Special Publication 500-291, Version 2

NIST Cloud ComputingStandards Roadmap

NIST Cloud Computing Standards Roadmap Working GroupNIST Cloud Computing Program
Information Technology Laboratory

http://dx.doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.500-291r2

NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAPThis page left intentionally blankii

NIST Special Publication 500-291,
Version 2(Supersedes Version 1.0, July 2011)

NIST Cloud ComputingStandards Roadmap
NIST Cloud Computing Standards
Roadmap Working Group
http://dx.doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.500-291r2

July 2013

U. S. Department of Commerce
Penny Pritzker, Secretary
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Patrick D. Gallagher, Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and Director

NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAPThis page left intentionally blankiv

NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

Reports on Computer Systems Technology
The Information Technology Laboratory (ITL) at the National Institute of Standards andTechnology (NIST) promotes the U.S. economy and public welfare by providing technicalleadership for the nation’s measurement and standards infrastructure. ITL develops tests, test
methods, reference data, proof of concept implementations, and technical analysis to advance thedevelopment and productive use of information technology. ITL’s responsibilities include thedevelopment of technical, physical, administrative, and management standards and guidelines forthe cost-effective security and privacy of sensitive unclassified information in federal computer
systems. This document reports on ITL’s research, guidance, and outreach efforts in Information
Technology and its collaborative activities with industry, government, and academic organizations.

National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publication 500-291 V2

Natl. Inst. Stand. Technol. Spec. Publ. 500-291, 108 pages (May 24, 2013)
http://dx.doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.500-291r2

DISCLAIMER
This document has been prepared by the National Institute of Standards and Technology(NIST) and describes standards research in support of the NIST Cloud Computing
Program.
Certain commercial entities, equipment, or material may be identified in this document inorder to describe a concept adequately. Such identification is not intended to imply
recommendation or endorsement by the National Institute of Standards and Technology,
nor is it intended to imply that these entities, materials, or equipment are necessarily thebest available for the purpose.

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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

Acknowledgements
This document is an update of the first version, which was published in July 2011. It reflects thecontributions and discussions by the membership of the NIST Cloud Computing Standards Roadmap
Working Group, chaired by Michael Hogan and Annie Sokol of the Information Technology Laboratory,
National Institute of Standards and Technology, U.S. Department of Commerce.
NIST SP 500-291, Version 2 has been collaboratively authored by the NIST Cloud Computing Standards
Roadmap Working Group. As of the date of this publication, there are over one thousand Working Groupparticipants from industry, academia, and government. Federal agency participants include NASA and the
U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Health & Human Services, Homeland Security,
Justice, Transportation, Treasury, State, and Veterans Affairs.
NIST would like to acknowledge the specific contributions from the following Working Group members:
Alan Sill, Open Grid Forum

Michaela Iorga, NIST

Annie Sokol, NIST

Nancy Landreville, University of Maryland

Craig Lee, Open Grid ForumP W Carey, Compliance Partners, LLC

David Harper, Johns Hopkins University

Paul Lipton, CA Technologies

Eugene Luster, U.S. Department of Defense

Richard Brackney, Microsoft

Frederic de Vaulx, NIST

Robert Bohn, NIST

Gary Massaferro, AlloyCloud, Inc.

Robert Marcus, Cloud Standards Customer Council

Gilbert Pilz, Oracle Corporation

Shin Adachi, NTT Multimedia Communications Labs

Jerry Smith, US Department of Defense

Steven McGee, SAW Concepts LLC

John Calhoon, Microsoft

Steven Woodward, Woodward Systems

John Messina, NIST

Sundararajan Ramanathan, Capgemini US Consulting

Michael Hogan, NIST

Winston Bumpus, DMTF, VMWare Inc.

Michael Stewart, Space and Naval Warfare
Systems Command

The NIST editors for this document were: Michael Hogan and Annie Sokol.

vi

NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAPTABLE OF CONTENTS
1EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................................... 1

2

INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................... 5
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4

BACKGROUND.................................................................................................................................................. 5
NIST CLOUD COMPUTING VISION ............................................................................................................... 6
NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP WORKING GROUP ............................................. 7
HOW THIS REPORT WAS PRODUCED .......................................................................................................... 7

3

THE NIST DEFINITION OF CLOUD COMPUTING ....................................................................................... 84

CLOUD COMPUTING REFERENCE ARCHITECTURE...............................................................................11
4.1 OVERVIEW .......................................................................................................................................................11
4.2 CLOUD CONSUMER ........................................................................................................................................14
4.3 CLOUD PROVIDER ..........................................................................................................................................16
4.3.1
SERVICE DEPLOYMENT .........................................................................................................................17
4.3.2
SERVICEORCHESTRATION ....................................................................................................................18
4.3.3
CLOUD SERVICE MANAGEMENT .........................................................................................................19
4.3.4
SECURITY .................................................................................................................................................20
4.3.5
PRIVACY ...................................................................................................................................................21
4.4 CLOUD AUDITOR ............................................................................................................................................23
4.5 CLOUD BROKER ..............................................................................................................................................23
4.6 CLOUD CARRIER .............................................................................................................................................24

5

CLOUD COMPUTING USE CASES ...................................................................................................................25
5.1
5.2
5.3

6

BUSINESS USE CASES ....................................................................................................................................25
TECHNICAL USE CASES ................................................................................................................................26
DEPLOYMENT SCENARIO PERSPECTIVE ..................................................................................................26

CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ................................................................................................................32
6.1 INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES (IT) STANDARDS LIFE CYCLE .............32
6.2 THE ROLE OF CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT TO STANDARDS ...............................................................33
6.2.1
CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT ACTIVITIES ............................................................................................34
6.2.2
GOVERNMENT USE OF CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT SYSTEMS .......................................................35
6.2.3
VISUALIZATION OF CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT PROCESSES ........................................................36
6.2.4
CURRENT STATE OF CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT IN CLOUD COMPUTING .................................38
6.3 CATEGORIZING THE STATUS OF STANDARDS .......................................................................................39
6.4 CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS FOR INTEROPERABILITY AND PORTABILITY .........................40
6.4.1
CLOUD STANDARDS FOR INTEROPERABILITY..........................................................................40
6.4.2
CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS FOR PORTABILITY ...........................................................42
6.4.3
SUMMARY ON INTEROPERABILITY AND PORTABILITY ..........................................................43
6.5 CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS FOR SECURITY ................................................................................44
6.6 CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS FOR PERFORMANCE ......................................................................47
6.6.1
CLOUD STANDARDS FOR SERVICE AGREEMENTS ...........................................................................48
6.6.2
CLOUD STANDARDS FOR MONITORING.............................................................................................49
6.7 CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS FOR ACCESSIBILITY ......................................................................49

7

CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS MAPPING ............................................................................................51
7.1
7.2
7.3

SECURITY STANDARDS MAPPING .............................................................................................................52
INTEROPERABILITY STANDARDS MAPPING ...........................................................................................58
PORTABILITY STANDARDS MAPPING .......................................................................................................59

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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

7.4
7.5
8

PERFORMANCE STANDARDS MAPPING....................................................................................................60
ACCESSIBILITY STANDARDS MAPPING....................................................................................................61

