Context: Cloud computing is rapidly emerging in the area of distributed computing. In the meantime, many organizations also attributed the technology to be associated with several business risks which are yet to be resolved. These challenges include lack of adequate security, privacy and legal issues, resource allocation, control over data, system integrity, risk assessment, software vulnerabilities and so on which all have compromising effect in cloud environment. Organizations based their worried on how to develop adequate mitigation strategies for effective control measures and to balancing common expectation between cloud providers and cloud users. However, many researches tend to focus on cloud computing adoption and implementation and with less attention to vulnerabilities and attacks in cloud computing. This paper gives an overview of common challenges and mitigation techniques or practices, describes general security issues and identifies future requirements for security research in cloud computing, given the current trend and industrial practices. Objectives: We identified common challenges and linked them with some compromising attributes in cloud as well as mitigation techniques and their impacts in cloud practices applicable in cloud computing. We also identified frameworks we consider relevant for identifying threats due to vulnerabilities based on information from the reviewed literatures and findings. Methods: We conducted a systematic literature review (SLR) specifically to identify empirical studies focus on challenges and mitigation techniques and to identify mitigation practices in addressing software vulnerabilities and attacks in cloud computing. Studies were selected based on the inclusion/exclusion criteria we defined in the SLR process. We search through four databases which include IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library, SpringerLinks and SciencDirect. We limited our search to papers published from 2001 to 2010. In additional, we then used the collected data and knowledge from finding after the SLR, to design a questionnaire which was used to conduct industrial survey which also identifies cloud computing challenges and mitigation practices persistent in industry settings. Results: Based on the SLR a total of 27 challenges and 20 mitigation techniques were identified. We further identified 7 frameworks we considered relevant for mitigating the prevalence real-time software vulnerabilities and attacks in the cloud. The identified challenges and mitigation practices were linked to compromised cloud attributes and the way mitigations practices affects cloud computing, respectively. Furthermore, 5 and 3 additional challenges and suggested mitigation practices were identified in the survey. Conclusion: This study has identified common challenges and mitigation techniques, as well as frameworks practices relevant for mitigating real-time software vulnerabilities and attacks in cloud computing. We cannot make claim on exhaustive identification of challenges and mitigation practices associated with cloud computing. We acknowledge the fact that our findings might not be sufficient to generalize the effect of the different service models which include SaaS, IaaS and PaaS, and also true for the different deployment models such as private, public, community and hybrid. However, this study we assist both cloud provider and cloud customers on the security, privacy, integrity and other related issues and useful in the part of identifying further research area that can help in enhancing security, privacy, resource allocation and maintain integrity in the cloud environment. / Kungsmarksvagen 67 SE-371 44 Karlskrona Sweden Tel: 0737159290

Context: Cloud Computing is an emerging technology where present IT is trending towards it. Many enterprises and users are still uncomfortable to adopt Cloud Computing as it uncovers many potential and critical threats which remind the most concerned security issue to consider. As data is migrated between different data centers dispersed globally, security for data is a very important issue. In Cloud environment Cloud user should be aware of the physical location of the data to ensure whether their data reside within certain jurisdiction as there are different data privacy laws. Evaluating different data localization frameworks in Amazon Web Services by deploying web application in Amazon availability zones (US, Europe and Asia) is the main context of this study. Objectives: In this study we investigate which strategic data localization frameworks have been proposed, can be used to identify data location of web application resource deployed in Cloud and validate those considered three frameworks by conducting experiment in a controlled environment. Methods: Literature Review is performed by using search string in data bases like Compendex, IEEE, Inspec, ACM digital Library, Science Direct and Springer Link to identify the data location frameworks. Later these data location frameworks are evaluated by conducting a controlled Experiment. Experiment is performed by following the guidelines proposed by Wohlin, C [66]. Results: Three data localization frameworks out of ten, obtained from literature study are considered for the evaluation. The evaluation of these frameworks in Amazon Web Services resulted that replication of three data localization studies is possible, predicting the location of data in US, Europe and Asia close enough accurate and the factors considered from the frameworks are valid. Conclusions: We conclude that from the identified ten frameworks, three data location frameworks are considered for evaluation in which one framework allows verifying the location of data by trusting the information provided by cloud provider and second framework is to verify the location of cloud resources without need of trusting cloud provider, finally the third framework is to identify the replicated files in cloud however this framework also does not need trusting the Cloud provider. These frameworks address the data location problem but in a different way. Now the identified three frameworks are validated by performing a controlled experiment. The activities performed from the three frameworks in the experiment setup allow identifying the data location of web application deployed in US, Europe and Asia. The evaluation of these frameworks in Amazon Cloud environment allowed proposing a checklist that should be considered to manage the web application deployed in cloud regarding data location. This checklist is proposed based on the activities performed in the experiment. Moreover, authors conclude that there is a need for further validation, whether the proposed checklist is applicable for real Cloud user who deploys and manages Cloud resources. / Vijay Kokkonda +918121185670, Krishna Sandeep Taduri +917893970042

