The notion of the cloud is really the integration of applications delivered as a service over existing cyberinfrastructure. A key component of most cloud ecosystems, a hypervisor, is a unique entity that manages virtual machines with cloud systems. This project develops protocols and algorithms to provide security services in the form of enhanced intrusion detection and prevent services (IDPS) capable of detecting multistage intrusion attacks within cloud resources. The project focuses on one particular type of cloud ecosystem, that of infrastructure as a service (IaaS), because of its unique dominance within the cloud community. Another unique contribution of this project is the development of an hypervisor-based intrusion detection and prevention architecture that can be implemented in most cloud ecosystems.
This project is a collaborative effort with an undergraduate majority-minority university leading the project efforts, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB); North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NCAT), HBCUs; Louisiana State University; and IBM's Center for Advanced Studies (CAS) as an industry partner. This effort will ensure the curriculum of undergraduate-oriented majority minority institution is greatly enhanced by developing models for the introduction of curriculum topics in cloud computing and cloud computing security, as well as enhancing faculty exposure at HBCUs to big data and cloud computing resources and research/educational opportunities.