ANALYZING USE CASES TO IDENTIFY STANDARDS GAPS ...................................................................62
8.1 USE CASE: CREATING, ACCESSING, UPDATING, DELETING DATA OBJECTS IN CLOUDSYSTEMS ....................................................................................................................................................................62
8.2 USE CASE: MOVING VMS, VIRTUAL APPLIANCES, SERVICES, AND APPLIANCES BETWEENCLOUDS ......................................................................................................................................................................63
8.3 USE CASE: SELECTING THE BEST IAAS CLOUD VENDOR, PUBLIC OR PRIVATE ............................63
8.4 USE CASE: PORTABLE TOOLS FOR MONITORING AND MANAGING CLOUD SYSTEMS ................63
8.5 USE CASE: MOVING DATA BETWEEN CLOUD SYSTEMS ......................................................................64
8.6 USE CASE: SINGLE SIGN-ON ACCESS TO MULTIPLE CLOUD SYSTEMS ............................................65
8.7 USE CASE: ORCHESTRATED PROCESSES ACROSS CLOUD SYSTEMS AND ENTERPRISE
SYSTEMS ....................................................................................................................................................................65
8.8 USE CASE: DISCOVERING CLOUD RESOURCES ......................................................................................66
8.9 USE CASE: EVALUATING SLAS AND PENALTIES....................................................................................67
8.10 USE CASE: AUDITING CLOUD SYSTEMS ...................................................................................................67
8.11 END-TO-END: CLOUD RESOURCE MANAGEMENT USE CASE..............................................................68

9

USG PRIORITIES TO FILL CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS GAPS ..................................................69
9.1 AREAS OF STANDARDIZATION GAPS........................................................................................................69
9.1.1
SAAS FUNCTIONAL INTERFACES .........................................................................................................70
9.1.2
SAAS SELF-SERVICE MANAGEMENT INTERFACES ............................................................................70
9.1.3
PAAS FUNCTIONAL INTERFACES.........................................................................................................70
9.1.4
BUSINESS SUPPORT, PROVISIONING AND CONFIGURATION .........................................................70
9.1.5
SECURITY .................................................................................................................................................71
9.1.6
ACCESSIBILITY ........................................................................................................................................71
9.2 STANDARDIZATION PRIORITIES BASED ON USG CLOUD COMPUTING ADOPTION PRIORITIES 72
9.2.1
SECURITY AUDITING AND COMPLIANCE...........................................................................................72
9.2.2
IDENTITY AND ACCESS MANAGEMENT ..............................................................................................73
9.2.3
SAAS APPLICATION SPECIFIC DATA AND METADATA .....................................................................73
9.2.4
RESOURCE DESCRIPTION AND DISCOVERY ......................................................................................73
9.2.5
SUMMARY OF STANDARDIZATION GAPS AND STANDARDIZATION PRIORITIES .........................74

10

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................................................................76
10.1 CONCLUSIONS .................................................................................................................................................76
10.2 RECOMMEDATION TO USG AGENCIES TO HELP ACCELERATE THE DEVELOPMENT AND USE
OF CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS .......................................................................................................76

11

BIBLIOGRAPHY...................................................................................................................................................78

12

APPENDIX A – NIST FEDERAL INFORMATION PROCESSING STANDARDS AND SPECIAL
PUBLICATIONS RELEVANT TO CLOUD COMPUTING ............................................................................80

13

APPENDIX B – DEFINITIONS............................................................................................................................81

14

APPENDIX C – ACRONYMS ..............................................................................................................................86

15

APPENDIX D – STANDARDS DEVELOPING ORGANIZATIONS ..............................................................89

16

APPENDIX E – CONCEPTUAL MODELS AND ARCHITECTURES...........................................................97

17

APPENDIX F – EXAMPLES OF USG CRITERIA FOR SELECTION OF STANDARDS ..........................98

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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

LIST OF FIGURESFIGURE 1 – CLOUD ACTORS ................................................................................................................ 12
FIGURE 2 – INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE ACTORS IN CLOUD COMPUTING ......................................... 13
FIGURE 3 – EXAMPLE OF SERVICES AVAILABLE TO A CLOUD CONSUMER .......................................... 15
FIGURE 4 – CLOUD PROVIDER: MAJOR ACTIVITIES ............................................................................. 16
FIGURE 5 – CLOUD PROVIDER: SERVICE ORCHESTRATION .................................................................. 18
FIGURE 6 – CLOUD PROVIDER: CLOUD SERVICE MANAGEMENT ......................................................... 20
FIGURE 7 – HIGH-LEVEL GENERIC SCENARIOS ................................................................................... 27
FIGURE 8 – IT STANDARDS LIFE CYCLE .............................................................................................. 33
FIGURE 9 – CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT INFRASTRUCTURE ................................................................. 36
FIGURE 10 – ACCREDITATION PROCESS .............................................................................................. 37
FIGURE 11 – ASSESSMENT PROCESS .................................................................................................... 38
FIGURE 12 – THE COMBINED CONCEPTUAL REFERENCE DIAGRAM .................................................... 51
FIGURE 13 – DOD DISR STANDARDS SELECTION PROCESS .............................................................. 102

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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

LIST OF TABLESTABLE 1 – CLOUD CONSUMER AND CLOUD PROVIDER ....................................................................... 14
TABLE 2 – DEPLOYMENT CASES FOR HIGH LEVEL SCENARIOS ........................................................... 28
TABLE 3 – SCENARIOS AND TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS .................................................................... 31
TABLE 4 – STANDARDS MATURITY MODEL ........................................................................................ 39
TABLE 5 – SECURITY STANDARDS: AUTHENTICATION AND AUTHORIZATION ..................................... 52
TABLE 6 – SECURITY STANDARDS: CONFIDENTIALITY ........................................................................ 53
TABLE 7 – SECURITY STANDARDS: INTEGRITY.................................................................................... 53
TABLE 8 – SECURITY STANDARDS: IDENTITY MANAGEMENT ............................................................. 54
TABLE 9 – SECURITY STANDARDS: SECURITY MONITORING & INCIDENT RESPONSE .......................... 55
TABLE 10 – SECURITY STANDARDS: SECURITY CONTROLS ................................................................. 56
TABLE 11 – SECURITY STANDARDS: SECURITY POLICY MANAGEMENT .............................................. 57
TABLE 12 – SECURITY STANDARDS: AVAILABILITY............................................................................ 57
TABLE 13 – INTEROPERABILITY STANDARDS ...................................................................................... 58
TABLE 14 – PORTABILITY STANDARDS ............................................................................................... 59
TABLE 15 – PERFORMANCE STANDARDS ............................................................................................. 60
TABLE 16 – ACCESSIBILITY STANDARDS............................................................................................. 61
TABLE 17 – AREAS OF STANDARDIZATION GAPS AND STANDARDIZATION PRIORITIES ....................... 75
TABLE 18 – DOD SELECTION CRITERIA AND DESCRIPTION SUMMARY ............................................. 100
TABLE 19 – DOD STANDARDS SOURCES PREFERENCES .................................................................... 101x

NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

Foreword

This is the second edition of the NIST Cloud Computing Standards Roadmap, which has beendeveloped by the members of the public NIST Cloud Computing Standards Roadmap Working
Group. This edition includes updates to the information on portability, interoperability, and security
standards in the first edition and adds new information on accessibility and performance standards.
Also new in this edition is information on the role of conformity assessment in support of voluntary
consensus standards. Analyzing typical government use cases (see Section 8), U.S. Government
priorities and gaps in cloud computing voluntary consensus standards are identified in this edition
and the previous edition. This information is intended for use by federal agencies and otherstakeholders to help plan their participation in voluntary consensus standards development andrelated conformity assessment activities, which can help to accelerate the agencies’ secure adoptionof cloud computing.

