Using Trusted Computing For the Purpose of Data Leakage Protection in the Cloud Computing Context

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would take this opportunity to thank my research supervisor, family and friends for their support and guidance without which this research would not have been possible.

DECLARATION

I, [type your full first names and surname here], declare that the contents of this dissertation/thesis represent my own unaided work, and that the dissertation/thesis has not previously been submitted for academic examination towards any qualification. Furthermore, it represents my own opinions and not necessarily those of the University.

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ABSTRACT

It is well-known that cloud computing has many potential advantages and many enterprise applications and data are migrating to public or hybrid cloud. But regarding some business-critical applications, the organizations, especially large enterprises, still wouldn't move them to cloud. The market size the cloud computing shared is still far behind the one expected. From the consumers' perspective, cloud computing security concerns, especially data security and privacy protection issues, remain the primary inhibitor for adoption of cloud computing services. This paper provides a concise but all-round analysis on data security and privacy protection issues associated with cloud computing across all stages of data life cycle. Then this paper discusses some current solutions. Finally, this thesis describes future research work about trusted computing for the purpose of data leakage protection in the cloud computing.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTII

DECLARATIONIII

ABSTRACTIV

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION1

Background of the Study1

Problem Statement2

Purpose of the Study2

Research Question2

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW3

Cloud Computing and the Change or Creation Of Services4

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY7

Research Methodology7

Ethical Issues7

Limitations8

Data Analysis Procedures8

Reliability/Dependability8

Validity9

REFERENCES10

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

From initial concept building to current actual deployment, cloud computing is growing more and more mature. Nowadays many organizations, especially Small and Medium Business (SMB) enterprises, are increasingly realizing the benefits by putting their applications and data into the cloud. The adoption of cloud computing may lead to gains in efficiency and effectiveness in developing and deployment and save the cost in purchasing and maintaining the infrastructure. Regarding definition of cloud computing model, the most widely used one is made by NIST as “Cloud computing is a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. This cloud model promotes availability and is composed of five essential characteristics, three service models, and four deployment models.” The cloud computing model NIST defined has three service models and four deployment models. The three service models, also called SPI model, are: Cloud Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Cloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). The four deployment models are: Private cloud, Community cloud, Public cloud and Hybrid cloud. Compared with the traditional IT model, the cloud computing has many potential advantages. But from the consumers' perspective, cloud computing security concerns remain a major barrier for the adoption of cloud computing. According to a survey from IDCI in 2009, 74% IT managers and CIOs ...