A Client-Centric ASM-Based Approach to Identity Management in Cloud Computing

Abstract

We introduce the concept of an identity management machine (based on ASM) to mitigate problems regarding identity management in cloud computing. We decompose the client to cloud interaction into three distinct scenarios and introduce a set of ASM rules for each of them. We first consider a direct client to cloud interaction where the identity information stored on the client side is mapped to the identity created on the cloud provider's IdM system. To enhance privacy we then introduce the concept of real, obfuscated and partially obfuscated identities. Finally we take advantage of the increase in standardization in IdM systems defining the rules necessary to support authentication protocols such as OpenID. Our solution makes no supposition regarding the technologies used by the client and the cloud provider. Through abstract functions we allow for a distinct separation between the IdM system of the client and that of the cloud or service provider. Since a user is only required to authenticate once to our system, our solution represents a client centric single sign-on mechanism for the use of cloud services.