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Cloud Security Alliance Guidance v2 Released

The guidance explores the issues in cloud security from the perspective of 13 different domains

Security at Cloud Expo

Last week, the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) released its Security Guidance for Critical Areas of Focus in Cloud Computing V2.1.

This is a follow-on to first guidance document released only last April, which, gives you a sense of the speed at which cloud technology and techniques are moving. I was one of the contributors to this project.

The guidance explores the issues in cloud security from the perspective of 13 different domains:

Cloud Architecture

  • Domain 1: Cloud Computing Architectural Framework

Governing in the Cloud

  • Domain 2: Governance and Enterprise Risk Management
  • Domain 3: Legal and Electronic Discovery
  • Domain 4: Compliance and Audit
  • Domain 5: Information Lifecycle Management
  • Domain 6: Portability and Interoperability

Operating in the Cloud

  • Domain 7: Traditional Security, Business Continuity, and Disaster Recovery
  • Domain 8: Data Center Operations
  • Domain 9: Incident Response, Notification, and Remediation
  • Domain 10: Application Security
  • Domain 11: Encryption and Key Management
  • Domain 12: Identity and Access Management
  • Domain 13: Virtualization

I thought the domain classification was quite good because it serves to remind people that technology is only a small part of a cloud security strategy.

I know that’s become a terrible security cliche, but there’s a difference between saying this and understanding what it really means.

The CSA domain structure–even without the benefits of the guidance–at least serves as a concrete reminder of what’s behind the slogan.

Have a close look at the guidance.  Read it; think about it; disagree with it; change it–but in the end, make it your own. Then share your experiences with the community.

The guidance is an evolving document that is a product of a collective, volunteer effort. It’s less political than a conventional standards effort (look though the contributors and you will find individuals, not companies). The group can move fast, and it doesn’t need to be proscriptive like a standard–it’s more a distillation of considerations and best practices.

This one is worth tracking.

Read the original blog entry...

More Stories By Scott Morrison

K. Scott Morrison is the Chief Technology Officer and Chief Architect at Layer 7 Technologies, where he is leading a team developing the next generation of security infrastructure for cloud computing and SOA. An architect and developer of highly scalable, enterprise systems for over 20 years, Scott has extensive experience across industry sectors as diverse as health, travel and transportation, and financial services. He has been a Director of Architecture and Technology at Infowave Software, a leading maker of wireless security and acceleration software for mobile devices, and was a senior architect at IBM. Before shifting to the private sector, Scott was with the world-renowned medical research program of the University of British Columbia, studying neurodegenerative disorders using medical imaging technology.

Scott is a dynamic, entertaining and highly sought-after speaker. His quotes appear regularly in the media, from the New York Times, to the Huffington Post and the Register. Scott has published over 50 book chapters, magazine articles, and papers in medical, physics, and engineering journals. His work has been acknowledged in the New England Journal of Medicine, and he has published in journals as diverse as the IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, the Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow, and Neurology. He is the co-author of the graduate text Cloud Computing, Principles, Systems and Applications published by Springer, and is on the editorial board of Springer’s new Journal of Cloud Computing Advances, Systems and Applications (JoCCASA). He co-authored both Java Web Services Unleashed and Professional JMS. Scott is an editor of the WS-I Basic Security Profile (BSP), and is co-author of the original WS-Federation specification. He is a recent co-author of the Cloud Security Alliance’s Security Guidance for Critical Areas of Focus in Cloud Computing, and an author of that organization’s Top Threats to Cloud Computing research. Scott was recently a featured speaker for the Privacy Commission of Canada’s public consultation into the privacy implications of cloud computing. He has even lent his expertise to the film and television industry, consulting on a number of features including the X-Files. Scott’s current interests are in cloud computing, Web services security, enterprise architecture and secure mobile computing—and of course, his wife and two great kids.

Layer 7 Technologies: http://www.layer7tech.com
Scott's linkedIn profile.
Twitter: @KScottMorrison
Syscon blog: http://scottmorrison.sys-con.com

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