Criminals in the cloud: An overview of criminal and security threats and prevention measures

Abstract

Although cloud computing is developing in its popularity and coverage, its use raises a number of crime and security concerns. This chapter outlines the findings of a systematic review of the literature that identified specific crime risks for cloud service providers, cloud computing tenants, and the transmission of data between providers and tenants. Many of these vulnerabilities are not unique to cloud computing, however, the nature of the data that may be stored in the cloud may be attractive to offenders located nationally and internationally. In addition to providing an overview of the crime and security risks, prevention and mitigation measures that may be implemented by cloud users and service providers are outlined and explained.