3.1 Security Architecture

Responsibility Matrix

Documentation that clearly defines the duties between the Cloud Service Provider and the customer to ensure there are no overlaps or gaps in security

Hybrid Considerations

A decentralized approach to cloud computing where deployments blend public, private, or community cloud services together, unifying the different cloud offerings into a single coherent platform

Third-Party Vendors

Should be vetted, managed and monitored for early warning signs of stability issues, and understand their portfolio of cloud activities

Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

The process of automating the provisioning, management, and deprovisioning of infrastructure services through scripted code rather than human intervention

Serverless

An environment that does not expose customers to actual server instances executing their code

Microservices

Cloud service offerings that provide very granular functions to other services, communicate with each other in response to events that take place in the environment, and often through a function-as-a-service model

Physical Isolation

Separating devices so that there is no connection between them, also known as air-gapped

Logical Segmentation

Using software or settings rather than a physical separation using different devices, such as VLAN

Software-Defined Networking

Software-based network configurations to control networks that rely on controllers to manage network devices and configurations

Centralized Architecture

Consolidates more control and logging into a single location for easier management but create a single point of failure

Decentralized Architecture

Distributes responsibilities, offer greater resilience and scalability, but introduce more moving parts and complexity

Containerization

Lightweight, portable form of virtualization that bundles an application with its dependencies into an isolated package, but it must be protected like a VM, requiring enforced isolation between containers and using container-specific vulnerability management tools

Type I Hypervisor

Operates directly on top of the underlying hardware and supports guest operating systems for each virtual machine; most common datacenter virtualization model and highly efficient

Type II Hypervisor

Runs as an application on top of an existing operating system and requests resources from the host OS; most common personal computer model

Internet of Things (IoT)

Network-connected devices that are used for automation, sensors, security, and similar tasks, but have short lifespans, Vendor data-handling practice issues, and poor security practices

Industrial Control Systems (ICS)

A broad term for industrial automation

Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA)

A type of system architecture that combines data acquisition and control devices, computers, communications capabilities, and an interface to control and monitor the entire infrastructure; commonly found running complex manufacturing and industrial processes

Real-Time Operating System (RTOS)

An operating system that is used when priority needs to be placed on processing data as it comes in, instead of using interrupts for the operating system or waiting for tasks being processed to be handled before data is processed

Embedded Systems

Computer systems that are built into other devices, such as industrial machinery, appliances, and cars

High Availability (HA)

The ability of a service, system, network, or other element of infrastructure to be consistently available without downtime, and will allow upgrades, patching, system or service failures, changes in load, and other events without interruption of services

Resilience

A consideration that is a component of availability that determines what type and level of potential disruptions the service or system can handle without an availability issue

Cost

A consideration that includes financial, staffing, and other costs

Responsiveness

A consideration that is the ability of the system or service to respond in a timely manner as desired or required to function as designed

Scalability

A consideration that is either vertical (bigger) or horizontal (more) as needed to support availability, resilience, and responsiveness goals

Ease of Deployment

A consideration that describes the complexity and work required to deploy a solution that often factors into initial costs and that may have impacts on ongoing costs if the system or service is frequently redeployed

Risk Transferrence

A consideration through insurance, contracts, or other means that is assessed as part of architectural design and cost modeling

Ease of Recovery

A consideration that is party of availability, resilience, and ease of deployment as complex solutions may have high cots that mean additional investments should be made to avoid recovery scenarios

Patch Availability

A consideration that determines how often patching will be required

Inability to Patch

A consideration when high availability is require and other factors like scalability do not allow for the system to be patched without downtime or other interruptions

Power Consumption

A consideration that drives ongoing costs and is considered part of datacenter design

Compute Requirements

A consideration that also drives ongoing costs in the cloud and up-front and recurring replacement costs for on-premises solutions