Home // SECURWARE 2020, The Fourteenth International Conference on Emerging Security Information, Systems and Technologies // View article

Trust Through Origin and Integrity: Protection of Client Code for Improved Cloud Security

Authors:
Anders Fongen
Kirsi Helkala
Mass Soldal Lund

Keywords: cloud security; integrity attestation; trusted computing; Google ChromeOS

Abstract:
Military computing is migrating to cloud architecture for several reasons, one of them is the opportunities for improved security management. One opportunity is to ensure that cloud clients are running approved and untainted program code, provided as a proof presented to the cloud service. Such proofs can extend the trust in the client’s integrity further than what traditional access control protocols can provide. While access control protocols can ensure that a computer is operated by authorized and trained personnel, they cannot ensure that the client computer is unaffected by malware or poor software control. Problems related to illegitimate program code cannot, in general, be solved by traditional security protocols. The contribution of this paper is an arrangement whereby proof of software approval and integrity can be established, exchanged and validated during service invocations. The demonstration program is a chat forum where the exchanged messages are signed and validated in the client computers, a typical use case which may benefit from our contribution. Two different client-server protocols were tested in order to study the applicability of our contribution.

Pages: 16 to 21

Copyright: Copyright (c) IARIA, 2020

Publication date: November 21, 2020

Published in: conference

ISSN: 2162-2116

ISBN: 978-1-61208-821-1

Location: Valencia, Spain

Dates: from November 21, 2020 to November 25, 2020