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The extensive use of cloud services by both individual users and organizations induces several security risks. The risk perception is higher when Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) do not clearly state their security policies and/or when such policies do not directly match user-defined requirements. Security-oriented Service Level Agreements (Security SLAs) represent a fundamental means to encourage the adoption of cloud services in contexts where security is mandatory. Nevertheless, despite the number of existing initiatives aimed at formalizing Security SLAs and at representing security guarantees by taking into account both customers' and providers' perspectives, they are far from being commonly adopted in practice by CSPs, due to the difficulty in automatically enforcing and monitoring the security capabilities agreed with customers. In this paper we illustrate, through a case study, a methodology to set-up a catalogue of security capabilities that can be offered as-a-service, on top of which specific guarantees can be specified through a Security SLA. Such a methodology, which explicitly takes into account the constraints behind the definition of formal guarantees related to security, is meant to serve as a guideline for providers willing to offer for their services specific security features that can be monitored and assessed by customers during operation.

In modern safety-related applications, software has achieved an increasingly critical role. Their safety-critical nature, however, requires special attention: industry-specific functional-safety standards guide designers, developers, integrators, and testers during all phases of the software life-cycle and the final artifacts undergo a rigorous certification process.In the field, it is not uncommon to find very resource-constrained devices performing real-time sensing and actuating tasks. Although these devices, typically microcontroller units, offer a rich plethora of on-chip devices for communication, sensing, and interaction with the physical world, they often have quite reduced computational capabilities, and barely provide memory protection functionalities, relying solely upon rudimentary Memory Protection Units (MPUs). In this perspective, guaranteeing fault-confinement through spatial isolation – i.e., the isolation between the memory used by each of the tasks, as mandated by in force regulations – is quite challenging.In this paper, we present an MPU-based memory management and protection strategy that enables achieving spatial isolation in multi-application real-time operating systems (RTOS) tailored for safety-critical domains, while allowing a good degree of flexibility and combinability. Furthermore, we discuss the implementation of the proposed strategy as part of a RTOS from the industry domain, in order to provide a case-study pertaining to its actual implementation.

The growing markets of Cloud services and IoT platforms have dramatically raised system flexibility and deployment options. However, increasing complexity and dependency on third-party providers make it difficult to assess the security and privacy levels that distributed systems can offer to their users. In the last years, machine-readable Service Level Agreements (SLAs) have been studied as an optimal method for copying with security and privacy policies. Still, the computation of the SLAs of applications distributed in diverse infrastructures remains a challenging task. This paper presents a methodology to compose security SLAs (SecSLAs) and privacy SLAs (PLAs) of Cloud-based IoT applications on top of standard controls. The composition considers individual components’ SLAs and the control delegation relationships between the components with respect to different types of controls (common, system-specific or hybrid controls). Furthermore, we propose a technique to calculate the Service Level Objectives (SLO) of the controls declared in the composite SLA based on the SLOs granted by individual components. Finally, the paper presents the validation of the methodology carried out to create the SecSLAs and PLAs of a real multiCloud-based IoT application in the eHealth domain.

Cloud computing, edge computing, and the Internet of Things are significantly changing from the original architectural models with pure provisioning of virtual resources (and services) to a transparent and adaptive hosting environment, where cloud providers, as well as “on-premise” resources and end nodes, fully realize the “everything-as-a-service” provisioning concept. The optimal design of these architectures, including the selection of optimal services to acquire, is not trivial in the cloud–edge context due to the involvement of a variable number and the type of available resources offerings and to the impact on cost, performance, and other relevant features such as security, almost never considered. This article presents a novel formalization of the cloud–edge allocation problem for the industrial IoT context. The proposed optimization process takes explicitly into account two critical aspects that are often overlooked in similar approaches, namely, the new cloud–edge on-demand service offerings model for the allocation of resources and the impact on the deployed application, in terms of cost, performance, and security policies actually implemented. An efficient yet suboptimal deterministic solver is also presented and compared with a linear programming one. Results are the same in 86% of the cases on the considered data set while our solver is orders of magnitude faster than the linear one.

