Game Theoretic Approaches to Mitigate Cloud Security Risks: An Initial Insight

Cloud computing is one of the most promising innovations impacting data storage and processing. And with it, clients rely on the IT solutions offered by an external provider instead of on-premise applications. Despite its enormous impacts, customers are still reluctant to outsource their business processes because of security concerns. As data is typically stored and governed by cloud vendors, users need to deal with security issues linked to the loss of control over their sensitive data. Cloud providers need to implement the appropriate security measures that might attract more clients while making the minimum investment. While used in various disciplines, game theory has recently expanded to investigate the effect of the defenders’ and attackers’ behaviors on strategic decision-making. This study aims to develop insights into how game theory can develop better security policies in cloud computing. First, we perform threat modeling to identify the potential threats facing cloud. Second, we identify the limitations of existing game based solutions and then suggest an improved model define an adequate strategy that would figure out the right balance between the required security level and the profit margins. Besides, we present future directions that can be explored to build highly reliable and optimal strategies for cloud services. © 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.