xi

1

EXECUTIVE SUMMARYThe National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has been designated by the Federal
Chief Information Officer (CIO) to accelerate the federal government’s secure adoption of cloudcomputing by leading efforts to identify existing standards and guidelines. Where standards areneeded, NIST works closely with U.S. industry, standards developers, other government agencies,
and leaders in the global standards community to develop standards that will support secure cloudcomputing.
Consistent with NIST’s mission, 1 the NIST Cloud Computing Program has developed a USG Cloud
Computing Technology Roadmap, as one of many mechanisms in support of United States
Government (USG) secure and effective adoption of the Cloud Computing model 2 to reduce costs
and improve services. Standards are critical to ensure cost-effective and easy migration, to ensurethat mission-critical requirements can be met, and to reduce the risk that sizable investments may
become prematurely technologically obsolete. Standards are key elements required to ensure a levelplaying field in the global marketplace, 3 The importance of setting standards in close relation withprivate sector involvement is highlighted in a memorandum from the White House: M-12-08, 4 dated
January 17, 2012.
The NIST Cloud Computing Standards Roadmap Working Group has surveyed the existing
standards landscape for interoperability, performance, portability, security, and accessibility
standards/models/studies/use cases/conformity assessment programs, etc., relevant to cloudcomputing. Where possible, new and emerging standardization work has also been tracked andsurveyed. Using this available information, current standards, standards gaps, and standardization
priorities are identified within this document.

1This effort is consistent with the NIST role per the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act (NTTAA) of
1995, which became law in March 1996.

2

NIST Definition of Cloud Computing, Special Publication 800-145, “Cloud computing is a model for enabling
ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g.,
networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal
management effort or service provider interaction.”

3

This edition of the standards roadmap focuses on USG cloud computing requirements for interoperability,
performance, portability, security, and accessibility, and does not preclude the needs to address other essential
requirements.

4

Principles for Federal Engagement in Standards Activities to Address National Priorities, January 17, 2012
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/memoranda/2012/m-12-08.pdf

1

NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAPThe NIST Definition of Cloud Computing identified cloud computing as a model for enabling
ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing
resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly
provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.
As an extension to the above NIST cloud computing definition, a NIST cloud computing referencearchitecture has been developed by the NIST Cloud Computing Reference Architecture andTaxonomy Working Group that depicts a generic high-level conceptual model for discussing therequirements, structures and operations of cloud computing. It contains a set of views anddescriptions that are the basis for discussing the characteristics, uses, and standards for cloudcomputing, and relates to a companion cloud computing taxonomy. 5
Cloud computing use cases describe the consumer requirements when using cloud computing
service offerings. Through its working groups as described below, the NIST Cloud Computing
program has studied a range of U.S. federal government and general-purpose use cases to extract
features that are amenable to standardization. Using these examples, the current document analyzes
how existing cloud-related standards fit the needs of federal cloud consumers and identifies
standardization gaps.
Cloud computing standards are already available in support of many of the functions andrequirements. While many of these standards were developed in support of pre-cloud computing
technologies, such as those designed for web services and the Internet, they also support thefunctions and requirements of cloud computing. Other standards have been developed or are now
being developed to support specific cloud computing functions and requirements, such as
virtualization, infrastructure management, service level agreements (SLAs), audits and cloudspecific data handling. Wherever possible, applicable standards are identified in this document.
To assess the state of standardization in support of cloud computing, the NIST Cloud ComputingStandards Roadmap Working Group has compiled an Inventory of Standards Relevant to Cloud
Computing.6 This inventory is being maintained and updated as necessary. Using the taxonomy
developed by the NIST Cloud Computing Reference Architecture and Taxonomy Working Group,
cloud computing relevant standards have been mapped to the requirements of accessibility,interoperability, performance, portability, and security.

5

NIST Special Publication 500-292, NIST Cloud Computing Reference Architecture, September 2011
http://www.nist.gov/customcf/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=909505

6

http://collaborate.nist.gov/twiki-cloud-computing/bin/view/CloudComputing/StandardsInventory

2

NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

Present areas with standardization gaps include: SaaS (Software as a Service) functional interfaces;
SaaS self-service management interfaces; PaaS (Platform as a Service) functional interfaces;business support / provisioning / configuration; security; and privacy. Present standardization areasof priority to the federal government include: security auditing and compliance; identity and accessmanagement; SaaS application specific data and metadata; and resource description and discovery.
While there are only a few approved cloud computing specific standards at present, there is a fastchanging landscape of cloud computing-relevant standardization under way in a number ofStandards Developing Organizations (SDOs). Every effort has been made in the context of the
NIST Cloud Computing Standards Roadmap to engage with and to gather input from SDOs activein this area. Federal agencies should also be encouraged to participate specifically in cloudcomputing standards development projects that support the specific needs and priorities of theircloud computing services. Specific recommendations regarding engagement between federal
agencies and SDOs are:
Recommendation 1 – Contribute Agency Requirements
Agencies should coordinate and contribute clear and comprehensive user requirements for cloudcomputing standards projects.
Recommendation 2 – Participate in Standards Development
Agencies should actively participate and coordinate in cloud computing standards development
projects that are of high priority to their agency missions. The January 17, 2012, White House
Memorandum, M-12-08, 7 lists five fundamental strategic objectives for federal government
agencies whenever engaging in standards development.
Recommendation 3 – Encourage Testing to Accelerate Technically Sound Standards-Based
Deployments
Agencies should support the concurrent development of conformity and interoperability assessment
schemes to accelerate the development and use of technically sound cloud computing standards andstandards-based products, processes, and services. Agencies should also include consideration ofconformity assessment approaches currently in place that take account of elements frominternational systems, to minimize duplicative testing and encourage private sector support.

7

Principles for Federal Engagement in Standards Activities to Address National Priorities, January 17, 2012

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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

Recommendation 4 – Specify Cloud Computing Standards
Agencies should specify cloud computing standards in their procurements and grant guidance when
multiple vendors offer standards-based implementations and there is evidence of successfulinteroperability testing.
Recommendation 5 – USG-Wide Use of Cloud Computing Standards
To support USG requirements for accessibility, interoperability, performance, portability, andsecurity in cloud computing, the Federal Cloud Computing Standards and Technology Working
Group, in coordination with the Federal CIO Council Cloud Computing Executive Steering
Committee (CCESC) and the Cloud First Task Force, should recommend specific cloud computing
standards and best practices for USG-wide use.

4

NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP2INTRODUCTION

2.1

BACKGROUND

U.S. laws and associated policy require federal agencies to use international, voluntary consensus
standards in their procurement and regulatory activities, except where inconsistent with law orotherwise impractical.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has been designated by the Federal
Chief Information Officer (CIO) to accelerate the federal government’s secure adoption of cloudcomputing by leading efforts to identify existing standards and guidelines. Where standards areneeded, NIST works closely with U.S. industry, standards developers, other government agencies,
and leaders in the global standards community to develop standards that will support secure cloudcomputing.
The NIST Cloud Computing Program was formally launched in November 2010 and was created tosupport the federal government effort to incorporate cloud computing as a replacement for, or
enhancement to, traditional information system and application models where appropriate.
The NIST Cloud Computing Program operates in coordination with other federal cloud computing
implementation efforts (CIO Council/Information Security and Identity Management Committee[ISIMC], etc.) and is integrated with the Federal CIO’s 25-point IT Implementation Plan for thefederal government.
At the beginning of 2011, NIST created the following public working groups in order to provide atechnically oriented strategy and standards-based guidance for the federal cloud computing
implementation effort:•