Currently an increasing number of customers require cloud services with guaranteed security levels. At this aim, the adoption of multi-cloud strategies is spreading in a large number of interesting application domains, since they may potentially improve security and reduce development costs. However, the problem of identifying the optimal distribution of the components of a cloud application on resources belonging to multiple and heterogeneous providers is very challenging, especially in the presence of different security and performance constraints. This paper presents a novel security-driven approach for the design, development and deployment of multi-cloud applications. It is based on a fully-automatable process that supports the developer from the elicitation of the application requirements up to the identification of the optimal deployment configuration, allowing to find the best compromise between overall cost and achieved level of security. The proposed optimization process takes explicitly into account two critical aspects that are often overlooked in similar approaches, namely the cloud on-demand leasing model for the allocation of resources and the impact that the deployment has on the security policies actually implemented by a complex application.

The widespread diffusion of cloud computing is still slowed down by security and performance concerns. As a matter of fact, issues such as security and confidentiality of data on one hand, fluctuating performance on the other are still limiting factors for the switch from on-premise to cloud-hosted environments. This paper sketches the structure of a platform offering simulation services able to deal with both problems. Given the structure of a cloud application by means of a graph-based model, the simulator can help to discover and correct potential security and performance problems by using simulation combined with novel techniques for the verification of coverage of the application security requirements.

The Internet of Things (IoT) has recently become one of the most relevant emerging technologies in the IT landscape. IoT systems are characterized by the high heterogeneity of involved architectural components (e.g., device platforms, services, networks, architectures) and involve a multiplicity of application domains. In the IoT scenario, the identification of specific security requirements and the security design are very complex and expensive tasks, since they heavily depend on the configuration deployment actually in place and require security experts. In order to overcome these issues, we propose an approach aimed at supporting the security analysis of an IoT system by means of an almost completely automated process for threat modeling and risk assessment, which also helps identify the security controls to implement in order to mitigate existing security risks. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach by discussing its application to a home automation system, built on top of commercial IoT products.

The wide adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm in several application domains has raised new security issues, which should be carefully taken into account to achieve a real benefit from the indisputable innovation potential of IoT. In fact, the heterogeneity of involved technologies, including the integration of different resource-constrained devices and networks, has led to the introduction of new threats affecting all architectural layers and urging for the design and enforcement of adequate security countermeasures , including effective monitoring capabilities. In this paper, we present a monitoring tool for IoT systems based on the extension of the Montimage network monitoring tools . The proposed solution, validated within the H2020 ANASTACIA project, proved to be well suited to monitor IoT-level networks thanks to the exploitation of protocol-specific plugins.

The development of cloud applications raises several security concerns due to the lack of control over involved resources. Security testing is fundamental to identify the existing security issues and is particularly powerful when carried out by means of penetration testing techniques. Unfortunately, penetration testing requires a deep knowledge of the possible attacks and of the available hacking tools and is very energy demanding. In this paper, we present a methodology that allows to easily carry out a coarse-grained security evaluation of a cloud application by automating the set-up and execution of penetration tests. The methodology relies on the knowledge of the application architecture and on the availability of a catalogue including security-related data collected from multiple sources and properly correlated.

The large adoption of cloud services in many business domains dramatically increases the need for effective solutions to improve the security of deployed services. The adoption of Security Service Level Agreements (Security SLAs) represents an effective solution to state formally the security guarantees that a cloud service is able to provide. Even if security policies declared by the service provider are properly implemented before the service is deployed and launched, the actual security level tends to degrade over time, due to the knowledge on the exposed attack surface that the attackers are progressively able to gain. In this paper, we present a Security SLA-driven MTD framework that allows MTD strategies to be applied to a cloud application by automatically switching among different admissible application configurations, in order to confuse the attackers and nullify their reconnaissance effort, while preserving the application Security SLA across reconfigurations.

In the cloud computing context, Service Level Agreements (SLAs) 'tailored' to specific Cloud Service Customers (CSCs) seem to be still an utopia, and things are even worse as regards the security terms to be guaranteed. In fact, existing cloud SLAs focus only on a few service terms, and Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) mainly provide uniform guarantees for all offered services and for all customers, regardless of any particular service characteristics or of customer-specific needs. This paper presents a framework that enables the adoption of a per-service SLA model, supporting the automatic implementation of cloud security SLAs tailored to the needs of each customer for specific service instances. In particular, the process and the software architecture for per-service SLA implementation are shown. A case study application, related to the provisioning of a secure web container service, is presented and discussed, to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed solution.

