Domain 5: Cloud Security Operations
The Cloud Security Operations domain is a companion to many of the concepts introduced in the Cloud Platform and Infrastructure Security domain. It deals with issues of implementing, building, operating, and managing the physical and logical infrastructure needed for a cloud environment. There is a heavy focus on the cloud service provider's perspective, so concepts in this domain may be unfamiliar to some security practitioners who have only worked to secure cloud services as a consumer. The concepts are largely similar to legacy or on-premises security, such as the secure configuration of BIOS and use of Trusted Platform Module (TPM) for hardware security, deployment of virtualization management tools, and configuring remote maintenance capabilities to allow remote administrative tasks. Considerations unique to cloud environments include the additional rigor required in the configuration of isolation features, which prevent data access across tenants, as well as the much larger demands of managing capacity, availability, and monitoring of vast, multicountry data centers. Traditional security operations (SecOps) are also of critical concern for security practitioners in a cloud environment, such as the management of vulnerability and patch management programs, network access and security controls, as well as configuration and change management programs. Additional SecOps activities covered in this domain include supporting incident response and digital forensics when security incidents occur, as well as traditional security operations center (SOC) oversight and monitoring functions for network security, log capture and analysis, and service incident management. These tasks are also covered from the cloud consumer’s perspective, as many cloud services and security tools provide log data that must be analyzed to support policy enforcement and incident detection.
Domain 6: Legal, Risk, and Compliance
Legal and regulatory requirements are a significant driver of the work many information security professionals perform, and cloud computing makes this increasingly more complex due to its inherently global nature. The Legal, Risk, and Compliance domain details the conflicting international laws and regulations that organizations will encounter when using cloud services. These present financial risks, additional compliance obligations and risk, as well as technical challenges like verifying that cloud applications and services are configured in accordance with compliance requirements. One particularly important area of focus is privacy legislation; with many countries and localities introducing strict requirements to safeguard privacy data, organizations using the cloud must weigh any financial benefits of a cloud migration against potential fines if they violate these laws. New challenges are also emerging around jurisdiction over multinational cloud services: how do you determine jurisdiction for a U.S. based company operating a cloud data center in Singapore processing data belonging to a Swiss citizen? Three different laws potentially overlap in this scenario. Processes for audits, assurance, and reporting are also covered, as security practitioners must understand and be able to implement both internal oversight mechanisms like gap analysis and audit planning, while also selecting and supporting external auditors for standards like Service Organization Control (SOC) audit reports. Some organizations may even find themselves in such heavily regulated industries, like healthcare or national defense, that the potential risks of cloud computing outweigh any cost savings. These types of decisions must be driven by solid risk management principles, which require adequate assessment and mitigation techniques. Since cloud service providers are third parties not directly under the control of the organization, vendor risk management practices like contract design and service level agreements (SLAs) must be utilized to execute the chosen risk management strategy.
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DOMAIN 1 Cloud Concepts, Architecture, and Design
FOUNDATIONAL TO THE UNDERSTANDING and use of the cloud and cloud computing is the information found in Domain 1. This information is fundamental for all other topics in cloud computing. A set of common definitions, architectural standards, and design patterns will put everyone on the same level when discussing these ideas and using the cloud effectively and efficiently.
UNDERSTAND CLOUD COMPUTING CONCEPTS
The first task is to define common concepts. In the following sections, we will provide common definitions for cloud computing terms and will discuss the various participants in the cloud computing ecosystem. We will also discuss the characteristics of cloud computing, answering the question “What is cloud computing?” We will also examine the technologies that make cloud computing possible.
Cloud Computing Definitions
The basic concepts of cloud computing, service models, and deployment models form the foundation of cloud computing practice. It is essential to understand each of them.
Cloud Computing
In NIST SP 800-145, cloud computing is defined as “a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources… . that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.”
Cloud computing is more than distributed computing or parallel computing even when done over a network (local area network or Internet). It is a philosophy that creates access to computing resources in a simple, self-driven way. If an individual has to call up the vendor and negotiate a contract for a fixed service, it is probably not cloud computing. Similarly, a company may negotiate rates and services in a cloud environment. But, the provisioning of services must not require ongoing involvement by the vendor.
Cloud computing requires a network in order to provide broad access to infrastructure, development tools, and software solutions. It requires some form of self-service to allow users to reserve and access these resources at times and in ways that are convenient to the user.
The provisioning of resources needs to be automated so that human involvement is limited. Any user should be able to access their account and procure additional resources or reduce current resource levels by themselves.
An example is Dropbox, a cloud-based file storage system. An individual creates an account, chooses the level of service they want or need, and provides payment information, and then the service and storage are immediately available. A company might negotiate contract rates more favorable than are available to the average consumer. But, once the contract is in place, the employees access this resource in much the same way as an individual user of this service.
Service