Securing user authentication using single sign-on in Cloud Computing

In past three decades, the world of computation has changed from centralized (client-server not web-based) to distributed systems and now we are getting back to the virtual centralization (Cloud Computing). This paper aims to design and implement an optimized infrastructure for secure authentication and authorization in Cloud Environment. SSO (Single Sign-On) is a process of authenticate once and gain access of multiple resources. Aim of SSO is to reduce number of login and password in heterogeneous environment and to gain balance in Security, Efficiency and Usability. This paper leads to implementation of Cloud for Storage and Virtual Machines Images to run the SSO on the top layer of Cloud. This has entailed a review and comparison of existing single sign-on architectures and solutions, the development of a new architecture for single sign-on, an analysis of single sign-on threats within a Cloud context, a derivation of single sign-on objectives in Cloud, leading up to the security requirements for single sign-on in Cloud. Security and functionality are the main driving factors in the design. Others factors include performance, reliability, and the feasibility of integration.