Privacy as a Service: Privacy-Aware Data Storage and Processing in Cloud Computing Architectures

In this paper we present PasS (Privacy as a Service); a set of security protocols for ensuring the privacy and legal compliance of customer data in cloud computing architectures. PasS allows for the secure storage and processing of users' confidential data by leveraging the tamper-proof capabilities of cryptographic coprocessors. Using tamper-proof facilities provides a secure execution domain in the computing cloud that is physically and logically protected from unauthorized access. PasS central design goal is to maximize users' control in managing the various aspects related to the privacy of sensitive data. This is achieved by implementing user-configurable software protection and data privacy mechanisms. Moreover, PasS provides a privacy feedback process which informs users of the different privacy operations applied on their data and makes them aware of any potential risks that may jeopardize the confidentiality of their sensitive information. To the best of our knowledge, PasS is the first practical cloud computing privacy solution that utilizes previous research on cryptographic coprocessors to solve the problem of securely processing sensitive data in cloud computing infrastructures.