Computer Science: Cloud Security Survey Article Review

This assignment is a journal article review of "From Security to Assurance in the Cloud: A Survey". The review, completed for a Master of Science in Computer Science program, analyzes the article's introduction, which highlights the increasing use of cloud computing and associated security concerns, including service levels and non-functional properties. The research aims to understand cloud security and assurance, examining vulnerabilities across different attack surfaces and exploring security solutions. The methodology involved a survey for data collection, employing a qualitative data analysis technique. The results section discusses various vulnerabilities, risk evaluations, security measures, encryption-based signatures, protocols, and the role of IDPS. The discussion section emphasizes the importance of security protections, testing procedures, and SLAs in addressing cloud computing security issues. The reflection section acknowledges the advantages and disadvantages of cloud computing and suggests mitigation strategies using SLA, cloud auditing, and monitoring. It also emphasizes the need to revise security techniques due to evolving social engineering tactics. The review also includes the article's references and provides a comprehensive understanding of cloud security challenges and solutions.

North American University
Computer Science
Department
Master of Science in Computer Science
JOURNAL / ARTICLE REVIEW
Name: Date:
Ardagna, C. A., Asal, R., Damiani, E., & Vu, Q. H. (2015). From security to assurance in the cloud: A survey. ACM
Computing Surveys (CSUR), 48(1), 2.
INTRODUCTION
Cloud computing services are increasingly used in most of the IT organizations as they provide adequate
security and assurance to the data which are stored in the cloud network. The business processes and the
applications all over the world are hugely affected with the help of the cloud computing services. However
there are few concerns regarding the use of cloud services such as the followings:
 What is the clouds level of service?
 What are the non-functional properties of cloud paradigm?
 What are the cloud security approaches?
Purpose of the research: The prime purpose of this research is to understand cloud security and assurance taxonomy and
to study the vulnerabilities associated with cloud paradigm in different attack surface. The cloud security solutions has
been researched and examined in this paper. The different testing procedures which can enhance the quality of service
offered by this organization has been discussed in a details manner in this paper.
METHODOLOGY
Participants: Survey was conducted regarding the data collection procedure of this paper.
Procedures: Primary data collection procedure was followed for this paper.

Data Collection Methods / Data Source: The data collection method which was used in this paper is survey which is a
type of primary data collection. However, along with the primary data collection procedure, the opinion of the researcher
were also considered in this paper.
Data Analysis: Considering the type of data collection procedure which was considered for this paper it can be said that
non probabilistic sampling method was used in this paper, at the same time it can be said that qualitative data analysis
technique has been applied as the analysis technique in this paper.
RESULTS
The prime point of discussion of this article are as followings:
 Understanding the different types of vulnerabilities and threats in the cloud computing services.
 The evaluation of each of the risks in each level of cloud paradigm was also found from the paper.
 The paper was also very much helpful to understand the security measures which are followed for the security
solutions for the cloud computing paradigm.
 The importance of the encryption based signature was also understood from the paper also.
 The protocols of the trusted platform modules was described in a detailed manner in the paper.
 The role of the IDPS was also explained in the paper as well.
DISCUSSIONS
Conclusions/Implications: The paper was very much important to understand the security issues of the cloud computing
paradigm which are used by the applications and business processes all over the world. The security protections are
needed in order to deal with the security issues of the cloud computing paradigm. The importance of the testing
procedures regarding the security concerns of the cloud computing paradigm can be also understood from the paper as
well. The testing procedures which can be used to address the security issues of cloud computing paradigm can be also
understood from the paper as well. The importance of the SLA can be also concluded from this research paper as well.
REFLECTIONS
According to me, there are both advantageous as well as disadvantageous regarding the use of cloud computing services
for applications as well as business organizations. The security vulnerabilities of the cloud computing services can be
mitigated using the help of SLA, cloud auditing, certification, monitoring and testing. The security techniques and the
assurances which were used during the period of 2009 and 2014 has to be revised with new security measures and
protocols as the social engineers are incorporating new strategies which can have a direct impact on the data stored in the
cloud servers.
References: