Cloud Computing Security: Foundations and Challenges

Book easy read

I am an avid subscriber to Mr. Vacca's book on computing security. He has an extensive knowledge base and practical expertise in the field. This book may be the most robust treatment of clouding computing security today. The contents are particularly useful for the both the practitioner as well as the stakeholder. The huge push for organizations to push data onto the cloud must be handled with extensive understanding of the cloud implementations, service level expectations and assurance needs. This book is a wealth of information.

"Cloud Computing Security Foundations and Challenges", edited by John Vacca, is a must read for commercial and government system administrators whom are responsible for transitioning software applications and critical information to a secure cloud environment. The material describes what a cloud infrastructure is, what its benefits and shortcomings are, and provides essential guidelines (e.g., risk mitigation, encryption, data protection, access control, threat assessment, network security, disaster recovery, etc.), which if followed, are sure to improve the odds for a successful cloud transition effort.

Let’s face it, we are in the age of hacks, cracks, and data theft. There are external threats as well as internal threats. You need to protect your cloud-based assets and this book will help you do that. This book provides the applicable knowledge and experience to help secure a private cloud along with the applications and the data stored in your cloud. .

This book is timely in that many organizations are running pilot projects for cloud network implementations. The security (e.g., PIV card with 3 levels of authentication) required by these organizations often cannot be met by the current cloud offerings. Securing the cloud network is a showstopper. John Vacca does an excellent job in covering this hot topic.

This book is sadly necessary in our time. Hackers are so prevalent. Mr. Vacca has assembled excellent information on cloud computing security from experts throughout the field. Security is an essential part of cloud computing and this book covers the subject well.