Cloud Computing Reference Architecture and Taxonomy Working Group•

Cloud Computing Standards Acceleration to Jumpstart Adoption of Cloud Computing(SAJACC) Working Group•

Cloud Computing Security Working Group•

Cloud Computing Standards Roadmap Working Group•

Cloud Computing Target Business Use Cases Working Group5

NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

2.2

NIST CLOUD COMPUTING VISIONNIST seeks to provide leadership and guidance around the cloud computing paradigm to catalyze its
use within industry and government. NIST also strives to shorten the adoption life cycle, which will
enable near-term cost savings and increased ability to quickly create and deploy safe and secure
enterprise solutions. Furthermore, NIST is committed to foster cloud computing practices that
support interoperability, portability, and security requirements that are appropriate and achievable
for various usage scenarios, by focusing on the necessary standards, specifications, and guidance
that must be in place for these requirements to be met. 8
The NIST area of focus is technology, and specifically, interoperability, portability, and security
requirements, standards, and guidance. In this version of the document, accessibility andperformance have also been included. The intent is to use the standards strategy to prioritize NIST
tactical projects which support USG agencies in the secure and effective adoption of the cloudcomputing model to support their missions. The expectation is that these priorities will benefit
industry, SDOs, cloud adopters, and policy makers.
In this document, privacy as a standards issue is narrowly dealt with under confidentiality, a subset
of information security. Confidentiality includes preserving authorized restrictions on access anddisclosure, including means for protecting personal privacy. Because privacy requirements aremostly policy decisions, they are often developed by governments as laws and not by SDOs.
Appendix J of NIST Special Publication 800-53, Revision 4, Security and Privacy Controls forFederal Information Systems and Organizations, includes a catalog of privacy controls for federal
information systems and organizations and a process for selecting controls to protect organizational
operations, organizational assets, individuals, other organizations, etc., from a diverse set of threats
including hostile cyber-attacks, natural disasters, structural failures, and human errors (bothintentional and unintentional).

8

SP 500-293 Volume II, US Government Cloud Computing Technology Roadmap Volume II (Draft) Release 1.0
http://www.nist.gov/itl/cloud/upload/SP_500_293_volumeII.pdf

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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

2.3

NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP WORKING GROUP

SDOs and others have and are developing supporting cloud computing documents to include
standards, conceptual models, reference architectures, conformity assessment programs, andstandards roadmaps to facilitate communication, data exchange, and security for cloud computing
and its application. Still other standards are emerging to focus on technologies that support cloudcomputing, such as virtualization. The NIST Cloud Computing Standards Roadmap Working Groupis leveraging this existing, publicly available work, plus the work of the other NIST working
groups, to develop a NIST Cloud Computing Standards Roadmap that can be incorporated into the
NIST USG Cloud Computing Technology Roadmap.
2.4

HOW THIS REPORT WAS PRODUCEDThe NIST Cloud Computing Standards Roadmap Working Group (CCSRWG) has surveyed theexisting standards landscape for interoperability, performance, portability, security, andaccessibility standards / models / studies / use cases / conformity assessment programs, etc.,
relevant to cloud computing. Using this available information, standards, standards gaps or
overlaps, and standardization priorities have been identified, thereby providing a clearer picture ofthis evolving technical landscape.

7

NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

3

THE NIST DEFINITION OF CLOUD COMPUTING 9

Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to ashared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, andservices) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service
provider interaction. This cloud model is composed of five essential characteristics, three service
models, and four deployment models.
Essential Characteristics:
On-demand self-service. A consumer can unilaterally provision computing capabilities, such asserver time and network storage, as needed automatically without requiring humaninteraction with each service provider.
Broad network access. Capabilities are available over the network and accessed throughstandard mechanisms that promote use by heterogeneous thin or thick client platforms(e.g., mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and workstations).
Resource pooling. The provider’s computing resources are pooled to serve multiple consumers
using a multi-tenant model, with different physical and virtual resources dynamicallyassigned and reassigned according to consumer demand. There is a sense of location
independence in that the customer generally has no control or knowledge over the exact
location of the provided resources but may be able to specify location at a higher level ofabstraction (e.g., country, state, or datacenter). Examples of resources include storage,
processing, memory, and network bandwidth.
Rapid elasticity. Capabilities can be elastically provisioned and released, in some cases
automatically, to scale rapidly outward and inward commensurate with demand. To theconsumer, the capabilities available for provisioning often appear to be unlimited andcan be appropriated in any quantity at any time.
Measured service. Cloud systems automatically control and optimize resource use by leveraging
a metering capability10 at some level of abstraction appropriate to the type of service(e.g., storage, processing, bandwidth, active user accounts). Resource usage can bemonitored, controlled, audited, and reported, providing transparency for both theprovider and consumer of the utilized service.

9

NIST Special Publication 800-145, NIST Definition of Cloud Computing, September 201110

Typically this is done on a pay-per-use or charge-per-use basis.

8

NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

Service Models:
Software as a Service (SaaS). The capability provided to the consumer is to use the provider’sapplications running on a cloud infrastructure. 11 The applications are accessible fromvarious client devices through either a thin client interface, such as a web browser (e.g.,
web-based email) or a program interface. The consumer does not manage or control theunderlying cloud infrastructure including network, servers, operating systems, storage,
or even individual application capabilities, with the possible exception of limited userspecific application configuration settings.
Platform as a Service (PaaS). The capability provided to the consumer is to deploy onto thecloud infrastructure consumer-created or acquired applications created using
programming languages, libraries, services, and tools supported by the provider. 12 The
consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure including
network, servers, operating systems, or storage, but has control over the deployed
applications and possibly configuration settings for the application-hosting environment.
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). The capability provided to the consumer is to provision
processing, storage, networks, and other fundamental computing resources where theconsumer is able to deploy and run arbitrary software, which can include operating
systems and applications. The consumer does not manage or control the underlying
cloud infrastructure but has control over operating systems, storage, and deployed
applications, and possibly limited control of select networking components (e.g., hostfirewalls).
Deployment Models:Private cloud. The cloud infrastructure is provisioned for exclusive use by a single organization
comprising multiple consumers (e.g., business units). It may be owned, managed, andoperated by the organization, a third party, or some combination of them, and it may
exist on or off premises.

11

A cloud infrastructure is the collection of hardware and software that enables the five essential characteristics of cloudcomputing. The cloud infrastructure can be viewed as containing both a physical layer and an abstraction layer. The
physical layer consists of the hardware resources that are necessary to support the cloud services being provided, andtypically includes server, storage and network components. The abstraction layer consists of the software deployed
across the physical layer, which manifests the essential cloud characteristics. Conceptually the abstraction layer sits
above the physical layer.

12This capability does not necessarily preclude the use of compatible programming languages, libraries, services, andtools from other sources.

9

NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

Community cloud. The cloud infrastructure is provisioned for exclusive use by a specificcommunity of consumers from organizations that have shared concerns (e.g., mission,
security requirements, policy, and compliance considerations). It may be owned,
managed, and operated by one or more of the organizations in the community, a third
party, or some combination of them, and it may exist on or off premises.
Public cloud. The cloud infrastructure is provisioned for open use by the general public. It may
be owned, managed, and operated by a business, academic, or government organization,or some combination of them. It exists on the premises of the cloud provider.
Hybrid cloud. The cloud infrastructure is a composition of two or more distinct cloudinfrastructures (private, community, or public) that remain unique entities, but are boundtogether by standardized or proprietary technology that enables data and application
portability (e.g., cloud bursting for load balancing between clouds).

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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

4

CLOUD COMPUTING REFERENCE ARCHITECTURE 13

The NIST cloud computing definition is widely accepted and valuable in providing a clear
understanding of cloud computing technologies and cloud services. The NIST cloud computing
reference architecture presented in this section is a natural extension to the NIST cloud computing
definition.
The NIST cloud computing reference architecture is a generic high-level conceptual model that is a
powerful tool for discussing the requirements, structures, and operations of cloud computing. The
model is not tied to any specific vendor products, services, or reference implementation, nor does it
define prescriptive solutions that inhibit innovation. It defines a set of actors, activities, andfunctions that can be used in the process of developing cloud computing architectures, and relates to
a companion cloud computing taxonomy. It contains a set of views and descriptions that are thebasis for discussing the characteristics, uses, and standards for cloud computing.
The NIST cloud computing reference architecture focuses on the requirements of what cloudservice provides, not on a design that defines a solution and its implementation. It is intended tofacilitate the understanding of the operational intricacies in cloud computing. The referencearchitecture does not represent the system architecture of a specific cloud computing system;
instead, it is a tool for describing, discussing, and developing the system-specific architecture using
a common framework of reference.
The design of the NIST cloud computing reference architecture serves the objectives to: illustrateand understand various cloud services in the context of an overall cloud computing conceptualmodel; provide technical references to USG agencies and other consumers to understand, discuss,
categorize, and compare cloud services; and communicate and analyze security, interoperability,and portability candidate standards and reference implementations.
4.1

OVERVIEWThe Overview of the Reference Architecture describes five major actors with their roles andresponsibilities using the newly developing Cloud Computing Taxonomy. The NIST cloudcomputing reference architecture defines five major actors: cloud consumer, cloud provider, cloud
auditor, cloud broker, and cloud carrier (See Figure 1: Cloud Actors). These core individuals have
key roles in the realm of cloud computing. Each actor is an entity (a person or an organization) thatparticipates in a transaction or process and/or performs tasks in cloud computing. For example, a
Cloud Consumer is an individual or organization that acquires and uses cloud products and services.
The purveyor of products and services is the Cloud Provider. Because of the possible service

13

NIST Special Publication 500-292, NIST Cloud Computing Reference Architecture, September 2011

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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

offerings (Software, Platform or Infrastructure) allowed for by the cloud provider, there will be ashift in the level of responsibilities for some aspects of the scope of control, security andconfiguration. The Cloud Broker acts as the intermediary between consumer and provider and will
help consumers through the complexity of cloud service offerings and may also create value-added
cloud services. The Cloud Auditor provides a valuable inherent function for the government byconducting the independent performance and security monitoring of cloud services. The Cloud
Carrier is the organization which has the responsibility of transferring the data, somewhat akin to
the power distributor for the electric grid.
Figure 1 – Cloud Actors briefly lists the five major actors defined in the NIST cloud computing
reference architecture.

Figure 1 – Cloud Actors

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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

Figure 2 – Interactions between the Actors in Cloud Computing shows the interactions among theactors in the NIST cloud computing reference architecture. A cloud consumer may request cloudservices from a cloud provider directly or via a cloud broker. A cloud auditor conducts independent
audits and may contact the others to collect necessary information. The details will be discussed in
the following sections and be presented as successive diagrams in increasing levels of detail.

Figure 2 – Interactions between the Actors in Cloud Computing

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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

4.2

CLOUD CONSUMER

The cloud consumer is the ultimate stakeholder that the cloud computing service is created tosupport. A cloud consumer represents a person or organization that maintains a business
relationship with, and uses the service from, a cloud provider. A cloud consumer browses theservice catalog from a cloud provider, requests the appropriate service, sets up service contracts
with the cloud provider, and uses the service. The cloud consumer may be billed for the service
provisioned, and needs to arrange payments accordingly. Depending on the services requested, theactivities and usage scenarios can be different among cloud consumers, as shown in Table 1. Some
example usage scenarios are listed in Figure 3.

ServiceModelsConsumer Activities

Provider Activities

SaaS

Uses application/service forbusiness process operations.

Installs, manages, maintains, and supports
the software application on a cloudinfrastructure.

PaaS

Develops, tests, deploys, andmanages applications hosted in acloud system.

Provisions and manages cloudinfrastructure and middleware for theplatform consumers; provides
development, deployment, andadministration tools to platform consumers.

IaaS

Creates/installs, manages, andmonitors services for IT
infrastructure operations.

Provisions and manages the physicalprocessing, storage, networking, and thehosting environment and cloudinfrastructure for IaaS consumers.

Table 1 – Cloud Consumer and Cloud Provider

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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

Figure 3 – Example of Services Available to a Cloud Consumer
SaaS applications are usually deployed as hosted services and are accessed via a network
connecting SaaS consumers and providers. The SaaS consumers can be organizations that provide
their members with access to software applications, end users who directly use software
applications, or software application administrators who configure applications for end users. SaaS
consumers access and use applications on demand, and can be billed on the number of consumers or
the amount of consumed services. The latter can be measured in terms of the time in use, thenetwork bandwidth consumed, or the amount/duration of data stored.

15

NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAPFor PaaS, cloud consumers employ the tools and execution resources provided by cloud providers
for the purpose of developing, testing, deploying, and managing applications hosted in a cloudsystem. PaaS consumers can be application developers who design and implement application
software, application testers who run and test applications in various cloud systems, application
deployers who publish applications into a cloud system, and application administrators who
configure and monitor application performance on a platform. PaaS consumers can be billed by the
number of consumers, the type of resources consumed by the platform, or the duration of platform
usage.
For IaaS, consumers are provisioned with the capabilities to access virtual computers, networkaccessible storage, network infrastructure components, and other fundamental computing resources,on which consumers can deploy and run arbitrary software. IaaS consumers can be systemdevelopers, system administrators, and information technology (IT) managers who are interested increating, installing, managing and monitoring services for IT infrastructure operations. IaaS
consumers are provisioned with the capabilities to access these computing resources, and are billed
for the amount of resources consumed.
4.3

CLOUD PROVIDER

Figure 4 – Cloud Provider: Major Activities

16

NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAPA cloud provider can be a person, an organization, or an entity responsible for making a service
available to cloud consumers. A cloud provider builds the requested software/platform/
infrastructure services, manages the technical infrastructure required for providing the services,
provisions the services at agreed-upon service levels, and protects the security and privacy of theservices. As illustrated in Figure 4 – Cloud Provider: Major Activities, cloud providers undertake
different tasks for the provisioning of the various service models.
For SaaS, the cloud provider deploys, configures, maintains, and updates the operation of thesoftware applications on a cloud infrastructure so that the services are provisioned at the expected
service levels to cloud consumers. The provider of SaaS assumes most of the responsibilities inmanaging and controlling the applications and the infrastructure, while the cloud consumers have
limited administrative control of the applications.
For PaaS, the cloud provider manages the cloud infrastructure for the platform, and provisions tools
and execution resources for the platform consumers to develop, test, deploy, and administer
applications. Consumers have control over the applications and possibly the hosting environment
settings, but cannot access the infrastructure underlying the platform including network, servers,
operating systems, or storage.
For IaaS, the cloud provider provisions the physical processing, storage, networking, and otherfundamental computing resources, as well as manages the hosting environment and cloudinfrastructure for IaaS consumers. Cloud consumers deploy and run applications, have more control
over the hosting environment and operating systems, but do not manage or control the underlying
cloud infrastructure (e.g., the physical servers, network, storage, hypervisors, etc.).
The activities of cloud providers can be discussed in greater detail from the perspectives of Service
Deployment, Service Orchestration, Cloud Service Management, Security and Privacy.
4.3.1

