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Security and Privacy in the Clouds: A Bird’s Eye View

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Computers, Privacy and Data Protection: an Element of Choice

Abstract

Over the last years, something called “cloud computing” has become a major theme in computer science and information security. Essentially, it concerns delivering information technology as a service, by enabling the renting of software, computing power and storage. In this contribution, we give a high-level overview of the issues that the emergence of cloud computing as a paradigm raises, both from a computer science and a philosophical perspective. We discuss (1) the ideal and limitations of encrypted data processing (2) the necessity of simulating physical constraints in virtualised infrastructures (3) the personal equivalent of cloud computing in the form of outsourced identity, and (4) the possibilities for connecting policy and technical level issues by means of a new ethical approach, called informational precaution.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    “SETI Institute Homepage,” accessed May 10, 2010, http://www.seti.org/.

  2. 2.

    As discussed in Paolo Balboni’s presentation at SPCC.

  3. 3.

    Gartner Says Security Delivered as a Cloud-Based Service Will More Than Triple in Many Segments by 2013, Gartner, 2008, accessed April 29, 2010, http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=722307.

  4. 4.

    Jericho whitepaper, Jericho Forum, The Open Group, 2005, accessed May 10, 2010, http://www.opengroup.org/jericho/vision_wp.pdf.

    van Cleeff, A., and R.J. Wieringa. “Rethinking De-Perimeterisation: Problem Analysis And Solutions.” in Proceedings of the IADIS International Conference Information Systems 2009, 25–27 Feb 2009, Barcelona. IADIS press, (2009): 105–112.

    Pieters, W. “Converging Technologies and De-perimeterisation: Towards Risky Active Insulation.” in Proceedings of SPT 2009: Converging technologies, changing societies. Enschede: CEPTES, University of Twente, (2009): 58–60.

  5. 5.

    Blakley, B. “The emperor’s old armor,” in Proceedings of the 1996 workshop on new security paradigms. ACM, (1997): 2–16.

  6. 6.

    As discussed in Jean-Pierre Seifert’s presentation at SPCC.

  7. 7.

    As discussed in Filip Schepers’s presentation at SPCC.

  8. 8.

    Ruiter, J., and M. Warnier. “Privacy Regulations for Cloud Computing, Compliance and Implementation in Theory and Practice,” this volume.

  9. 9.

    Dhillon, G., and E. Kolkowska, “Can a Cloud be Really Secure? A Socratic Dialogue,” this volume.

  10. 10.

    Schoenmakers, B., “A Simple Publicly Verifiable Secret Sharing Scheme and Its Application to Electronic Voting.” in CRYPTO ’99, volume 1666 of LNCS. Springer, (1999): 148–164.

    Hirt, M., and K. Sako. “Efficient Receipt-Free Voting Based on Homomorphic Encryption.” in Proc. EUROCRYPT 2000, volume 1807 of LNCS. Springer, (2000): 539–556.

  11. 11.

    Ishai, Y., and A. Paskin. “Evaluating Branching Programs on Encrypted Data.” in Proc. 4th Theory of Cryptography Conference (TCC), volume 4392 of LNCS. Springer, (2007): 575–594.

  12. 12.

    Gentry, C. “On Homomorphic Encryption Over Circuits of Arbitrary Depth.” in The 41st ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing (STOC). ACM, (2009): 169–178.

  13. 13.

    Brinkman, R. Searching in Encrypted Data. PhD thesis, University of Twente, 2007. Accessed April 29, 2010. http://doc.utwente.nl/57852.

  14. 14.

    Giannotti, F., L.V.S. Lakshmanan, A. Monreale, D. Pedreschi, and H. (Wendy) Wang. “Privacy-preserving Mining of Association Rules from Outsourced Transaction Databases,” this volume.

  15. 15.

    van Cleeff, A., W. Pieters, and R.J. Wieringa. “Security Implications of Virtualization: A Literature Study.” in 2009 IEEE International Conference on Computational Science and Engineering (CSE09). IEEE Computer Society, (2009): 353–358.

  16. 16.

    Blakley, “The Emperor’s Old Armor.”

  17. 17.

    See e.g. Ardagna, C.A., M. Cremonini, E. Damiani, S. De Capitani di Vimercati, and P. Samarati. “Supporting Location-Based Conditions in Access Control Policies.” in Proc. of the ACM Symposium on Information, Computer and Communications Security (ASIACCS’06). ACM, (2006): 212–222.

  18. 18.

    Pavlovic, D., and C. Meadows. Quantifying pervasive authentication: the case of the Hancke-Kuhn protocol. Technical Report No. RR-09-09. OUCL, 2009. Accessed May 10, 2010. http://www.comlab.ox.ac.uk/files/2437/RR-09-09.pdf.

  19. 19.

    Perlman, R. The ephemerizer: Making data disappear. Technical Report TR-2005-140, Sun Microsystems, (2005).

