Securing Cloud Computing Through IT Governance

IT in Industry, vol. 7, no.1, 2019 Published online 11-Feb-2019
Copyright © Sharon Nesbitt Bazil, 1 ISSN (Print): 2204-0595
Shawon S. M. Rahman 2019 ISSN (Online): 2203-1731
Securing Cloud Computing Through IT Governance
Salman M. Faizi and Shawon Rahman, Ph.D.
Abstract—Lack of alignment between information
technology (IT) and the business is a problem facing many
organizations. Most organizations, today, fundamentally
depend on IT. When IT and the business are aligned in an
organization, IT delivers what the business needs and the
business is able to deliver what the market needs. IT has
become a strategic function for most organizations, and it is
imperative that IT and business are aligned. IT governance is
one of the most powerful ways to achieve IT to business
alignment. Furthermore, as the use of cloud computing for
delivering IT functions becomes pervasive, organizations
using cloud computing must effectively apply IT governance
to it. While cloud computing presents tremendous
opportunities, it comes with risks as well. Information security
is one of the top risks in cloud computing. Thus, IT
governance must be applied to cloud computing information
security to help manage the risks associated with cloud
computing information security. This study advances
knowledge by extending IT governance to cloud computing
and information security governance.
Keywords—Business alignment, cloud computing, cloud
computing security, information security, IT governance.
I.INTRODUCTION
HISpaper presents a study on implementing
information technology (IT) governance policies and
processes to cloud computing information security. IT
governance is defined as a set of mechanisms designed
to encourage behaviors that are consistent with the mission,
strategy, and culture of the organization; the mechanisms
address various matters related to IT such as decision
processes, policies, the assignment of accountabilities, and
participation rights for the stakeholder [1, 2]. From the
preceding definition, it is evident that IT policies and
processes such as information security fall within the domain
of IT governance. IT governance also applies governance to
information security. Moreover, as organizations move from
on-premises computing to cloud computing, it is imperative
that they adopt information security governance to the
essential characteristics of cloud computing. Lack of effective
IT governance is one of the barriers to cloud computing
adoption [3]. It is vital that organizations consider a sound IT
governance framework as they adopt cloud computing.
In organizations today, the alignment of IT operations with
the business strategies and management of IT risks are
imperative. IT governance is a way to accomplish IT-Business
alignment; furthermore, according to the research on the
subject, the most important purpose of IT governance is to
align IT operations of an organization with its business
strategies [4]. IT-Business alignment ensures that IT
operations deliver and operate in a way that supports the
business strategies and the vision of the organization. IT
governance is the management of an organization’s IT and
business processes in such a way that IT and business are
integrated; however, aligning IT operations with business
strategies is not easy [4]. In addition to IT-Business alignment,
the literature on information system (IS) research emphasizes
management of IT-related risks. IT governance provides a
structure of processes and relationships to attain the goals of
an enterprise by adding value while balancing risks with a
return over IT investments [5]. Thus, the two main aspects of
IT governance, emphasized by researchers, are to align IT to
business and to manage risk, and the alignment and risk
management lead to an organization that is better positioned to
serve the market needs.
IT governance must be effective. Studies have shown that
the effectiveness of IT governance relies on the existence of
three mechanisms: (a) an IT steering committee, (b) the
involvement of senior management in IT, and (c) corporate
performance measurement systems [5]. The three mechanisms
of IT governance allow organizations to build effective IT
governance to help realize business success through alignment
of their IT operations with business strategies. Researchers
have long established that IT-Business strategic alignment is
key to business success [6]. One of the primary goals of IT
governance should be making decisions for investment and
utilization of IT functions by addressing the question of how
an organization should make investments to its IT for
maximum benefit to the entire organization. IT governance
applies to an organization in various ways such as principle,
policy, process, or organization specific activities [7].
Effective IT governance is in the interest of an organization.
Furthermore, IT governance driven IT-Business alignment
even increases the status of the CIO. When CIOs have used IT
governance to ensure alignment between business and IT, IT
governance has been pivotal for the CIOs to increase their
status within an organization [8]. IT governance not only helps
the IT leadership gain prominence within the organization but
T

also positively moderates business performance of the
organization. Effective IT governance provides efficient
mechanisms to achieve alignment between IT and business
and to allocate their resources such as people, processes, and
technology to IT investments.
II. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
One area where organizations must apply governance to
allocate IT resources is the area of information security. Many
organizations today find that information has grown to become
their lifeblood because information is used to drive most
business processes for employees of all levels [2].
Furthermore, information is not only used as an enabler but
also used to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace
and to drive business value chain. Information has become an
essential asset for most organizations, and similar to all other
critical assets, information needs adequate protection to
prevent theft or intentional or unintentional misuse of
information.
Information security is not just an implementation of
technology; there are other elements involved. Information
security consists of technology, processes, and people [9].
Technical measures such as passwords, firewalls, network
monitoring, and the likes are not enough to counter threats to
information; therefore, organizations must consider a
combination of measures to protect their information against
theft and harm whether intentional or unintentional [9].
Processes include things like user registration, deregistration,
and organizations must consider people aspects such as
compliance, training, and leadership by example instead of
just deploying a solution that protects information from theft,
loss, or misuse. The way to achieve the security objectives of
protecting information through people, process, and
technology is for information security to have its governance
framework.
Moreover, there are compliance reasons to adopt IT
governance. Most modern corporate governance rules as well
as some country laws make the Board and specifically the
CEO responsible for protecting sensitive information [10, 11].
Placing such a responsibility on the board of directors and the
CEO of an enterprise highlights the importance of protection
of private and business-critical information. In some cases,
there is a regulatory obligation to safeguard information, and
the violation of the responsibility can have punitive
repercussions for an organization and its executives.
Consequently, the boards and the CEOs have a vested interest
in using governance to efficiently protect their organization’s
information in both the existing and new models of delivering
IT services to customers and employees.
One relatively new model for delivering IT services is cloud
computing, and it needs a framework for IT governance
intended to secure an organization’s information when stored
in the model of cloud computing. Given the maturity and
development of cloud computing, public cloud computing
services are a natural choice for enterprises to achieve greater
cost savings and resource utilization; however, the public have
worries about the security of cloud computing services [12].
Moreover, enterprise data security and privacy issues have
become one of the main factors that have hindered the
popularity of cloud computing [12]. Thus, cloud computing
will benefit from a framework of IT governance and the
associated best practices.
III. CLOUD COMPUTING
Cloud computing is a relatively recent entrant onto the
landscape of information technology, and it stands to
fundamentally shift how organizations deliver information
technology services to their employees, customers, and
partners. The following diagram provides a conceptual
overview of cloud computing showing its various elements.
Figure 1. Cloud Computing
Today, cloud computing has become a global trend, and it has
drawn attention from both the business world and the
academic community [13]. Such technology provides a
paradigm shift in the field of information technology. Thus,
increasingly information assets will be stored, retrieved, and
processed on cloud computing platforms.
Numerous surveys show that a substantial majority of
organizations are either already using cloud computing or plan
to adopt it in the near future[14]. The characteristics of cloud
computing are already impacting IT organizations. Right Scale
Inc. [15] reported that companies not only already process
most of their computational workload using cloud computing,
but they are planning on increasing their use of cloud

computing. The report also indicated that among the
respondents to its survey, public cloud adoption increased to
92% in 2018 from 89% in 2017. Such an explosive growth in
the adoption of cloud computing points to its importance.
The cloud computing adoption is just as applicable to the
government sector as it is to the private sector. Cloud
computing has received attention at all levels of the US
government since, according to the Brookings Institution,
government agencies can save 25-50% by migrating to the
cloud [16]. Similarly, the European Commission is promoting
the use of cloud computing among the government sector in
Europe as part of the “Digital Agenda for Europe” [17]. In the
developing economies, cloud computing is a vehicle for the
realization of electronic government or e-government [18].
Both private and public sectors are accelerating adoption of
cloud computing. Consequently, cloud computing is just as
important to the private sector as it is to the public sector.
A. Definition of Cloud Computing
Before proceeding further, it is helpful to define cloud
computing. The cloud computing literature contains several
definitions of cloud computing, and the definitions do not
seem to cover all the features of the cloud. There is confusion
about the definition of cloud computing [19]. It is important to
define cloud computing because the definition will help
contain the scope of the discussion for this paper. Efforts have
been made to standardize the definition of cloud computing.
One such standardized definition is from Mell and Grance [20]
of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
The NIST definition of cloud computing is a reasonable
definition [21]. The NIST [20] defines cloud computing as
follows:
Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous,
convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of
configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers,
storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly
provisioned and released with minimal management effort or
service provider interaction. This cloud model is composed of
five essential characteristics, three service models, and four
deployment models. (p. 2).
B. The Essential Characteristics of Cloud Computing
The above definition of cloud computing leads to the five
essential characteristics of cloud computing. These
characteristics are (a) on-demand self-service, (b) broad
network access, (c) resource pooling, (d) rapid elasticity, and
(e) measured service. Next, we define each one of these
characteristics per the definitions of Mell and Grance [20] and
Stieninger and Nedbal [19].
The first characteristic is on-demand self-service which
means a cloud computing consumer can solely provision
computing features, such as server time and network storage,
as desired automatically without needing human interaction
with a cloud computing service provider. The cloud
computing customers can adjust the demand of cloud
computing services as their needs change. An essential
characteristic of cloud computing is on-demand self-service.
The second characteristic of cloud computing is broad
network access which means that cloud computing capabilities
are available over the network and are accessible through
standard mechanisms employed by varied thin or thick client
platforms such as mobile phones, tablets, laptops,
workstations, and other similar clients. Broad network access
is one of the highly attractive features of cloud computing and
is deemed essential.
The third characteristic of cloud computing is resource
pooling which implies that the cloud computing provider’s
computing resources are pooled to serve multiple consumers
using a multi-tenant model. Multitenancy in cloud computing
refers to an architecture that allows each tenant or customer to
keep his or her data separate and invisible to other tenants. In
the multitenancy model different physical and virtual
resources are dynamically assigned and reassigned according
to consumer demand at a given moment. This aspect provides
a sense of location independence such that the customer
normally does not have any control or knowledge over the
exact location of the cloud computing provided resources.
However, when provisioning a cloud computing service, the
customer may be able to specify location at a higher level of
abstraction. The customer can specify country, state, region, or
data center to control the general location of where the
hardware and associated services will originate. Examples of
cloud computing resources are storage, processing, virtual
network, memory, and network bandwidth. Resource pooling
is an essential characteristic of cloud computing.
The fourth characteristic of cloud computing is rapid
elasticity which means that cloud computing capabilities can
be dynamically provisioned and released to scale rapidly per
the increasing and decreasing demand. In some cases,
elasticity can occur automatically based on rules predefined by
the customer. Elasticity is important because, to the cloud
computing customer, the capacity available for provisioning
often appears to be unlimited. The customer can allocate
capacity in almost any quantity at any time. A crucial
characteristic of cloud computing is fast elasticity.
The fifth and final characteristic of cloud computing is
measured service which suggests that cloud computing
systems use metering capabilities and associated metrics to

automatically regulate and optimize resource usage at some
level of abstraction appropriate to the type of service. Type of
service includes storage, processing, bandwidth, and active
user accounts and other similar types. The consumer can
monitor, control, and obtain reports on resource usage. Such
monitoring provides transparency for both the provider and
consumer of the utilized service. A vital characteristic of cloud
computing is measured service.
Therefore, due to the unique characteristics of cloud
computing, information stored in cloud computing is
susceptible to additional security threats that traditional on-
premises computing does not face. The public cloud
computing services have their specific security issues, which
are different from traditional IT technology [12]. The
organizations considering cloud computing for their IT needs
must first understand the factors that lead to cloud adoption.
The literature on cloud computing reports several challenges
towards the adoption of cloud computing. Stieninger, et al.
[22] investigated the factors that are important contributors to
the attitude towards cloud computing adoption. They found
that compatibility, relative advantage, security and trust, as
well as a lower level of complexity contribute positively to
attitude towards cloud adoption. Additionally, Right Scale Inc.
[15] found that the top challenges to cloud computing in 2018
reported by the respondents to its survey are security and
spend; 77% considered security a challenge while 76% saw
cloud spend a challenge, and enterprises experienced more
challenges overall than small and medium businesses. Reports
such as these point to the need for a structured control
mechanism, such as IT governance, towards cloud computing.
This paper will limit the application of IT governance to
security.
Cloud Service Delivery Models. Before applying the IT
governance framework, it is helpful to look at different service
models that are available for cloud computing. Looking at
different models allows customization of the information
security governance for each model of the cloud computing
service. Three service models are available for cloud
computing. These models are Software as a Service (SaaS),
Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service
(IaaS) [20, 23]. The three service models need not be
orthogonal in a given deployment, and a given deployment can
contain one or more of the service delivery models. Each of
these service models ultimately uses cloud computing
infrastructure which is a collection of hardware and software
to enable the five essential characteristics discussed above
[20]. The cloud infrastructure is both the physical and the
abstraction layer of cloud computing where physical layer is
the hardware on which cloud computing runs, and the
abstraction layer consists of software that manages the cloud
and its essential characteristics [20]. Understanding the service
models and the infrastructure is important to implement an IT
governance framework for information security. The diagram
below, adopted from Schouten [24], shows the three service
delivery models and the management responsibility of the
customer compared to the management responsibility of the
cloud vendor.
Figure 2. Cloud Service Delivery Models
The diagram above also shows the amount of control the client
has in each cloud service delivery model. On-premises
computing provides enterprises complete control over assets
and information. When addressing information security in
cloud computing, the main difference is an enterprise’s loss of
control, and therefore, loss of governance it has over assets
and information [25]. Thus, governing information security to
guard against the security threats in a cloud computing
environment requires controlling the parts of the cloud
computing environment under client control and collaboration
with the cloud computing vendor to manage the parts that the
vendor manages.
IV. SECURITY THREATS IN CLOUD COMPUTING
This section discusses major cloud computing security
concerns. Similar to traditional on-premises computing, cloud
computing presents security threats. The diagram below shows
various areas from where cloud security threats can emerge.
Four categories represent the major security concerns in cloud
computing: (a) software security, (b) infrastructure security,
(c) storage security, and (d) network security [26]. Next, we
discuss each of these categories of major security concerns.

Figure 3. Cloud Computing Security Domains
A. Software Security
The software security risk is due to unaddressed security
during development. Software applications face unique
challenges and security threats. In 2009, a study found that
cyber-attacks on internet web applications made up more than
60% of the total attacks on the internet [27]. However, things
have only gotten worse in these areas. Cisco Systems [28]
reported that in 2017, 64% of all denial of service attacks
targeted applications. The attackers specifically target
applications because the network layer has increased
protection leaving less room for exploitation. The increased
attacks on the applications need the increased protection of the
application by removing security flaws in them.
The top ten security attacks experienced by applications
include injection, broken authentication, sensitive data
exposure, XML external entities (XXE), broken access
control, security misconfiguration, cross-site scripting (XSS),
insecure deserialization, using components with known
vulnerabilities, and insufficient logging and monitoring [29].
No stage of software development is immune from exposure
to security flaws. The OWASP Foundation [27] states that
security flaws can be injected into the software during any
stage of the software development lifecycle. Security flaws
can result during security requirements definition, conceptual
design creation, following poor coding practices, improperly
deploying software, or introducing a security flaw during
maintenance or updating. Thus, it follows that policies,
processes, and procedures must cover all phases of software
development for including security.
Often, software developers do not comply with secure
programming practices. Many software application security
flaws result due to the developer's failure to follow secure
coding practices [30]. It is much more cost effective to prevent
security flaws in an application than to cure them later. The
view remains among software developers that security should
be added after the development of the application ends. Even
during training in software development curricula in
universities, secure coding practices are taught as an elective
towards the end of the educational program, and this practice
further reinforces the view that software security is a feature
that is added later [31]. A way to overcome this mentality is to
provide policies, procedures, and processes for increasing
secure software development. For example, a policy could
require software developers to use statistic software analysis
tools which can detect many vulnerabilities in the software
code [30]. The management team can require software
developers to use such tools and provide them training to
properly configure them for effective detection of application
security flaws.
B. Infrastructure Security
Infrastructure security applies to both virtual and physical
infrastructure. The objective of infrastructure security to
establish trust in the infrastructure [26]. Infrastructure is the
foundational element in cloud computing, and it consists of
physical and virtual resources. Virtual resources include
virtual machines (VMs) that provide for the movement,
storing, processing, and analysis of data in cloud computing.
Multiple VMs can run on a single physical server to enable
multitenancy. VMs are vulnerable to security risks and pose a
threat to the security and privacy of cloud computing [32]. An
erroneous deployment of a VM can result in a lack of isolation
between other VMs on the same server leading to data leakage
and cross-VMs attacks [26]. Specific VM attacks can
compromise customer data. Some VM attacks include (a) a
cross-VM side channel attack, which can allow a hacker to
extract cryptographic keys, resource usage, and other
information, (b) VM creation attacks, where malicious code is
placed in VM to be replicated to other VMs at creation time,
(c) VM migration and rollback attacks, where an attacker
exploits VM’s vulnerability during transfer between physical
machines, and (d) VM scheduler based attacks occur when an
attacker attempts to steal resources by exploiting the VM
scheduler [33]. Additionally, attackers can exploit VM
monitoring tools used to monitor VMs due to their nature of
being a central control point [26]. VMs are part of
infrastructure security, and they pose a security risk to a cloud
computing environment.

There are other security risks present in the category of
infrastructure security. Electronic access control systems used
to negotiate client authentication via the federation protocol of
Security Assertion Mark-up Language (SAML) which
contains authentication credentials [34]. In this case, an
attacker can eavesdrop on a message even if it is digitally
signed allowing an attacker to target random machines while
masquerading as legitimate users. Furthermore, a simple
network management protocol (SNMP) server, which is used
to collect data from various devices, is susceptible to attacks
given the cryptographic design of SNMP [26]. The
vulnerabilities in the infrastructure expose cloud computing to
severe security risks. Thus, it is critical that organizations
using cloud computing verify that the infrastructure is secure.
C. Storage Security
Cloud computing deals extensively with data; data are
transferred, processed, and stored in the cloud. Global data
center traffic is growing exponentially and is expected to reach
10.4 zettabytes by 2019 with 83% of the data coming from the
cloud [35]. Such data quantities in the cloud require storage
security. Since cloud computing customers are physically
separated from their data, they experience a lack of control
[32]. Thus it is important that steps are taken to ensure storage
security in cloud computing.
Additionally, cloud service providers store data in their data
centers in a highly redundant fashion, and while the
redundancy provides higher availability of the data, it also
gives hackers an additional opportunity to steal sensitive data
[19]. An attacker may steal data in several ways, but we
consider two types of data storage attacks. The two data
storage attacks are (a) data scavenging and (b) data
deduplication [33]. Data scavenging occurs during data
deletion which marks data as deleted but data are not
completely removed from the physical storage devices;
consequently, an attacker can steal data that is not completely
removed from the physical storage devices. Chandna, et al.
[36] describe symmetric key cryptography as an effective
countermeasure against data scavenging. The next data storage
attack is data deduplication. Data deduplication allows for
minimizing storage and bandwidth requirement, and it makes
it possible to identify files and their content. An attacker can
create a communication channel to steal the content of the files
being deduplicated. Both inside and outside adversaries can
employ data deduplication as a means to mount a storage
attack [35].
Insiders can cause data breaches since the cloud providers
typically make data available to the insiders unencrypted, and
insiders can exploit the data either erroneously or maliciously.
Microsoft Azure [37] attempts to protect data from insider
adversaries by severely limiting the duration for which an
insider can access data storage and by providing supervision
even for the short duration of time. Additionally, data loss can
occur due to faults in the data storage service; for example, in
2013 an outage at Dropbox lasted over ten hours [35]. Apart
from data loss caused by the failure of cloud computing
storage service, a malicious insider can cause data loss
intentionally to cause harm. Thus, data storage attack can
occur due to the activities of the inside adversaries.
Similar to the insider adversaries, outsiders also pose serious
security threats to data storage through data deduplication
procedures. Shin, et al. [35] describe several methods that
outsiders use to attack data through deduplication. Attackers
use side channels to identify the presence of specific data and
their content. Outsiders can gain unauthorized access to the
data stored in cloud computing by exploiting the hash value
sent to the cloud computing storage by the client-side
deduplication systems. Outsiders can abuse cloud storage
service by establishing covert channels to the outside world or
using a content delivery network (CDN). Additionally,
outsiders can mount attacks on the cloud computing storage by
data poisoning which employs the data tags sent as part of data
uploaded as search strings.
