Cloud Security Risk Management: A Critical Review

Cloud computing has created a remarkable paradigm shift in the IT industry and brought several advantages such as on-demand self-service, broad network access, resource pooling, rapid elasticity, and measured service. These advantages enabled cloud to have significant impact on different sectors of smart cites. However, cloud adoption has increased the sophistication of the ever changing security risks which frustrate enterprises on expanding their on-premises infrastructure towards cloud horizons. These risks have the potential of being a major concern for smart cities due to the increasing impact of cloud on them. Managing these security risks requires adopting effective risk management method which involve both the cloud service provider and the customer. The risk management frameworks currently applied to manage enterprise IT risks do not readily fit the cloud environment and the dynamic nature of clouds, which are characterized by on demand self-service and rapid elasticity. Therefore, researchers have proposed different cloud security risk management methods and frameworks. This paper critically reviews these risk management methods and frameworks. In addition, it conducts critical analysis on two of them using qualitative content analysis technique, and evaluates their effectiveness for assessing and mitigating cloud security risks.