SERVICE DEPLOYMENTAs identified in the NIST cloud computing definition, a cloud infrastructure may be operated in oneof the following deployment models: public cloud, private cloud, community cloud, or hybrid cloud.
For the details related to the controls and management in the cloud, we refer readers to the NIST
Special Publication 800-146, NIST Cloud Computing Synopsis and Recommendations.
A public cloud is one in which the cloud infrastructure and computing resources are made available
to the general public over a public network. A public cloud is owned by an organization selling
cloud services and serves a diverse pool of clients.
For private clouds, the cloud infrastructure is operated exclusively for a single organization. A
private cloud gives the organization exclusive access to and usage of the infrastructure andcomputational resources. It may be managed either by the organization or by a third party, and may

17

NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

be implemented at the organization’s premise (i.e., on-site private clouds) or outsourced to a hosting
company (i.e., outsourced private clouds).
Similar to private clouds, a community cloud may be managed by the organizations or by a third
party, and may be implemented at the customer’s location (i.e., on-site community cloud) oroutsourced to a hosting company (i.e., outsourced community cloud). However, a community cloudserves a set of organizations that have common security, privacy, and compliance considerations,rather than serving a single organization as does a private cloud.
A hybrid cloud is a composition of two or more cloud deployment models (private, community, or
public) that remain unique entities but are bound together by standardized or proprietary technologythat enables data and application portability. As discussed in this section, both private clouds andcommunity clouds can be either implemented on-site or outsourced to a third party. Therefore, eachconstituent cloud of a hybrid cloud can be one of the five variants.
4.3.2

SERVICE ORCHESTRATION

Service orchestration refers to the arrangement, coordination, and management of cloudinfrastructure to provide the optimizing capabilities of cloud services, as a cost-effective way ofmanaging IT resources, as dictated by strategic business requirements. Figure 5 shows the general
requirements and processes for cloud providers to build each of the three service models.

Figure 5 – Cloud Provider: Service Orchestration

18

NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAPA three-layered framework is identified for a generalized cloud system in Figure 5. The top layer isthe service layer, where a cloud provider defines and provisions each of the three service models.
This is where cloud consumers consume cloud services through the respective cloud interfaces.
The middle layer is the resource abstraction and control layer. This layer contains the systemcomponents that a cloud provider uses to provide and manage access to the physical computing
resources through software abstraction. The layer typically includes software elements such as
hypervisors, virtual machines, virtual data storage, and other resource abstraction and management
components needed to ensure efficient, secure, and reliable usage. While virtual machinetechnology is commonly used at this layer, other means of providing the necessary software
abstractions are not precluded. This layer provides “cloud readiness” with the five characteristics
defined in the NIST definition of cloud computing.
The lowest layer in the framework is the physical resource layer, which includes all the physicalcomputing resources. This layer includes hardware resources, such as computers (CPU andmemory), networks (routers, firewalls, switches, network links, and interfaces), storage components(hard disks), and other physical computing infrastructure elements. It also includes facilities
resources, such as heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), power, communications, andother aspects of the physical plant.
Note that in this framework, the horizontal positioning of layers implies a stack in which the upper
layer has a dependency on the lower layer. The resource abstraction and control layer build virtual
cloud resources on top of the underlying physical resource layer and support the service layer wherecloud services interfaces are exposed. The three service models can be built either on top of one
another (i.e., SaaS built upon PaaS and PaaS built upon IaaS) or directly upon the underlying cloudinfrastructure. For example, a SaaS application can be implemented and hosted on virtual machinesfrom IaaS or directly on top of cloud resources without using IaaS.
4.3.3

CLOUD SERVICE MANAGEMENT

Cloud Service Management includes all of the service-related functions that are necessary for the
management and operation of those services required by or proposed to cloud consumers. As
illustrated in Figure 6, cloud service management can be described from the perspective of businesssupport, provisioning and configuration, and from the perspective of portability andinteroperability requirements.

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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

Portability /Cloud Service
Management

Business

Provisioning /SupportConfiguration

Customer Mgmt
Contract Mgmt
Inventory Mgmt

Cloud
Consumers

Interoperability

Accounting& Billing
Reporting &Auditing

Rapid Provisioning
Resource Change
Monitoring &ReportingMetering
SLA Management

Pricing &RatingData Portability
Copy Date To-From

Bulk Data

Service
Interoperability
Unified Management
Interface

SystemPortability

Cloud
Brokers

VM Images
Migration
Application /SVC Migration

Figure 6 – Cloud Provider: Cloud Service Management
4.3.4

SECURITY“As the Federal Government moves to the cloud, it must be vigilant to ensure the security andproper management of government information to protect the privacy of citizens and national
security” (by Vivek Kundra, Federal Cloud Computing Strategy, February 2011.) In July 2012, theU.S. Department of Defense released a Cloud Computing Strategy, which stated “the Department
has specific cloud computing challenges that require careful adoption considerations, especially inareas of cybersecurity, continuity of operations, information assurance (IA), and resilience.” Also,
in November 2012, NIST published a White Paper – Challenging Security Requirements for U.S.
Government Cloud Computing Adoption. This document provides an overview of the high-priority
security challenges perceived by federal agencies as impediments to the adoption of cloudcomputing.

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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

Security is a cross-cutting function that spans all layers of the reference architecture (see Figure 12– The Combined Conceptual Reference Diagram), involving end-to-end security that ranges fromphysical security to application security, and in general, the responsibility is shared between cloudprovider and federal cloud consumer. For example, the protection of the physical resource layer (seeFigure 5 – Cloud Provider: Service Orchestration) requires physical security that denies
unauthorized access to the building, facility, resource, or stored information. Cloud Providers
should ensure that the facility hosting cloud services is secure and that the staff has proper
background checks. When data or applications are moved to a cloud, Cloud Consumers ensure thatthe cloud offering satisfies the security requirements and enforces the compliance rules. Several
U.S. government agencies provide computer security guidance, and that the cloud system should
support the most up-to-date guidance. It is also important to note that security, compliance, andpolicy requirements are a function of the legal jurisdiction of the country in which the cloudservices are provided and can vary from country to country. An independent audit (see Section 3.4)
should be conducted to verify the compliance with regulations or security policies.
4.3.5

PRIVACY

Cloud providers should protect the assured, proper, and consistent collection, processing,communication, use, and disposition of personal information (PI) and personally identifiable
information (PII) in the cloud system. PII is the information that can be used to distinguish or trace
an individual’s identity, such as name, social security number, biometric records, etc., alone, or
when combined with other personal or identifying information that is linked or linkable to a specificindividual, such as date and place of birth, mother’s maiden name, etc. The CIO Council – Privacy
Committee 14 has identified privacy and protection of collected PII as one of the federal government
key business imperatives. Though cloud computing provides a flexible solution for sharedresources, software, and information, it also poses additional privacy challenges to consumers using
the clouds.
The Digital Government Strategy15 issued by the Federal Chief Information Officer (CIO) on May
23, 2012 sets forth a new vision of how government is to connect with and provide services to theAmerican people, harnessing the power of digital technology and enabling citizens and the federal
workforce to securely access government digital information, data, and services anywhere, and14

https://cio.gov/about/committees/privacy-committee/

15

Digital Government: Building a 21st Century Platform to Better Serve the American People (May 23, 2012),(Strategy) http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/egov/digital-government/digital-government.html

