Secure Access to Cloud Resources

Cloud computing has developed into an ubiquitous distributed system model, offering services which range from storage to computing power or database infrastructure. The security aspect of such distributed systems is a very important and challenging issue. In this paper we propose a security solution which offers policy enforcement in order to detect denial of service attacks and to manage quota parameters of users registered in a cloud. We also present novel methods for controlling access suitable for cloud computing platforms which have high security requirements. Because cloud computing is a dynamic environment where the resources are allocated on demand and the users come and leave, a different approach must be taken. We analyze different access control models like Mandatory Access Control, Discretionary Access Control and Role-Based access control models and propose a model adapted to the Cloud Computing environment. Moreover, we investigate the cloud access control security issues and build a role-based access model that meets the cloud requirements. The proposed model inherits Role-Based Access Control features, but also has other features like temporal rights and constraints.