Cloud computing spås av många som framtiden för IT och innebär att man över internet hyr datorkraft och programvara istället för att köpa in datorer och mjukvarulicenser till företaget. Då mycket av den forskning som finns syftar till främst amerikansk kontext har den här undersökningen genomförts med fokus på svenska företag. Den här undersökningen syftar till att ta reda på vilka typer av företag i Sverige som har störst respektive minst nytta av cloud computing och har genomförts med hjälp av kvalitativa intervjuer med fyra svenska IT-företag. I undersökningen framkommer det att det kan vara svårt att hitta en specifik bransch eller storlek av företag som är speciellt väl lämpat för att använda sig av cloud computing, det gäller snarare att utifrån en specifik verksamhet undersöka hur man på bästa sätt kan dra nytta av cloud computing. Däremot finns vissa förutsättningar som skiljer olika företagstyper åt när det gäller cloud computing som presenteras i uppsatsen.

Cloud computing is a set of technologies that provide efficient and effective usage of information technology resources. The application of cloud computing in games is a new market that is currently growing. Applying cloud computing to games results in a new gaming platform for the users, referred to as cloud gaming. This new platform has a set of different features that affect the user acceptance of this new platform. Problem There is a lack of understanding on how the users perceive cloud gaming. Investigat-ing the factors that affect the users' acceptance of cloud gaming is crucial in deter-mining the future of this new platform. A lack of awareness regarding these factors may lead to the users‟ rejecting the new technology.

Introduction Cloud Computing, that is providing computer resources as a service, is a technology revolution offering flexible IT usage in a cost efficient and pay-per-use way. As for the evaluation of companies to whether which technology solution to use, it would be necessary to decide whether or not the evaluation of cloud computing would actually differ to the traditional way of IT outsourcing. Problem Discussion Outsourcing IT capabilities are a crucial and inevitable step for enterprises that want to survive in the currently high competitive climate. Until now most of the researches, that has been done so far, only consider the XaaS model only from a traditional IT outsourcing point of view rather than in the cloud computing context. This research will now include the evaluation of cloud solutions giving companies another possibility to outsource their IT resources. Purpose The purpose is now to see how the evaluation of cloud computing possibilities as an outsourcing option actually differs to traditional IT outsourcing. One aspect that needs to be covered with this purpose, is whether it is possible to evaluate the source through a cloud computing solution with the same concepts and theories used to evaluate traditional IT outsourcing. It will also be the purpose to see, which aspects need to be added or removed when considering a cloud computing opportunity compared to the traditional IT outsourcing. Method With help of the theoretical framework, interviews have been launched with three companies to see what their general opinion and knowledge is on the evaluation of cloud computing and its maturity. Questions have been asked openly so that answers could not be directed or manipulated by the authors of the research. Conclusion After challenging the theoretical framework against the data collected, the traditional IT outsourcing theories appeared to be valid also for the evaluation of cloud computing solutions. Some important concepts are added to the evaluation of cloud computing solutions in consequence of particularities present in the model.

This report describes a bachelor thesis performed at Xcerion for their subsidiary CloudMe. CloudMe has a service for cloud computing which makes your files accessible from anywhere, anytime. Cloud computing is addressed to both business and ordinary home users. With the ability to store important documents or family photos in the cloud other important subjects can be focused on. A cloud can in short be described as a metaphor for the internet and with the growing server houses and accessibility of cloud computing the need for USB-sticks (Universal Serial Bus) and hard drives are slowly fading away. CloudMe today offers several different services to access the cloud from a number of devices which includes smartphones, a web-browser and the home computer. This thesis work is about upgrading and improving their desktop application, Easy Upload. Easy Upload makes it possible to back-up several folders to the cloud but with the only option of uploading files and folders. Only uploading files to the cloud makes the application very restricted and lacking of an important feature, downloading from the cloud. Designing this new feature resulted in four different synchronization options; Upload, Download, Bidirectional and Hotsync, each configurable for every connected folder. With these options a user is offered the possibility to choose which synchronization best to use for the task in hand. The ability to choose, and configure, any folder on your computer opens up the restrictions which several large cloud computing services has today with one specific folder for the entire cloud. To ease the access and the understanding of these new synchronization options, a complete redesign of the user interface was developed. The name Easy Upload could no longer be associated with this application and therefore Easy Upload was renamed to suit the new functionality of the application and bring it closer to the association with the company CloudMe. When this thesis work was completed Easy Upload was considered to be the predecessor of CloudMe Sync.

