Title: Network and hypervisor-based attacks in cloud computing environments

Authors: Reza Montasari; Stuart Macdonald; Amin Hosseinian-Far; Fiona Carroll; Alireza Daneshkhah

Addresses: Hillary Rodham Clinton School of Law, Swansea University, Richard Price Building, Sketty Ln, Sketty, Swansea, SA2 8PP, UK ' Hillary Rodham Clinton School of Law, Swansea University, Richard Price Building, Sketty Ln, Sketty, Swansea, SA2 8PP, UK ' Faculty of Business and Law, University of Northampton, Waterside Campus, University Drive, Northampton, NN1 5PH, UK ' Cardiff School of Technology, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Llandaff Campus, Western Avenue, Cardiff, CF5 2YB, UK ' School of Computing, Electronics and Mathematics, Coventry University, Priory Street, Coventry, CV1 5FB, UK

Abstract: Cloud computing (CC) has become one of the most transformative computing technologies and a key business avenue, following in the footsteps of main-frames, minicomputers, personal computers, the World Wide Web and smartphones. Its vital features have considerably reduced IT costs, contributing to its rapid adoption by businesses and governments worldwide. Despite the many technological and economic benefits that CC offers, at the same time, it poses complex security threats resulting from the use of virtualisation technology. Compromising the security of any component in the cloud virtual infrastructure will negatively affect the security of other elements and so impact the overall system security. Therefore, to create a practical understanding of such threats, this paper provides an analysis of common and underexplored network- and hypervisor-based attacks against CC systems from a technical viewpoint.

Keywords: cyber security; threat intelligence; artificial intelligence; machine learning; cyber physical systems; digital forensics; big data.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESDF.2021.118549

International Journal of Electronic Security and Digital Forensics, 2021 Vol.13 No.6, pp.630 - 651

Received: 05 Jun 2020
Accepted: 18 Sep 2020
Published online: 28 Oct 2021 *

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