Countermeasures against storage attacks help organizations
keep their data safe. Encryption of data during transfer,
storage, and processing is an effective countermeasure to
prevent theft and unauthorized access to the data [32].
Encryption ensures the safeguarding of the data by employing
encryption keys. A public cloud such as Microsoft Azure, for
example, provides a secure key vault to safeguard the
encryption keys [38]. Cloud computing customers can use a
secure key vault to keep their keys in a safe place to prevent
the keys from falling into the wrong hands. Furthermore,
frameworks such as C2Detector are effective in detecting
covert back-channels [39]. Other countermeasures include
managing insiders’ access to customer data stored within
cloud computing.
D. Network Security
Cloud computing components are interconnected via a
network, and access to cloud computing from the outside
world is a network. Attackers can exploit the vulnerabilities of
the network to steal sensitive and private data; moreover, the
network attacks fall into three categories [33]. The three main
categories of network attacks are (a) port scanning, (b)
botnets, and (c) spoofing attacks. These three categories of
attacks allow an attacker to exploit a range of vulnerabilities in
the cloud computing network.

The first major type of network attack, port scanning, is
when an attacker scans ports on a server to target
vulnerabilities in the services running on the ports [32]. Port
scanning can lead to denial of service. However, intrusion
detection systems and firewalls can provide some level of
protection against port scanning attacks [40]. Other methods to
thwart denial of service attacks include a method Microsoft
Azure uses to scrub traffic at the network edge before it
reaches the critical services and customer servers [37]. While
it may not be possible to prevent all port scanning attacks,
organizations using cloud computing must take measures to
guard against such attacks.
The second major type of network attack is the botnet attack
which occurs when a botnet steals data from a host machine
and transfers them to a remote bot-master. Botnet creates a
command and control system where the bot-master
communicates with several infected machines, serving as
zombies, which in turn can allow a hacker access to the
network inside a firewall. Command and control servers are
centralized servers that send minimally sized commands to the
zombies to steal sensitive data or to cause damage [41]. The
botnet attacks can cause serious harm and may even be
difficult to detect. Individual machines are infected with
botnet software when they access the network via Wi-Fi in
public places such as coffee shops, airports, and hotels [42].
The users of the target machine may not realize that a
malicious software agent was installed on their machine, and
then without realizing it, they bring the infected machine
inside the corporate firewall. Protecting against botnet
involves tracking the bot-master by intercepting the
communication between the infected machines and the bot-
master. Incidents involving botnets have caused large-scale
damage. For example, the Ramnit botnet, which infected 3.2
million computers, was detected and removed in February
2015 but it appeared again soon afterward to attack banks and
commercial operations in Canada, Australia, the United States,
and Finland [43]. Botnets pose a serious threat to cloud
computing, and the organizations adopting cloud computing
must take measures to protect against them.
The third major type of network attack is the spoofing
attack. A spoofing attack occurs when the attacker
impersonates network entities to cause harm to the network
[33]. The main objective of a spoofing attack is to steal
sensitive data from the authorized user to attack the network
hosts to spread malware or circumvent access control [44].
Some examples of spoof attacks are provided next. A domain
name server (DNS) spoofing attack may direct all traffic to a
DNS server to the attacker’s system. Another example of a
spoofing attack involves replacing the internet protocol (IP)
address with a forged IP address in a network packet. For
virtual machines, an address resolution protocol (ARP) attack
can cause the attacker to intercept packets to other VMs. An
intrusion detection system can protect against spoofing attacks
[45]. All networks attacks have a potential of causing damage
to cloud computing and organizations adopting cloud
computing must be particularly vigilant against these attacks.
V. IT GOVERNANCE AND CLOUD COMPUTING
Cloud computing presents several potential benefits to
organizations in both the private and public sector. However,
there are risks associated with cloud computing that
organizations must address [14]. Organizations must
implement controls, such as IT governance, to address the
risks and to ensure that IT and cloud computing adds business
value. When IT operations are aligned with the business
strategies, IT delivers business value. Over the past three
decades studies have consistently found that Business to IT
alignment is a persistent problem; however, IT governance is a
way to achieve such an alignment [46]. Without the Business-
IT alignment, IT cannot deliver what the business needs and
the business cannot deliver what the customers need. The
diagram below provides a visual image showing how the
governance of information security in cloud computing leads
to various benefits.
Figure 4. Cloud Computing Security Governance Outcomes
IT governance manages the risks associated with IT projects
and practices [47]. Thus, in the case of cloud computing, IT
governance is vital in achieving Business-IT alignment and
managing the traditional risks associated with the on-premises
computing as well as the new risks associated with cloud
computing.
IT governance plays an essential role in how organizations
utilize information technology (IT). The two key objectives of

IT governance are to guide the use of IT to supplement
business value and to manage the risks associated with IT
[14]. Traditionally, organizations applied IT governance to on-
premises computing which included software that ran on
computers located within the premises of the organizations.
