Assignment 2 Cloud Computing

1. What is a Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Attack?

A Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack is a cyber-attack where multiple systems, often compromised and controlled by the attacker, flood a target with a massive amount of traffic to overwhelm it. This results in the service being unavailable to legitimate users. Here’s a more detailed breakdown:

• Distributed: The attack originates from numerous compromised devices, typically spread across different geographical locations. These devices, which form a botnet, are controlled by the attacker using malware.
• Denial-of-Service: The primary aim is to prevent legitimate users from accessing a particular service, such as a website, by overloading it with excessive requests.
• Attack: This is a deliberate and malicious effort to disrupt normal operations.

In essence, the attackers use a network of hijacked devices to bombard the target with an overwhelming volume of requests. This flood of traffic can cause the system to slow down or become completely unresponsive, thus denying access to legitimate users.

2. What is the Purpose of Having Defense in Depth?

Defense in depth is a layered security strategy that provides comprehensive protection by deploying multiple security measures at various levels. Here’s a detailed explanation:

• Redundancy: This ensures that if one security measure is compromised, others are still in place to protect the system. For example, if an attacker breaches a firewall, other defenses like antivirus software and intrusion detection systems can still identify and mitigate the threat.
• Comprehensive Protection: Different types of security measures address different threats. Firewalls block unauthorized network traffic, encryption protects data privacy, and security training helps employees recognize and avoid phishing attempts.
• Delay: Multiple layers of security slow down attackers, increasing the time and effort required to breach the system. This delay provides security teams with more time to detect and respond to the attack.
• Minimization of Single Points of Failure: Relying on a single security measure is risky because its failure can compromise the entire system. Having multiple layers ensures that no single failure can lead to a complete security breach.

In practice, defense in depth combines physical security (like locks and surveillance), technical measures (like firewalls and encryption), and administrative controls (like policies and training) to create a robust and resilient security posture.

3. What Can Key Vault Manage?

Azure Key Vault is a cloud service designed to securely store and manage sensitive information. Here’s a more detailed explanation:

• Secrets: These are pieces of sensitive information such as passwords, API keys, and database connection strings. Key Vault securely stores these secrets, ensuring they are only accessible by authorized applications and users.
• Keys: These are cryptographic keys used for data encryption and decryption. Key Vault helps manage these keys securely, including their generation, storage, and controlled access.
• Certificates: These are digital certificates used to establish secure connections over the internet, such as SSL/TLS certificates for HTTPS websites. Key Vault handles the storage, management, and renewal of these certificates.
• Secrets in Hardware Security Modules (HSMs): HSMs are specialized hardware devices that provide enhanced security for cryptographic keys. Storing keys in HSMs within Key Vault ensures they are protected by hardware-level security, offering a higher level of protection compared to software-based storage.

By utilizing Azure Key Vault, organizations can centralize the management of their sensitive information, ensuring secure storage, controlled access, and proper management of secrets, keys, and certificates. This helps mitigate risks associated with unauthorized access and data breaches.