    Tang, Q. “Timed-Ephemerizer: Make Assured Data Appear and Disappear,” in Sixth European Workshop on Public Key Services, Applications and Infrastructures. Springer, (2009).

  20. 20.

    Geambasu, R., T. Kohno, A.A. Levy, and H.M. Levy. “Vanish: Increasing Data Privacy with Self-Destructing Data.” in Proceedings of the USENIX Security Symposium. USENIX association, (2009): 299–350.

  21. 21.

    Pieters, W. “Converging Technologies and De-perimeterisation: Towards Risky Active Insulation.” in Proceedings of SPT 2009: Converging technologies, changing societies. Enschede: CEPTES, University of Twente, (2009): 58–60.

  22. 22.

    Casola, V., R. Lettiero, M. Rak and U. Villano. “Access Control in Cloud-on-GRID systems: the PerfCloud Case Study,” this volume.

  23. 23.

    Probst, C.W., R.R. Hansen, and F. Nielson. “Where can an insider attack?” in Workshop on Formal Aspects in Security and Trust (FAST2006), volume 4691 of LNCS. Springer, (2007): 127–142.

  24. 24.

    Nunes Leal Franqueira, V., A. van Cleeff, P.A.T. van Eck, and R.J. Wieringa. “External Insider Threat: A Real Security Challenge in Enterprise Value Webs.” in Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Availability, Reliability and Security (ARES’2010). IEEE Computer Society Press, (2010): 446–453.

  25. 25.

    See e.g. Clark, A., and D. Chalmers. “The Extended Mind.” Analysis 58, 1 (1998): 7–19.

  26. 26.

    Dumortier, F. “Facebook and Risks of ‘De-Contextualization’ of Information.” In Data Protection in a Profiled World, edited by S. Gutwirth, Y. Poullet, and P. de Hert. Springer, 2010: 119–138.

  27. 27.

    Cf. Jacobs, B. “Architecture is Politics: Security and Privacy Issues in Transport and Beyond.” in Data Protection in a Profiled World, edited by S. Gutwirth, et al. Springer, 2010: 289–299.

  28. 28.

    Pieters, W., and A. van Cleeff. “The Precautionary Principle in a World of Digital Dependencies.” IEEE Computer 42, 6 (2009): 50–56.

  29. 29.

    Raffensperger, C., and J.A. Tickner, editors. Protecting Public Health and the Environment: Implementing the Precautionary Principle. Washington, DC: Island Press, 1999.

    Rogers, M.D. “Scientific and Technological Uncertainty, the Precautionary Principle, Scenarios and Risk Management.” Journal of Risk Research 4, 1 (2001): 1–15.

  30. 30.

    McKenzie, S. Social Sustainability: Towards some definitions. Hawke Research Institute Working Paper Series No 27, 2004. Accessed May 10, 2010. http://https://www.sapo.org.au/binary/binary141/Social.pdf.

  31. 31.

    Verbeek, P.P. What Things Do: Philosophical Reflections on Technology, Agency, and Design. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2005.

  32. 32.

    “Voorzorgstaat”, see van Ooijen, C., and S. Soeparman. “Toezicht in de voorzorgstaat: Kennis en informatiegebruik tussen staatscontrole en sociabiliteit.” in Inzicht en Toezicht: Controle in de Kennissamenleving, volume 6 of Jaarboek Kennissamenleving. Amsterdam: Aksant, (2010): 161–181.

References

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  • Blakley, B. “The Emperor’s Old Armor.” In Proc. New Security Paradigms ’96. ACM, |(1997): 2–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brinkman, R. Searching in Encrypted Data. PhD thesis, University of Twente, 2007. Accessed April 29, 2010. http://doc.utwente.nl/57852.

  • Clark, A., and D. Chalmers. “The Extended Mind.” Analysis 58, 1 (1998): 7–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Cleeff, A., W. Pieters, and R.J. Wieringa. “Security Implications of Virtualization: A Literature Study.” In 2009 IEEE International Conference on Computational Science and Engineering (CSE09). IEEE Computer Society, (2009): 353–358.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Cleeff, A., and R.J. Wieringa. “Rethinking De-Perimeterisation: Problem Analysis And Solutions.” In Proceedings of the IADIS International Conference Information Systems 2009, 25-27 Feb 2009, Barcelona. IADIS press, (2009): 105–112.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dumortier, F. “Facebook and Risks of ‘De-Contextualization’ of Information.” In Data Protection in a Profiled World, edited by S. Gutwirth, Y. Poullet, and P. de Hert. Springer, 2010: 119–138.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gartner, Gartner Says Security Delivered as a Cloud-Based Service Will More Than Triple in Many Segments by 2013. Press release, Gartner, 2008. Accessed April 29, 2010. http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=722307.