However, increasingly organizations are leveraging cloud
computing for their IT needs to remain competitive and
innovative [48]. Similar to on-premises computing,
organizations can also apply IT governance to cloud
computing since business value creation through IT and
managing IT risks apply just as much to on-premises
computing as it does to cloud computing.
IT governance is a complex undertaking, but, fortunately,
there are guidelines developed by several IT governance
bodies. Organizations can use these guidelines to supplement
their existing IT governance; furthermore, the IT governance
bodies have updated their guidelines to include IT governance
of cloud computing because adoption of cloud computing
often changes the risk profile of an organization [49].
Organizations can leverage the guidelines developed by the IT
governance bodies to manage the new risk that comes with the
adoption of cloud computing as well as other risks inherent to
IT. Below is a list of some of the prominent IT governance
bodies providing IT governance guidelines for cloud
computing.
Table 1. Standards Bodies and Cloud Computing Security
Governance
Standards Body Description
The European
Network and
Information Security
Agency (ENISA)
Provides a guide for assessing the
security risks and benefits of using
cloud computing. The risks are used as
a starting point for the introduction of
an information assurance framework
based on the ISO 27000 family [50,
51].
International
Standards
Organization (ISO)
ISO provides consensus-based
standards and guidelines for IT
governance. Some ISO standards, such
as ISO 27001, apply to cloud
computing [52].
The Committee of
Sponsoring
Organizations of the
Treadway
Commission
(COSO)
A combined initiative of five
organizations from the private sector
develops guidance that applies to IT
governance [53].
Information SystemsProvides guidance, benchmarks, and
Audit and Control
Association
(ISACA)
tools for enterprises that use
information systems. ISACA
developed a well-known IT
governance framework known as
COBIT. COBIT can be applied to
cloud computing [14]. ISACA [54]
document “IT Control Objectives for
Cloud Computing” describes the
COBIT framework [14][54].
The Cloud Security
Alliance (CSA)
Provides guidelines on security issues
related to cloud computing including
governance and enterprise risk
management [55].
National Institute of
Standards and
Technology (NIST)
A governmental agency within the
Federal government in the United
States, NIST is a non-regulatory
agency [56].
A comparison of the frameworks for information security
governance in cloud computing, mentioned above, will help
both the client and the vendor determine the right framework
for them. Rebollo, et al. [25] provide guidance for comparing
information security governance frameworks. They
recommend that the comparison criteria should include
policies and processes adoption (PPA), control and audit (CA),
and service level agreement (SLA). A brief description of the
three criteria is provided below.
When transitioning from on-premises computing to cloud
computing, an enterprise should re-evaluate its security
policies and processes in partnership with the cloud vendor.
PPA represents the modifications to security policies and
processes that enterprises transitioning from on-premises
computing to cloud computing must make. CA represents the
additional security controls that enterprises must establish to
control the processes running in the cloud outside of their
organizations. SLA contains the responsibilities and
accountabilities between the cloud vendor and the cloud client.
The table above contains a comparison of the frameworks
along the criterion of Rebollo, et al. [25] and some of their
data.
Since each cloud service delivery model offers a range of
controls exercised by cloud clients and vendors, it is important
to select the right cloud computing solutions. The CSA
furnishes a method for evaluating the tolerance of cloud
computing solutions for IT assets belonging to organizations

Table 2. Comparison of Cloud Computing Security
Governance Frameworks
[55]. ENISA [50] provides a model for selecting cloud
computing solutions that are resilient and secure. ISACA [54]
provides a four-step process to help decide the use of cloud
computing: Service model, deployment model, and cloud
provider or vendor. NIST [56] describes a decision framework
for selecting a cloud computing solution which includes
provisioning and managing of the cloud computing solution as
well. Selecting a cloud computing solution is the first step in
using cloud computing. Thus, governance models should
include guidance for selecting a cloud computing solution.
A. Extending Existing IT Governance to Cloud Computing
The standards bodies also provide general guidance for
governance. Most of the standards bodies recommend
adopting existing IT and security governance frameworks to
cloud computing [14]. ISACA [54] describes the application
of COBIT 4.1 to cloud computing. COSO [53] recommends
applying the COSO ERM framework to cloud computing. ISO
is developing a standard for cloud computing, and CSA has a
reference architecture for a trusted cloud; both standards
contain information security governance for cloud computing
[14]. Applying the existing frameworks to cloud computing
makes sense since the organizations would already be familiar
with them and adding the cloud computing component would
be a smaller net new addition compared to introducing a new
governance framework. Thus, general guidance is to apply the
existing IT and security frameworks to cloud computing.
In particular, organizations must emphasize (a)
establishment of business goals for cloud computing and (b)
roles and responsibilities for each level of management. First,
establishing business goals and objectives for cloud computing
will align cloud computing adoption with business value.
ISACA [54] provides ways for organizations to come up with
business goals and objectives for cloud computing. Often
having an end goal provides a path to achieving that goal.
Next, organizations must emphasize defining roles and
responsibilities. Proper governance requires a clear definition
of roles and responsibilities [14]. The roles and responsibilities
can be an extension of the pre-existing roles and
responsibilities that an organization uses for on-premises
computing. A clear definition of roles and responsibilities will
help eliminate gaps in understanding of authority,
responsibilities, and accountabilities. COSO [53] provides a
list of responsibilities for various managers, the board of
directors, the chief executive officer, chief information officer,
chief legal officer, and chief internal auditors. Additionally,
COSO provides a list of considerations for managers and the
board of directors when transitioning to cloud computing.
