Cloud Security

Abstract: There has been a dramatic transformation of IT infrastructure in the past decade with the adoption of cloud computing, where processes that used to run on-site at a company are now migrating into data centers and run on hardware shared with other customers. This migration encompasses computing, storage, and networking. Using hosted infrastructure increases the velocity of deployments, as it allows for rapid up- and down-scaling of systems. Recent advances in virtualization and the advent of software defined infrastructure have accelerated the pace of migration. Even more recent trends are further disrupting this rapidly evolving space; these include the rise of microservices and the emergence of new, light-weight isolation technologies such as containers. A natural question that arises is: how to secure this modern compute ecosystem? The goal of this breakout session is to explore answers to this question. We plan to examine the security challenges and opportunities created by recent advances in cloud computing. On the challenges front, we will explore issues such as new threats and vulnerabilities, and old attacks re-imagined in the cloud computing space. On the opportunities front, we will examine issues such as security solutions uniquely enabled by the single administrator control of the cloud infrastructure, how to leverage the cloud’s software defined infrastructure to develop novel defense mechanisms. We will also explore opportunities for clean slate systems design; i.e., what capabilities to add to clouds to further improve security? In all cases, the idea is to explore all “layers” of the cloud stack ranging from infrastructure all the way to applications, protocols, and users.