A Case Study on Data Protection and Security Decisions in Cloud HPC

This paper reports on a case study that was conducted in a cloud High Performance Computing (HPC) project one that used very sensitive and confidential data. The study aimed to explore the security challenges and practicalities that occur within a cloud HPC project and to develop a method for making critical security decisions. Action research was used to examine the nuances throughout the project as the service was moved from on-premise into a public cloud HPC, lasting over one year from start to finish. The study was able to identify some emergent issues affecting initiation, technical security challenges and the evaluation of a significant change in a HPC provisioning model.