Week 5 Readings and Media

Please review the following for this week:

Vic (J.R.) Winkler, Securing the Cloud, Cloud Computer Security Techniques and Tactics, 2011, Chapter 5
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Week 5 MID TERM: (4 pages)

QUESTION #1 (2 pages) Browse internet

In January 2004, an IT security association of companies, vendors, government groups, and academics dedicated to advancing secure business in a global open-network environment formed the Jericho Forum (www.jerichoforum.org), under the auspices of The Open Group. Originally created to address network deperimeterization (the erosion of the network perimeter), in April 2009, the forum published the Jericho Cloud Cube Model version 1.0. The model is intended to describe key characteristics, benefits and risks of different cloud formations. The Jericho Cloud Cube Model describes the model for cloud computing as having four dimensions.
Please show the Jericho Cube graphic representation, list the dimensions and provide explanations of the characteristics of each.  In addition, in terms of the cube dimensions, in what area of the cube would it be ideal to operate with optimum flexibility and collaboration from the customer perspective?

QUESTION #2 (2 pages) See attached NIST SP 800-125A

It might appear that all activities related to the secure management of a hypervisor and its hardware hostcollectively called the hypervisor platformshould simply consist of established best practices for any server class software and its hosting environment. However, closer examination reveals that the unique functions provided by the Hypervisor Platform require a dedicated set of security considerations. These functions are called hypervisor baseline functions.  According to NIST SP 800-125A , SECURITY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR HYPERVISOR DEPLOYMENT ON SERVERS, please list these baseline functions and provide a summary of each in your own words.
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Week 5 ASSIGNMENT: (3 pages)

Write three pages using this weeks reading and media. APA Format and provide two references at a minimum.

1.    In Chapter 5 of the course text, the author discusses the potential for side channel attacks with encryption. He states that Simply defined, side channel attacks are attacks that target the operating nature (or environment) where the encryption is occurring in contrast to exploiting the encryption mechanisms themselves.  In the context of cloud security, side channels may potentially exist by virtue of operating within the same physical infrastructure and using shared resources with other subscribers.  Please give an explanation of the basics of side channel attacks in general and provide a brief description of some of the more common types of side channel attacks that can relate to cloud computing. (1 pages)

2.    It is important that sensitive or otherwise valuable data should be categorized to support data security. For example, data could be classified, as confidential, secret, etc. Several criteria are commonly used to determine the classification of an information object.  Please list and briefly discuss these criteria. (1   pages)

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Week 5 DISCUSSION: Cloud: Data Security (1 page)

Write one page using this weeks reading and media. APA Format and provide two references at a minimum.

A related and complementary concept to defense in depth is the topic of attack surfaces. Attack surface evaluation is concerned with analyzing and reducing the attack surface of a software application.  What is your interpretation of the meaning of the term attack surface?  I am not looking for a formal definition out of a paper or text, but your perception of its meaning.