Secure cloud authentication using eIDs

Identification and authentication are essential security functions for regulating access to protected data. Considering that, most cloud service providers rely on weak authentication mechanisms such as username/password schemes. While username/password authentication may be sufficient for simple customized applications, cloud applications in more sensitive areas such as in e-Government require more reliable and secure mechanisms. We close this gap for such cloud applications by applying the STORK framework for secure cloud authentication using eIDs. The STORK framework supports various national eID solutions and will be the relevant eID framework across Europe in future. We demonstrated our approach by enabling eID authentication at two selected public cloud service providers. Finally, we also moved the STORK framework to the cloud to apply the full cloud computing paradigm.