Data security services, solutions and standards for outsourcing

a r t i c l e i n f o Keywords: Web services Access control Inference control Identity management Mobile code security Globalization has resulted in outsourcing data, software, hardware and various services. However, outsourcing introduces new security vulnerabilities due to the corporation's limited knowledge and control of external providers operating in foreign countries. Security of operation is therefore critical for effectively introducing and maintaining these business relationships without sacrificing product quality. This paper discusses some of these security concerns for outsourcing. In particular, it discusses security issues pertaining to data-as-a-service and software-as-a-service models as well as supply chain security issues. Relevant standards for data outsourcing are also presented. The goal is for the composite system to be secure even if the individual components that are developed by multiple organizations might be compromised. Data has become a critical resource in many organizations, including efficient data access, data sharing, data mining, and their applications for effective decision-making. Data and information must be protected from unauthorized access as well as malicious corruption. The advent of the World Wide Web (WWW) in the mid 1990s has resulted in even greater demand for managing data, information and knowledge effectively. There is now so much data on the web that managing it with conventional tools is becoming almost impossible. For example, Google's indexing system stores tens of petabytes of data with updates processed in parallel by thousands of machines per day worldwide [1]. These demands exceed the capabilities of traditional centralized operating systems and file systems, requiring new tools and techniques to effectively manage such large and dynamic data repositories. Web services are an important class of technologies that has emerged in recent years in response to this need. In service-oriented web architecture, data processing and other tasks that would otherwise need to be performed internally are shifted to external servers that communicate via standard web protocols. Typical examples of web services include making an airline reservation or filing an income tax return, both of which can be carried out by external service providers with a small amount of communication overhead from the service recipient. Globalization and various treaties such as NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) and the founding of the European Union have resulted in increased outsourcing of data, software, hardware and various services. This is typically motivated by cost-cutting. For example, while it costs about $60 K plus benefits of about …