Secure-by-design serverless workflows on the Edge–Cloud Continuum through the Osmotic Computing paradigm

Abstract

Nowadays, many Cloud companies adopt serverless computation based on the Function as a Service (FaaS) paradigm. Such an approach, built on the dynamic provisioning of serverless functions, has significantly altered the design of Cloud applications. Indeed, complex systems may now be viewed as a graph of serverless functions (i.e., workflow) distributed over the Cloud and Edge layers. However, building applications in such a complicated context and introducing security by design is still a non-trivial problem. Meanwhile, Osmotic Computing has advanced as a novel computational paradigm in recent years. This may serve as a suitable foundation for strengthening security in serverless applications throughout the Cloud–Edge Continuum. In this work, we rely on Osmotic Computing principles for modifying the architecture of OpenWolf, a novel serverless engine, and improving the execution time of ciphertext data by about 65%.