Thus, a clear definition of roles and responsibilities adds to the
effectiveness of information security governance of cloud
computing.

B. Risk Management
The next general governance guideline is regarding risk
management. Since cloud computing introduces additional
risks for organizations, they must implement a risk
management system [57]. The cloud computing governance
standards provide several methods for capturing risk. ENISA
[50] describes using SWOT analysis and a standards-based
risk assessment process for evaluating risks associated with
cloud computing security. CSA [55] has a framework to
identify and evaluate risks in cloud computing that an
organization faces. CSA has recommendations consisting of
thirteen different domains for managing cloud computing
risks. COSO [53] provides an enterprise risk management
framework to help decide a response to risks. NIST [56]
describes various risks associated with cloud computing
security and provides recommendations on an appropriate risk
response. A risk management system will not only help
organizations determine a response to risks captured for cloud
computing but also develop an effective risk management
capability.
C. Compliance
Organizations must ensure compliance using contracts.
ENISA [50] has a list of areas for organizations to consider
when evaluating agreements with cloud vendors, and it
provides a method for performing legal analysis as it relates to
the usage of cloud computing. These agreements could include
SLAs, memoranda of understanding, and end-user agreements.
ENISA provides a three-step methodology for performing
legal analysis, and it provides a list of six questions regarding
an organization’s usage of cloud computing.
D. Controls
Organizations can employ best practices for implementing
controls in cloud computing. ISACA [54] provides control
objectives based on COBIT 4.1 for cloud computing. CSA
[55] provides a matrix of control objectives which is helpful in
dealing with various requirements as they apply to cloud
computing. These requirements may include HIPAA, ISO
27001, NIST SP800-53 R3, FedRAMP Security Controls, PCI
DSS v2.0, and others [14]. Based on the industry an
organization operates within, these requirements can be vital
to their operations. ENISA [50] developed an assurance
framework for cloud computing. The framework can help
achieve control objectives.
The general governance guidelines provide organizations a
means to adopt cloud computing to their specific business
needs. Cloud computing contains additional information
security risks when compared to traditional on-premises
computing. Depending on the cloud service delivery model
used, a client organization will need to adjust its governance
depending on the control they are allowed on cloud computing
resources. For example, IaaS provides more resources that a
client must manage when compared to other cloud service
delivery models. Organizations considering adopting cloud
computing may find it challenging to address its additional
risks. Various standards bodies, as identified above, provide
best practices and guidance on where to start and what to
consider.
VI. BEST PRACTICES IN IT GOVERNANCE
Researchers have highlighted several best practices in
implementing governance. The best practices include
involvement of business management, management of data
quality, combined business and IT focus, and education of
users and managers [58]. The best practices also include
ethical and socially responsible corporate behavior, an
effective corporate communications system, and corporate
performance measurement. Taking these best practices one by
one, we can further analyze and evaluate them.
First, the involvement of business management is crucial in
the IT governance process. After all, it is business
management that is ultimately the consumer of many services
delivered by IT. The involvement of business management
will ensure that the business can gain a competitive advantage
through its investment in IT [7]. Alignment between IT and
business will ensure that IT delivers what the business needs
and that IT gets its requirements unambiguously stated from
the business. Therefore, it is essential that business
stakeholders be involved in the IT governance process.
Second, the management of data quality is an essential
element required by any organization. Today, data contain the
intellectual property, operational information, contractual
obligations, and employee personal information to name a
few. Managing and maintaining data quality is a key initiative
for most organizations. Information technology governance
must ensure that this crucial area is covered adequately in its
practices. Organizations must categorize data according to its
sensitivity, and data that is sensitive must be protected using
mechanisms such as strong encryption while being transported
to cloud computing as well as during storage. Therefore, the
management of data quality is an essential element of
information technology governance.
Third, the combined focus on business and IT is an
important best practice of information technology governance.
Organizations must understand IT’s role as a service provider,
not a servant; therefore, they must be inclusive of their IT as a
true and valued partner [59]. A servant organization will do

whatever it is asked to do while a service provider will be an
equal partner in a mutually beneficial arrangement. A service
provider enhances the business value chain while increasing
its capabilities. Moreover, just like there is a business
strategy, IT must also have a service strategy. Therefore,
organizations must aspire to develop a combined focus of IT
and business with both sides being equal partners.
Fourth, the education of users and managers is essential.
Education is necessary because when it comes to providing
quality, service education and training are essential [60]. The
necessity of training is evident because training the users and
managers lead to better understanding, better understanding
leads to better governance, better governance leads to better
firm performance, and better performance is what the
employees, managers and the stockholders or owners of an
organization want. Thus, it is crucial, to include training and
education among the best practices of information technology
governance.
Fifth, organizations must promote ethics. The presence of
ethics and a culture of compliance in IT increases the overall
effectiveness of IT governance [5]. Therefore, organizations
should promote ethics and foster a culture of compliance.
Sixth, corporate communication systems support is essential.
