuarios heterogéneos (por ejemplo, empresas, individuos, etc.) donde se proporciona alojamiento de aplicaciones y sistemas de usuario personalizadas; y donde se ofrece un acceso ubicuo y con menos esfuerzos administrativos a los recursos compartidos. El resultado es un entorno que permite a individuos y empresas aumentar significativamente su productividad. Como ya se ha dicho, el intercambio de recursos en entornos abiertos proporciona importantes ventajas para los distintos usuarios, no obstante, también aumenta significativamente las amenazas a su privacidad. Los datos electrónicos compartidos pueden ser explotados por terceros (por ejemplo, entidades conocidas como “Data Brokers”). Más concretamente, estas organizaciones pueden agregar la información compartida e inferir ciertas características personales sensibles de los usuarios, lo cual puede afectar a su privacidad. Una manera de paliar este problema consiste en controlar el acceso de los usuarios a los recursos potencialmente sensibles. En concreto, la gestión de control de acceso regula el acceso a los recursos compartidos de acuerdo con las credenciales de los usuarios, el tipo de recurso y las preferencias de privacidad de los propietarios de los recursos/datos. La gestión eficiente de control de acceso es crucial en entornos grandes y dinámicos. Por otra parte, con el fin de proponer una solución viable y escalable, es necesario eliminar la gestión manual de reglas y restricciones (en la cual, la mayoría de las soluciones disponibles dependen), dado que ésta constituye una pesada carga para usuarios y administradores. Por último, la gestión del control de acceso debe ser intuitivo para los usuarios finales, que por lo general carecen de grandes conocimientos técnicos.Thanks to the advent of the Internet, it is now possible to easily share vast amounts of electronic information and computer resources (which include hardware, computer services, etc.) in open distributed environments. These environments serve as a common platform for heterogeneous users (e.g., corporate, individuals etc.) by hosting customized user applications and systems, providing ubiquitous access to the shared resources and requiring less administrative efforts; as a result, they enable users and companies to increase their productivity. Unfortunately, sharing of resources in open environments has significantly increased the privacy threats to the users. Indeed, shared electronic data may be exploited by third parties, such as Data Brokers, which may aggregate, infer and redistribute (sensitive) personal features, thus potentially impairing the privacy of the individuals. A way to palliate this problem consists on controlling the access of users over the potentially sensitive resources. Specifically, access control management regulates the access to the shared resources according to the credentials of the users, the type of resource and the privacy preferences of the resource/data owners. The efficient management of access control is crucial in large and dynamic environments such as the ones described above. Moreover, in order to propose a feasible and scalable solution, we need to get rid of manual management of rules/constraints (in which most available solutions rely) that constitutes a serious burden for the users and the administrators. Finally, access control management should be intuitive for the end users, who usually lack technical expertise, and they may find access control mechanism more difficult to understand and rigid to apply due to its complex configuration settings

IaaS-cloud security enhancement: an intelligent attribute-based access control model and implementation

The cloud computing paradigm introduces an efficient utilisation of huge computing resources by multiple users with minimal expense and deployment effort compared to traditional computing facilities. Although cloud computing has incredible benefits, some governments and enterprises remain hesitant to transfer their computing technology to the cloud as a consequence of the associated security challenges. Security is, therefore, a significant factor in cloud computing adoption. Cloud services consist of three layers: Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). Cloud computing services are accessed through network connections and utilised by multi-users who can share the resources through virtualisation technology. Accordingly, an efficient access control system is crucial to prevent unauthorised access. This thesis mainly investigates the IaaS security enhancement from an access control point of view. [Continues.