Reference Security Management Architecture - Guiding governmental and military Inter-Cloud initiatives

The evolution of Cloud Computing towards Inter-Cloud environments is in progress. Governmental and military initiatives are developing possible applications for Inter-Cloud Computing. One of the most important challenges for these initiatives is Security Management. Cloud providers have to manage and assure a secure Cloud usage within a multi-provider Inter-Cloud environment with dedicated communication infrastructures, security services, processes and policies. This paper focuses on the identification of components of a Security Management Architecture (SMA) within a Cloud provider. This includes the introduction of a general architecture of a Cloud provider based on the ideas of the DMTF and the description of a use case driven requirements analysis. By giving a Reference Security Management Architecture Cloud providers are guided to implement and adapt an efficient and effective Security Management solution for Inter-Cloud environments. Additionally, this paper gives an overview of current activities and pioneering projects of multinational organizations as well as of national initiatives.