Next generation Data Centers (ngDC) provide a significant evolution how storage resources can be provisioned. They are cloud-based architectures offering flexible IT infrastructure and services through the virtualization of resources: managing in an integrated way compute, network and storage resources. Despite the multitude of benefits available when leveraging a Cloud infrastructure, wide scale Cloud adoption for sensitive or critical business applications still faces resistance. One of the key limiting factors holding back larger adoption of Cloud services is trust. To cope with this, datacenter customers need more guarantees about the security levels provided, creating the need for tools to dynamically negotiate and monitor the security requirements. The SPECS project proposes a platform that offers security features with an as-a-service approach, furthermore it uses Security Service Level Agreements (Security SLA) as a means for establishing a clear statement between customers and providers to define a mutual agreement. This paper presents an industrial use case from EMC that integrates the SPECS Platform with their innovative solutions for the ngDC. In particular, the paper illustrates how it is possible to negotiate, enforce and monitor a Security SLA in a cloud infrastructure offering.

Dealing with the provisioning of cloud services granted by Security SLAs is a very challenging research topic. At the state of the art, the main related issues involve: (i) representing security features so that they are understandable by both customers and providers and measurable (by means of verifiable security-related Service Level Objectives (SLOs)), (ii) automating the provisioning of security mechanisms able to grant desired security features (by means of a security-driven resource allocation process), and (iii) continuously monitoring the services in order to verify the fulfillment of specified Security SLOs (by means of cloud security monitoring solutions). We propose to face the Security SLA life cycle management with a framework able to enrich cloud applications with security features. In this paper we (i) present a novel Security SLA model and (ii) illustrate a security-driven planning process that can be adopted to determine the (optimum) deployment of security-related software components. Such process takes into account both specific implementation constraints of the security components to be deployed and customers security requirements, and enables the automatic provisioning and configuration of all needed resources. In order to demonstrate the applicability of the approach, we present and discuss a practical application of the model on a real case study.

Cloud monitoring and, above all, security monitoring, is of fundamental importance for both providers and consumers. The availability of effective security metrics and related monitoring tools would not only improve the trust of consumers in acquired services and the control of providers over their infrastructures, but it would also enable the adoption of security-oriented Service Level Agreements stating formal guarantees about measurable security parameters. In this paper, we discuss a Security SLA model including the concepts needed to formalize security metrics and security-oriented Service Level Objectives in compliance with existing standards, and present a novel Security Metric Catalogue collecting several metrics that can be used to monitor the level of security provided by a cloud or multi-cloud application.

Security issues are still posing limitations to the full exploitation of the potential of the cloud computing paradigm, and cloud developers are more and more required to take security into account from the very beginning of the development process. Unfortunately, the application of classical security best practices may be not enough due to the involvement of cloud services provided by third-parties and out of the control of the developer. In this paper, to overcome this issue, we introduce and discuss a model-based process for the security assessment of cloud applications. In particular, we suggest a complete process that can be executed within the lifecycle of a cloud application, from the requirement elicitation up to the validation (both static and dynamic through the generation and execution of suitable test cases) of the final deployment against security requirements. In this work, we sketch the process main phases and illustrate the high-level modelling languages that have been defined to describe an application at different levels of abstraction and to formalize both security requirements of applications and security features offered by existing cloud services. A running example involving the assessment of a simple yet realistic cloud application is used throughout the paper to better illustrate the proposal and to demonstrate its feasibility and effectiveness.

This paper presents a security-by-design methodology for the development of cloud applications, which relies on Security SLAs as a means to express their security requirements. The process followed to build such Security SLAs entails the application of a risk analysis procedure aimed at identifying the main vulnerabilities affecting a cloud application and allows to determine the countermeasures to consider at design time in order to thwart the main existing threats. The paper illustrates a proof-of-concept application that founds on standard risk assessment tools and adopts state-of-art Security Control Frameworks and a novel Security SLA model for the security requirements representation.

