Security audits of multi-tier virtual infrastructures in public infrastructure clouds
Sören Bleikertz, Matthias Schunter, Christian W. Probst, Dimitrios E. Pendarakis, Konrad Eriksson · 2010
Cloud computing has gained remarkable popularity in the recent years by a wide spectrum of consumers, ranging from small start-ups to governments. However, its benefits in terms of flexibility, scalability, and low upfront investments, are shadowed by security challenges which inhibit its adoption. Managed through a web-services interface, users can configure highly flexible but complex cloud computing environments. Furthermore, users misconfiguring such cloud services poses a severe security risk that can lead to security incidents, e.g., erroneous exposure of services due to faulty network security configurations.