A systematic approach towards security in Fog computing: assets, vulnerabilities, possible countermeasures

Mozhdeh Farhadi (1, 2) , Jean-Louis Lanet (3) , Guillaume Pierre (1) , Daniele Miorandi (2)

1 MYRIADS - Design and Implementation of Autonomous Distributed Systems
2 U-Hopper srl [Trento]
3 CIDRE - Confidentialité, Intégrité, Disponibilité et Répartition

Fog computing is an emerging paradigm in the IoT space, consisting of a middle computation layer, sitting between IoT devices and Cloud servers. Fog computing provides additional computing, storage and networking resources in close proximity to where data is being generated and/or consumed. As the Fog layer has direct access to data streams generated by IoT devices and responses/commands sent from the Cloud, it is in a critical position in terms of security of the entire IoT system. Currently, there is no specific tool or methodology for analysing the security of Fog computing systems in a comprehensive way. Generic security evaluation procedures applicable to most information technology products are time consuming, costly and badly suited to the Fog context. In this article, we introduce a methodology for evaluating the security of Fog computing systems in a systematic way. We also apply our methodology to a generic Fog computing system, showcasing how it can be purposefully used by security analysts and system designers.

Mots clés: Security; Fog computing; Attack; Methodology; Common Criteria

Domaines: Système d'exploitation [cs.OS]; Calcul parallèle, distribué et partagé [cs.DC]

Mozhdeh Farhadi, Jean-Louis Lanet, Guillaume Pierre, Daniele Miorandi. A systematic approach towards security in Fog computing: assets, vulnerabilities, possible countermeasures. Software: Practice and Experience, 2020, 50 (6), pp.973-997. ⟨10.1002/spe.2804⟩. ⟨hal-02441639⟩