Multi-layer Monitoring for Cloud Computing

An architecture for dynamic security monitoring and enforcement for client software running in virtualized environments is presented. Virtualization is heavily used in cloud computing in order to allow a proper trade-off between isolation and resource usage. In this new architecture, monitoring mechanisms check a set of policy-defined conditions at runtime in order to detect threats or anomalous behaviour. On the other hand, enforcement is achievable by using secure software execution methods that comply with the defined policies. The presented architecture allows for context adaptation of the defined policies by using a new event-sequence language. This renders the automatic policy runtime enforcement as a crucial component to achieve proper security in virtualized platforms for cloud computing.