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The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) has today released a mammoth document detailing the 100 best practices in big data security – running the gamut from traditional cybersecurity measures to cutting edge cryptographic technologies.
The document discusses each tip at more of a cursory than comprehensive level, offering a few sentences on why and how organisations should implement them. The report goes through 10 areas with 10 tips for each, from real-time security and compliance monitoring to secure data storage, and endpoint monitoring.
One of the more interesting areas of the report focuses on cryptographic technologies for big data. “Rather than burdensome requirements, there is an increased perception that cryptographic technologies are harbingers of trusted utility for impending advances in information technology,” the report authors explain. “There is a realisation across the industry that cryptographic technologies are imperative for cloud storage and big data.”
As a result, key tips are shared, from constructing a system to search and filter for encrypted data, to implementing identity-based encryption – avoiding issues with public key crypto systems – to utilising ‘oblivious RAM’. By shuffling the memory location after data is accessed, not even cloud service providers can tell which data is which, therefore hiding the access pattern.
“This is an important initiative for the cloud community as new security challenges have arisen from the coupling of big data with public cloud environments,” said J.R. Santos, CSA EVP research. “As big data expands through streaming cloud technology, traditional security mechanisms tailored to secure small-scale, static data on firewalled and semi-isolated networks are inadequate.
“Security and privacy issues are magnified by this volume, variety and velocity of big data. This handbook serves as a comprehensive list of best practices for companies to use when securing big data,” Santos added.
You can read the full report here (registration optional).