This thesis investigates possible future IT solutions for increased mobility of CAD-intensive multi-disciplinary consulting companies. The development of new IT solutions is quickly moving forward, and new ways to implement IT in businesses are constantly being launched onto the market. In the wake of new IT solutions with focus on increased mobility making themselves known, the interest from companies to implement these into their businesses has increased. By investigating the engineering consultant company Bjerking AB and how it operates from an IT point-of-view, this thesis presents possible IT solutions for increased mobility for an engineering consulting company operating in the AEC-sector. By conducting interviews with key users, observing meetings and researching the current state of Cloud Computing and hardware virtualization this thesis shows that and implementation of an IT solutions based on Cloud Computing and hardware virtualization is possible. By implementing a cloud-based IT solution using a private cloud distribution model and hardware-assisted GPU virtualization, a CAD-intensive consulting company can achieve increased mobility without lowered performance and at the same time maintain a high level of data of security.

Context Cloud Computing is the new trend in the IT industry. Traditionally obtaining servers was quiet time consuming for companies. The whole process of research on what kind of hardware to buy, get budget approval, purchase the hardware and get access to the servers could take weeks or months. In order to save time and reduce expenses, most companies are moving towards the cloud. One of the known cloud providers is Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2). Amazon EC2 makes it easy for companies to obtain virtual servers (known as computer instances) in a cloud quickly and inexpensively. Another advantage of using Amazon EC2 is the flexibility that they offer, so the companies can even import/export the Virtual Machines (VM) that they have built which meets the companies IT security, configuration, management and compliance requirements into Amazon EC2. Objectives In this thesis, we investigate importing a VM running on VMware into Amazon EC2. In addition, we make a performance comparison between a VM running on VMware and the VM with same image running on Amazon EC2. Methods A Case study research has been done to select a persistent method to migrate VMware VMs to Amazon EC2. In addition an experimental research is conducted to measure the performance of Virtual Machine running on VMware and compare it with same Virtual Machine running on EC2. We measure the performance in terms of CPU, memory utilization as well as disk read/write speed using well-known open-source benchmarks from Phoronix Test Suite (PTS). Results Investigation on importing VM snapshots (VMDK, VHD and RAW format) to EC2 was done using three methods provided by AWS. Comparison of performance was done by running each benchmark for 25 times on each Virtual Machine. Conclusions Importing VM to EC2 was successful only with RAW format and replication was not successful as AWS installs some software and drivers while importing the VM to EC2. Migrated EC2 VM performs better than on premise VMware VM in terms of CPU, memory utilization and disk read/write speed.

Idag pratas det mycket om ett fenomen som kallas Cloud Computing, vilket kan kort beskrivas som tillhandahållning av datorresurser så som informationslagring, processorkraft och applikationer via Internet. Begreppet Cloud Computing har ingen direkt motsvarighet på svenska men kan översättas till exempelvis molnbaserade datortjänster eller molntjänster. Vanligtvis så innebär Cloud Computing att it-företag hyr ut en del av en server samt annan datorservice till en organisation. Cloud Computing är ett attraktivt alternativ för både den privata och offentliga sektorn och efterfrågas i allt större utsträckning.   Från ett arkivvetenskapligt perspektiv associeras Cloud Computing med många fördelar, men kanske med ännu fler nackdelar. De centrala problemföreställningarna relateras till tillit i en digital miljö. Frågor om hur information kan förbli autentisk, tillgänglig och fri från insyn från icke behöriga personer genom hela dess livscykel är framträdande i den arkivvetenskapliga debatten.   Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka medvetenheten hos svenska leverantörer av molntjänster gällande de särskilda krav som ställs på arkivinformation, som kvalitetskraven pålitlighet, autenticitet samt tillgänglighet. Detta är något som inte har diskuterats i så stor utsträckning inom arkivvetenskapen.   För att samla in det empiriska materialet genomfördes kvalitativa intervjuer med företag som på något sätt tillhandahåller molntjänster. Resultaten av intervjuerna analyserades med hjälp av teoretiskt material huvudsakligen baserat på The International Research on Permanent Authentic Records in Electronic Systems (InterPARES) forskning och begreppsbildningar.   Resultat från studien visar att de tillfrågade företagen som tillhandahåller molntjänster arbetar mycket med säkerhet för att på så vis kunna så långt det är möjligt säkerställa att informationen förvarat i molnet förblir enligt vad de definierar som autentiskt och att kundens krav säkerställs. De har skilda uppfattningar om vad autenticitet innebär och vilket även delvis skiljer sig från den arkivteoretiska tolkningen. Tillgänglighet är ett av de främsta kraven som kunden ställer på informationen och som således är något som it-företagen prioriterar i deras tjänster.

Propone un modelo tecnológico de Implementación de un centro de cómputo para pymes Retail, conformado por 4 fases permitiendo desplegar servicios a nivel de infraestructura, plataforma y software orientados a Cloud Computing con la finalidad de cubrir los requerimientos del negocio. Se diseña la arquitectura Cloud Computing conformado por 6 actores para estructurar y establecer los componentes que participaran en la implementación del modelo tecnológico. / Proposes a technological model for the implementation of a computing center for retail pymes, made up of 4 phases, allowing the deployment of infrastructure, platform and software services oriented to Cloud Computing in order to cover the business requirements. The Cloud Computing architecture consists of 6 actors to structure and establishes the components that will participate in the implementation of the technological model.