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    Google Scholar 

  • Gentry, C. “On Homomorphic Encryption Over Circuits of Arbitrary Depth.” In The 41st ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing (STOC). ACM, (2009): 169–178.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirt, M., and K. Sako. “Efficient Receipt-Free Voting Based on Homomorphic Encryption.” In Proc. EUROCRYPT 2000, volume 1807 of LNCS. Springer, (2000): 539–556.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ishai, Y., and A. Paskin. “Evaluating Branching Programs on Encrypted Data.” In Proc. 4th Theory of Cryptography Conference (TCC), volume 4392 of LNCS. Springer, (2007): 575–594.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobs, B. “Architecture is Politics: Security and Privacy Issues in Transport and Beyond.” In Data Protection in a Profiled World, edited by S. Gutwirth, Y. Poullet, and P. de Hert. Springer, 2010: 289–299.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jericho Forum, Jericho whitepaper. Jericho Forum, The Open Group, 2005. Accessed May 10, 2010. http://www.opengroup.org/jericho/vision_wp.pdf.

  • McKenzie, S. Social Sustainability: Towards some definitions. Hawke Research Institute Working Paper Series No 27, 2004. Accessed May 10, 2010. http://https://www.sapo.org.au/binary/binary141/Social.pdf.

  • Nunes Leal Franqueira, V., A. van Cleeff, P.A.T. van Eck, and R.J. Wieringa. “External Insider Threat: A Real Security Challenge in Enterprise Value Webs.” In Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Availability, Reliability and Security (ARES’2010). IEEE Computer Society Press, (2010): 446–453.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Ooijen, C., and S. Soeparman. “Toezicht in de voorzorgstaat: Kennis en informatiegebruik tussen staatscontrole en sociabiliteit.” In Inzicht en Toezicht: Controle in de Kennissamenleving, volume 6 of Jaarboek Kennissamenleving. Amsterdam: Aksant, (2010): 161–181.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pavlovic, D., and C. Meadows. Quantifying pervasive authentication: the case of the Hancke-Kuhn protocol. Technical Report No. RR-09-09. OUCL, 2009. Accessed May 10, 2010. http://www.comlab.ox.ac.uk/files/2437/RR-09-09.pdf.

  • Perlman, R. The ephemerizer: Making data disappear. Technical Report TR-2005-140, Sun Microsystems, (2005).

    Google Scholar 

  • Pieters, W. “Converging Technologies and De-perimeterisation: Towards Risky Active Insulation.” In Proceedings of SPT 2009: Converging technologies, changing societies. Enschede: CEPTES, University of Twente, (2009): 58–60.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pieters, W., and A. van Cleeff. “The Precautionary Principle in a World of Digital Dependencies.” IEEE Computer 42, 6 (2009): 50–56.

    Google Scholar 

  • Probst, C.W., R.R. Hansen, and F. Nielson. “Where can an insider attack?” In Workshop on Formal Aspects in Security and Trust (FAST2006), volume 4691 of LNCS. Springer, (2007): 127–142.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raffensperger, C., and J.A. Tickner, editors. Protecting Public Health and the Environment: Implementing the Precautionary Principle. Washington, DC: Island Press, 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rogers, M.D. “Scientific and Technological Uncertainty, the Precautionary Principle, Scenarios and Risk Management.” Journal of Risk Research 4, 1 (2001): 1–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schoenmakers, B. “A Simple Publicly Verifiable Secret Sharing Scheme and Its Application to Electronic Voting.” In CRYPTO ’99, volume 1666 of LNCS. Springer, (1999): 148–164.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tang, Q. “Timed-Ephemerizer: Make Assured Data Appear and Disappear.” In Sixth European Workshop on Public Key Services, Applications and Infrastructures. Springer, (2009).

    Google Scholar 

  • Verbeek, P.P. What Things Do: Philosophical Reflections on Technology, Agency, and Design. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2005.

    Google Scholar 

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Acknowledgments

This research is supported by the research program Sentinels (http://www.sentinels.nl). Sentinels is being financed by Technology Foundation STW, the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), and the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands

    Wolter Pieters

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  1. Wolter Pieters
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Correspondence to Wolter Pieters .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Law, Science, Technology & Society, (LSTS), Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Pleinlaan 2, Bruxelles, 1050, Belgium

    Serge Gutwirth

  2. Research Centre for Information, Technology & Law, University of Namur, Rempart de la Vierge 5, Namur, 5000, Belgium

    Yves Poullet

  3. Center for Law, Science, Technology, and Society Studies (LSTS), Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, Brussels, 1050, Belgium

    Paul De Hert

  4. , TILT, Tilburg University, Warandelaan 2, Tilburg, 5037 AB, Netherlands

    Ronald Leenes

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Pieters, W. (2011). Security and Privacy in the Clouds: A Bird’s Eye View. In: Gutwirth, S., Poullet, Y., De Hert, P., Leenes, R. (eds) Computers, Privacy and Data Protection: an Element of Choice. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0641-5_21

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