On the Next Generation of Cloud Computing and Cloud Operations Centres

I am going to spend more R&D time in the intersection of Cloud Computing & Security.

The area of cloud computing is getting increasingly busy, with various organisations providing solutions targeting the IaaS, PaaS and SaaS levels.

However, in my view there are still major outstanding questions and issues to be addressed, including:

• Security and Privacy across various boundaries
• Assurance and governance for the involved parties
• Dynamic management of SLAs and policies across the involved parties
• Effective Cloud Operation Centres
• Effective migration of services and information in the Cloud

From a security and privacy perspective it becomes increasingly relevant a trustworthy and reliable exchange of information between the involved parties (organisations, service providers in the cloud, etc.), as well as sharing of threat intelligence.

In this context, I am exploring:

• The next generation of Security Event & Incident Management Processes in the Cloud
• Models for the provision of Cloud Operation Centres
• Information flow exchange, to underpin some of the above aspects
• Application of Security Analytics methodology in the Cloud

All these capabilities could be offered as a Service, in the context of the next generation of Cloud Operations Centres.

What is your view? What is coming next in the Cloud?

--- Posted by Marco Casassa Mont (here and here) ---

--- NOTE: use this mirror blog if you prefer posting on an external blog site ---

--- NOTE: my original HP blog can be found here ---

Security Analytics applied to Security Event & Incident Management Processes

I just finished carrying out a case study with a key HP customer, involving the usage of the HP Security Analytics methodology for risk assessment and productivity analysis of their Security Event and Incident Management Processes.

This is a complex area, that goes beyond the simple usage of Security Event & Incident Management (SIEM) solutions and involves people, skills and processes to analyse events, identify false positives and/or security incidents to remediate. These processes are very important to minimise organisations’ exposure to additional security risks.

The case study has been successful. Models and simulations indentified (and provided evidence about) key process bottlenecks and root causes of risk exposure. A full Security Analytics report has been produced for the customer.

Template Security Analytics models and result diagrams have also been produced, in order to support a repeatable analytics service for other customers.

This Security Analytics area is now ready to be offered as a service.

--- Posted by Marco Casassa Mont (here and here) ---

--- NOTE: use this mirror blog if you prefer posting on an external blog site ---

--- NOTE: my original HP blog can be found here ---

Coordination of EnCoRe Project: Ensuring Consent and Revocation

I recently become the coordinator of the UK collaborative (TSB co-funded) EnCoRe project. This project focuses on ensuring consent & revocation to users, along with privacy management capabilities integrated with state-of-the-art IT frameworks.

This is a great opportunity. The project is now in its exploitation phase. We are setting up a strategic collaboration with the UK Cabinet Office/Identity Assurance programme, to leverage EnCoRe technical capabilities in their framework.

Further progress has been made to further develop the EnCoRe compliance checking and risk assessment capabilities, as well as in finalising the second case study in a Biobanking context.

In addition to various demonstrators built by EnCoRe partners, HP Labs are also developing a R&D EnCoRe Service Framework to provide a reference implementation, exploitable by third parties as well as a R&D platform for advanced research. This framework will be compliant with current EnCoRe Architecture and the coming third release.

Other exploitation opportunities are emerging with business groups and other UK agencies. More information to be provided soon on the EnCoRe web site ...

--- Posted by Marco Casassa Mont (here and here) ---

--- NOTE: use this mirror blog if you prefer posting on an external blog site ---

--- NOTE: my original HP blog can be found here ---

Book – PRIME: Privacy and Identity Management for Europe

The PRIME Book is now available online.

This book documents the R&D outcomes of the EU PRIME project. It presents 28 detailed chapters organized in five parts:

- Introductory summary

- Legal, social, and economic aspects

- Realization of privacy-enhancing user-centric identity management

- Exploitation of PRIME results for applications

- Conclusions drawn and an outlook on future work

I specifically contributed to this book with two chapters:

· - Privacy Models and Languages: Obligation Policies

· - Privacy-Aware Identity Lifecycle Management

My R&D work on obligations policies and privacy-aware identity lifecycle management is also available here.

--- Posted by Marco Casassa Mont (here and here) ---

--- NOTE: use this mirror blog if you prefer posting on an external blog site ---

--- NOTE: my original HP blog can be found here ---

HP Information Security – Inform Magazine – Available Online

The latest issue of Inform, the HP Information Security Magazine, is available online.

--- Posted by Marco Casassa Mont (here and here) ---

--- NOTE: use this mirror blog if you prefer posting on an external blog site ---

--- NOTE: my original HP blog can be found here ---

Updated HPL Personal Web Page

I just finished to update my HPL Web Page, with the latest information about my research, public activities, publications and presentations.

--- Posted by Marco Casassa Mont (here and here) ---

--- NOTE: use this mirror blog if you prefer posting on an external blog site ---

--- NOTE: my original HP blog can be found here ---