The presence of corporate communication systems support
significantly improves the overall success of IT governance
[5]. Such a communication system allows for critical
communication to take place, for ideas to permeate, and rich
discussions to ensue. Consequently, organizations should
invest in effective corporate communications systems.
The sixth, and final, best practice is a corporate performance
measurement system. Research has shown that a corporate
performance measurement system moderates the level of
effective IT governance; however, the impact could even
become negative given an incorrect use of the measurement
system [5]. Organizations should deploy a performance
measurement system and train the users on its proper use.
Employing the best practices of IT governance and applying
them to information security governance, organizations can
significantly improve their IT governance implementation. IT
governance will help best serve the organization.
VII. INFORMATION SECURITY GOVERNANCE
Organizations need information security to protect
information. Since information security contains the triad of
people, process, and technology, an information security
governance framework must include all three elements [9].
Organizations must utilize a comprehensive approach to
information security. A comprehensive approach is where the
management of an organization develops and enforces
information security mechanisms, such as policies and
technical security procedures with which employees interact
and include in their working procedures [9]. Technology such
as passwords for access control, monitoring, firewalls,
logging, and other similar equipment can only prevent a
limited number of security incidences. A blend of measures is
required to protect information by securing systems against
harm; therefore, organizations must deploy processes to
handle granting the user access to computing resources,
training, leadership discipline, compliance to regulations and
policies about information security [9]. Increasing the reach of
information has required an increased focus on people and
processes of the trifecta of people, process, and technology. IT
governance is a way to focus on people and processes.
Therefore, to increase the security of information, the
principles of IT governance must be applied to develop
information security governance focused on people, process,
and technology.
The focus of information security has gradually moved from
technology only to technology and governance. Initially, the
discipline of information technology was limited to technical
experts and technical solutions; however, gradually, technical
experts determined that without management support, IT
operations and business strategies could not align [9]. Thus,
technical protection mechanisms have continued in parallel
with management involvement. Organizations now include
information security and its management in their
organizational structure. Organizations can only address
information security risks facing them with a governance
framework containing adequate controls for their executives to
direct employee behavior[9]. Consequently, a framework for
information security governance allows organizations to
address human behavior and accountability and the
implementation of processes in addition to technology-based
solutions.
An information security framework should include
comprehensive security for an organization’s information.
Moreover, researchers have identified components that make
up the comprehensive security of information, and how should
the organizations go about implementing them [9].
Researchers have defined components of information security
as the principles that enable assessing risk, implementing
technical controls, creating an information security policy, and
increasing information security awareness. These mechanisms
can be included in an information security governance
framework where the relationship between the mechanisms is
established [9]. Thus, organizations can gain an understanding
of the comprehensive requirements of information security
through an information security governance framework and its
components.

VIII. INFORMATION SECURITY COMPONENTS FOR IT
GOVERNANCE
This paper selects information security components from
various existing information security approaches. Research
has listed four well-established approaches aimed at
addressing all aspects of information security governance.
These approaches include the ISO 17799 standard, PROTECT
(an acronym for Policies, Risks, Objectives, Technology,
Execute, Compliance, and Team), Capability Maturity Model,
and Information Security Architecture. Researchers, using
these four approaches, have derived a comprehensive list of
information security components. Implementing these
information security components will alter the way people
conduct their day-to-day IT-related activities for any given
organization.
Furthermore, an important consideration is that while
organizations do not change on their own, people change, and
people, in turn, change an organization [9]. Organizations
must pursue change management and take steps to protect the
information assets of an organization due to change.
Organizations must include information security components
in such a way that employees can conduct their day-to-day
responsibilities while successfully incorporating the
information security governance. The information security
components mentioned above are the basis for a sound
information security governance framework. A successful
information security governance framework must include
these components [9]. These information security components
are listed below.
Information security needs executive sponsorship. The
executive sponsor can help obtain a commitment from an
organization’s board and its management team [9]. With an
active commitment, responsibility, and accountability of the
board and the management team, information security
becomes an active discussion in meetings of the board and the
management team; therefore, this brings greater involvement
of the board of directors, management team, and business
process owners [61]. Increasingly, the directors and the
executives of an organization are expected to protect
shareholder value. This accountability to protect shareholder
value applies to information assets just as it does to any other
asset [61]. Such an understanding to protect information at the
highest level of an organization leads to a better understanding
that information security is essential for the organization’s
survival. Therefore, leadership and governance are key to
protecting the information asset of an organization.
IX. CONCLUSION
IT governance is a critical discipline to implement for an
organization because it helps achieve alignment between IT
operations and business strategies. Moreover, since most
organizations rely on their IT systems to perform their day-to-
day tasks, it is important that they protect IT systems against
information theft or loss using information security
governance. Furthermore, organizations must adapt their
existing IT governance to include cloud computing. However,
to successfully implement IT governance and information
security governance, IT organizations must display leadership
to promote information security governance, overcome user
resistance, and employ a sound ethical framework that assures
autonomy from external coercion, nonmaleficence to prevent
harm to others, beneficence for providing a net benefit, and
implement justice. It is only through these measures that IT
governance and information security governance will shine. It
is only through practices like the ones highlighted here, can
the organization protect their information assets using proven
principles of IT governance of information security.
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