In the cloud computing context, Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are contracts between Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) and Cloud Service Customers (CSCs), stating the guaranteed quality level of the services offered by CSPs. Existing cloud SLAs focus only on few service terms, completely ignoring all security related aspects. They are often reported in a way that is hardly understandable for customers. Moreover, they offer guarantees uniform for all offered services and all customers, regardless of particular service characteristics or customers specific needs. This paper presents a framework that enables the adoption of a per-service SLA model, by supporting the automatic implementation of cloud Security SLAs tailored to the needs of each customer for specific service instances. In particular, the process and the software architecture for per-service SLA implementation are shown. A case study application demonstrates the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed solution.

The perception of lack of control over resources deployed in the cloud may represent one of the critical factors for an organization to decide to cloudify or not its own services. The flat security features offered by commercial cloud providers to every customer, from simple practitioners to managers of huge amounts of sensitive data and services, is an additional problem. In recent years, the concept of Security Service Level Agreements (Security SLAs) is assuming a key role for the secure provisioning of cloud resources and services. This paper illustrates how to develop cloud applications that deliver services covered by Security SLAs by means of the services and tools provided by the SPECS framework, developed in the context of the SPECS (Secure Provisioning of Cloud Services based on SLA Management) European Project. The whole (SPECS) application's life cycle is dealt with, in order to give a comprehensive view of the different parties involved and of the processes needed to offer security guarantees on top of cloud services. The discussed development process is exemplified by means of a real-world case study consisting in a cloud application offering a secure web container service.

Next generation Data Centers (ngDC) are the cloud-based architectures devoted to offering infrastructure services in flexible ways: managing in an integrated way compute, network and storage services. This solution is very attractive from an organisation’s perspective but one of the main challenges to adoption is the perception of loss of security and control over resources that are dynamically acquired in the cloud and that reside on remote providers. For a full adoption, datacenter customers need more guarantees about the security levels provided, creating the need for tools to dynamically negotiate and monitor the security requirements. The SPECS project proposes a platform that offers security features with an as-a-service approach, furthermore it uses Security Service Level Agreements (Security SLA) as a means for establishing a clear statement between customers and providers to define a mutual agreement. This paper presents an industrial experience from EMC that integrates the SPECS Platform and their innovative solutions for ngDC. In particular, the paper will illustrate how it is possible to negotiate, enforce and monitor a Security SLA in a cloud infrastructure offering.

A key issue in electronic health systems is the underlying security and privacy risk. For example, confidential patient information or medical records ending up in the hands of a person not privy to the information could have far-reaching consequences. With the trend toward cloud computing use in the healthcare industry continuing to grow (for example, using cloud platforms to digitally manage health-related data including electronic health records), security and privacy concerns must be adequately addressed, and regulations on data protections made to be in compliance. This column examines several key issues and requirements underpinning the use of cloud computing for managing healthcare-related data as well as potential solutions.

The applications that rely on the combined use of multiple independent clouds pose a challenge to the control of their security. The difficulty of this task resides on the lack of insight on the cloud providers security measures, plus the need to simultaneously monitor the behaviour of multipleindividual components deployed in different clouds. This paper presents the SLA-driven monitoring of multi-cloud application security compliance. In this approach, the application security levels, controls and metrics are specified at design time in the Service Level Agreement (SLA) creation process and continuously monitored at runtime once the application components are deployed over the multi-cloud. The security monitoring is based on the Montimage Monitoring Tool (MMT), that combines Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) and data mining techniques to collect and analyse measurements at both network and application component levels for a holistic assurance.

The perception of lack of control over resources deployed in the cloud may represent one of the critical factors for an organization to decide to cloudify or not their own services. Furthermore, in spite of the idea of offering security-as-a-service, the development of secure cloud applications requires security skills that can slow down the adoption of the cloud for nonexpert users. In the recent years, the concept of Security Service Level Agreements (Security SLA) is assuming a key role in the provisioning of cloud resources. This paper presents the SPECS framework, which enables the development of secure cloud applications covered by a Security SLA. The SPECS framework offers APIs to manage the whole Security SLA life cycle and provides all the functionalities needed to automatize the enforcement of proper security mechanisms and to monitor userdefined security features. The development process of SPECS applications offering security-enhanced services is illustrated, presenting as a real-world case study the provisioning of a secure web server.