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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

anytime (Recommendations). 16 The Federal CIO Council released Recommendations forStandardized Implementation of Digital Privacy Controls (Recommendations), which discusses
three fundamental privacy controls: PII Inventory, Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA), and Privacy
Notice. The Recommendations are that agencies identify and consider all PII that may be collectedor otherwise exposed through a particular digital technology, analyze the privacy risks through thedata life cycle by conducting and updating a PIA (as needed), and provide notice to individuals ofwhen and how their PII will be collected, used, retained, and disclosed.
Furthermore, federal agencies should be aware of the privacy concerns associated with the cloudcomputing environment where data are stored on a server that is not owned or controlled by thefederal government. Privacy impact assessment (PIA) can be conducted, as needed, to measure how
well the cloud system conforms to applicable legal, regulatory, and policy requirements regarding
privacy. A PIA can help federal agencies comply with applicable privacy laws and regulations
governing an individual’s privacy, and to ensure confidentiality, integrity, and availability of anindividual’s personal information at every stage of development and operation.
In furthering the milestone action goal of the Digital Government Strategy for addressing digital
privacy, records retention, and security issues, the National Archives & Records Administration(NARA) has issued Electronic Records Management (ERM) guidance for digital content created,collected, or maintained by federal agencies 17. NARA also serves as managing partner of the EGovernment ERM Initiative, coordinating the development and issuance of enterprise-wide ERM
tools and electronic information standards, to support the interoperability of federal agency record
systems and improve customer service (e.g., digital records access). 18

16

Recommendations for Standardized Implementation of Digital Privacy Controls (December 2012), https://cio.gov/wpcontent/uploads/downloads/2012/12/Standardized_Digital_Privacy_Controls.pdf

17

http://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/initiatives/erm-guidance.html.

18

http://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/initiatives/erm-overview.html.

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4.4

CLOUD AUDITOR

A cloud auditor is a party that can conduct independent assessment of cloud services, information
system operations, performance, and the security of a cloud computing implementation. A cloud
auditor can evaluate the services provided by a cloud provider in terms of security controls, privacy
impact, performance, and adherence to service level agreement parameters.
Auditing is especially important for federal agencies as “agencies should include a contractual
section enabling third parties to assess security controls of cloud providers” (by Vivek Kundra,
Federal Cloud Computing Strategy, February 2011). Security controls are the management,
operational, and technical safeguards or countermeasures employed within an organizational
information system to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the system and its
information. For security auditing, a cloud auditor can make an assessment of the security controls
in the information system to determine the extent to which the controls are implemented correctly,
operating as intended, and producing the desired outcome with respect to the security requirements
for the system. The security auditing should include the verification of the compliance withregulation and security policy.
4.5

CLOUD BROKER

The NIST Reference Architecture, SP 500-292, 19 defines a Cloud Broker as an entity that manages
the use, performance, and delivery of cloud services, and negotiates relationships between Cloud
Providers and Cloud Consumers. As cloud computing evolves, the integration of cloud services may
become too complex for cloud Consumers to manage. In such cases, a Cloud Consumer may
request cloud services from a Cloud Broker instead of directly contacting a Cloud Provider. CloudBrokers provide a single point of entry for managing multiple cloud services. The key defining
feature that distinguishes a Cloud Broker from a Cloud Service Provider is the ability to provide asingle consistent interface to multiple differing providers, whether the interface is for business ortechnical purposes. In general, Cloud Brokers provide services in three categories:
Intermediation: A Cloud Broker enhances a given service by improving some specificcapability and providing value-added services to cloud Consumers. The improvement
can be managing access to cloud services, identity management, performance reporting,enhanced security, etc.
Aggregation: A Cloud Broker combines and integrates multiple services into one or more newservices. The Broker provides data and service integration and ensures the secure data
movement between the cloud Consumer and multiple cloud Providers.

19

http://www.cloudcredential.org/images/pdf_files/nist%20reference%20architecture.pdf

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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

Arbitrage: Service arbitrage is similar to service aggregation except that the services beingcombined/consolidated are not fixed. Service arbitrage means a Broker has theflexibility to choose services from multiple service Providers.
A Cloud Broker may provide:

4.6

1.

Business and relationship support services (business intermediation), and2.

Technical support service (aggregation, arbitrage, and technical intermediation), with a
key focus on handling interoperability issues among multiple Providers.
CLOUD CARRIER

A cloud carrier acts as an intermediary that provides connectivity and transport of cloud services
between cloud consumers and cloud providers. Cloud carriers provide access to consumers throughnetwork, telecommunication, and other access devices. For example, cloud consumers can obtaincloud services through network access devices, such as computers, laptops, mobile phones, mobile
Internet devices (MIDs), etc. The distribution of cloud services is normally provided by networkand telecommunication carriers or a transport agent, where a transport agent refers to a businessorganization that provides physical transport of storage media such as high-capacity hard drives.
Note that a cloud provider will set up service level agreements (SLAs) 20 with a cloud carrier toprovide services consistent with the level of SLAs offered to cloud consumers, and may require thecloud carrier to provide dedicated and encrypted connections between cloud consumers and cloudproviders.

20

SLAs are agreements under the umbrella of the overall cloud computing contract between a CSP and a cloudconsumer. SLAs define acceptable service levels to be provided by the CSP to its customers in measurable terms.
The ability of a CSP to perform at acceptable levels is consistent among SLAs, but the definition, measurement andenforcement of this performance varies widely among CSPs. A cloud consumer should ensure that CSP performanceis clearly specified in all SLAs, and that all such agreements are fully incorporated, either by full text or byreference, into the CSP contract. [Source: Creating Effective Cloud Computing Contracts for the Federal
https://cio.gov/wpGovernment–Best
Practicesfor
AcquiringIT
asaServicecontent/uploads/downloads/2012/09/cloudbestpractices.pdf

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5

CLOUD COMPUTING USE CASES

Cloud computing use cases describe the consumer goals and actions for using cloud computing
service offerings. Analyzing business and technical cloud computing use cases and the applicablestandards provides an intuitive, utility-centric perspective for identifying requirements for all actors
in the use case. This section leverages the business and technical use case outputs from other NIST
Cloud Computing Program Working Groups. Section 8 presents an analysis regarding whether
existing cloud-related standards fulfill key aspects of the use case for USG cloud consumers andhighlights where the gaps for standardizations exist.
5.1

BUSINESS USE CASESThe Target Business Use Case Working Group produced a template for documenting specific use
cases. This template includes a section titled “Concept of Operations” in which “Current System”
and “Desired Cloud Implementation” states are described. The template also gathers information
about integration with other systems, security requirements, and both local and remote network
access considerations. A set of business use cases was collected describing candidate USG agency
cloud deployments. The stories captured in these business use cases help to identify business drivers
behind the adoption of cloud computing in USG agencies, provide background information on therelevant usage context, and expose general agency consumer concerns and issues through specificscenarios.
These use cases thus helped to document key technical requirements for USG cloud-related
standards in the areas of security, interoperability, and portability studied for the formulation of thisroadmap. Efforts are now underway to document similar requirements with respect to other key
considerations, such as accessibility and performance of federal cloud-based business systems andservices.
The “Cloud First” 21 directive provided by the Federal CIO is a more general expansion of thisanalysis to multiple interacting current systems and cloud implementations. This expansion isintended to support evolving business processes as further cloud deployments are implemented.

21

25 Point Implementation Plan to Reform Federal Information Technology Management
http://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/digital-strategy/25-point-implementation-plan-to-reform-federalit.pdf

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5.2

TECHNICAL USE CASESThe SAJACC Working Group has analyzed the output of the Business Use Case group, along withother community-provided documents and inputs, and produced a set of detailed cloud computing
technical use case scenarios. These technical use cases captured and describe in detail therequirements, inputs, outputs, and failure and success conditions of cloud operations. They provide
descriptions of how users or groups of users, called “actors,” interact with one or more cloudcomputing resource systems to achieve specific goals, such as “how to copy data objects into a
cloud,” or “instantiate a virtual machine within a specific security context.”
The mapping from the high-level business use cases to the SAJACC technical use cases allows adetailed understanding of ways in which the business operational stories of specific agency
consumers identify specific technical requirements. Such requirements, as expressed in SAJACC
technical use cases, are then well suited to demonstrate the applicability of cloud computing
software or standards. For example, the business use case of an agency consumer’s move of its
virtualized computing infrastructure to an IaaS cloud vendor identifies “Virtual Machine (VM)
control: manage virtual machine instance state” as a technical requirement to be met.
The SAJACC group has gathered detailed examples from U.S. federal agencies and analyzed themin terms of these technical use case scenarios. The results from this effort, along withdemonstrations presented to the SAJACC group meetings, have been used to elucidate applicabilityof standards and the presence of standardization gaps in this current document. The rest of thissection drives through the high-level business use cases to the general technical requirements
expressed and analyzes where cloud standards help address these requirements.
5.3

DEPLOYMENT SCENARIO PERSPECTIVE

The “Cloud First” business use case requires more complex interactions between USG agency cloudconsumer and cloud providers. There are three generic scenarios from which interaction scenarios
are derived, as shown in Figure 7.

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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

2. Managea Single
Cloud

8.
Operateacross

7. Work witha Selected
Cloud

6. Interface Clouds
CloudsClouds1.
Deployto a
Cloud

4. Migrate
to a Cloud

5. Migrate Between
Clouds

3. Interface
to a CloudEnterprise Systems

Figure 7 – High-Level Generic Scenarios
Single Cloud System
Scenario 1: Deployment on a single cloud system
Scenario 2: Manage resources on a single cloud system
Scenario 3: Interface enterprise systems to a single cloud system
Scenario 4: Enterprise systems migrated or replaced on a single cloud system
Multiple Cloud Systems (serially, one at a time)
Scenario 5: Migration between cloud systems
Scenario 6: Interface across multiple cloud systems
Scenario 7: Work with a selected cloud system

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Multiple Cloud Systems – (simultaneously, more than one at a time)
Scenario 8: Operate across multiple cloud systems
These technical use cases must also be analyzed in the context of their deployment models and theresultant way cloud actors must interact. These considerations identify two fundamental dimensions
to the spectrum of cloud computing use cases:••

Centralized vs. Distributed, andWithin vs. Crossing Trust Boundaries

These deployment cases will drive the requirements for cloud standards. They can be identified
through the following matrix:a.) Within Trust
Boundaryb.) Crossing Trust
Boundary1.) Centralized i.e., one
administrative clouddomainDeployment Case 1A

Deployment Case 1B

2.) Distributed, i.e., crossing
administrative clouddomains

Deployment Case 2A

Deployment Case 2B

Table 2 – Deployment Cases for High Level Scenarios
Deployment Case 1: In the centralized deployment cases, there is one cloud provider underconsideration at a time. Each cloud provider may service multiple cloud consumers. Each cloudconsumer has a simple client-provider interaction with the provider.
Deployment Case 1A: This deployment case is typically a private cloud within a single
administrative domain and trust boundary wherein policy and governance can be enforced bynontechnical means. Use cases within this deployment case may require standards to support thefollowing basic technical requirements:•

Simple, consumer-provider authentication;•

VM management;•

Storage management;•

SLAs and performance/energy monitoring;•Service discovery;•

Workflow management;
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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP•

Auditing; and•Virtual organizations in support of community cloud use cases.

Deployment Case 1B: This deployment case is typically (commercial) public cloud within a single
administrative domain but is outside of any trust boundary that a client could use to enforce policy
and governance. Clients must rely on the cloud provider to enforce policy and governance throughtechnical means that are "baked into" the infrastructure. Use cases within this deployment case may
require standards to support the following additional technical requirements:•

SLAs in support of governance requirements, e.g., national or regional regulatorycompliance;•

Stronger authentication mechanisms, e.g., Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) Certificates,
etc.;

•

Certification of VM isolation through hardware and hypervisor support;•

Certification of storage isolation through hardware support; and•Data encryption.

Deployment Case 2: In the distributed deployment cases, a single cloud consumer has anapplication that may be distributed across two or more cloud providers and administrative domains
simultaneously. While the cloud consumer may have simple consumer-provider interactions with
their application and the providers, more complicated Peer-to-Peer (“P2P”) interactions may berequired -- between both the consumer and provider and also between the providers themselves.
Deployment Case 2A: This deployment case is typically a federated cloud of two or moreadministrative cloud domains, but where the cloud providers can agree "out of band" how tomutually enforce policy and governance -- essentially establishing a common trust boundary. Usecases within this deployment case may require standards to support the following basic technicalrequirements:•

P2P service discovery;•P2P SLA and performance monitoring;•

P2P workflow management;•

P2P auditing;•

P2P security mechanisms for authentication, authorization; and•P2P virtual organization management.

Deployment Case 2B: This deployment case is typically a hybrid cloud where applications cross a
private-public trust boundary, or even span multiple public clouds, where both administrative
domains and trust boundaries are crossed. Consumers must rely on the cloud provider to enforce
policy and governance through technical means that are "baked into" the infrastructure.
Applications and services may be distributed and need to operate in a P2P manner. Use cases within

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this deployment case will require all the standards of the other deployment cases, in addition to thefollowing more extensive technical requirements:•

P2P SLAs in support of governance requirements.

The use cases presented in this section will be analyzed with regards to their possible deployment
scenarios to determine their requirements for standards. This analysis will subsequently be used toevaluate the likelihood of each of these deployment cases. Clearly the expected deployment of theseuse cases across the different deployment cases will not be uniform. This non-uniformity will assist
in producing a prioritized roadmap for cloud standards. Likewise, in reviewing existing standards,
these use cases – in conjunction with their possible deployment cases – will be used to identify andprioritize gaps in available standards.
Based on this analysis, note that Scenarios 1 through 4 could, in fact, be deployed on either a private
cloud or a public cloud. Hence, the different standards noted in deployment cases 1A and 1B will be
required. Scenarios 5, 6, and 7 (below) all involve the notion of the serial use of multiple clouds.
Presumably these different clouds, used serially, could be either private or public. Hence,
deployment cases 1A and 1B would also apply, but there are additional requirements to achieve
portability, e.g., Application Programming Interface (API) commonality. Finally, Scenario 8 could
involve a federated/community cloud or a hybrid cloud. Hence, deployment cases 2A and 2B would
apply here.

30

NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAPTo summarize the detailed technical use cases for this analysis, the following areas of technicalrequirements are common across all scenarios:

Scenarios

Technical Requirements

1.

Creating, accessing, updating, deleting data objects in cloud systems;

2.

Moving VMs and virtual appliances between cloud systems;

3.

Selecting the best IaaS vendor for private externally hosted cloud system;

4.

Tools for monitoring and managing multiple cloud systems;

5.

Migrating data between cloud systems;

6.

Single sign-on access to multiple cloud systems;

7.

Orchestrated processes across cloud systems;

8.

Discovering cloud resources;

9.

Evaluating SLAs and penalties; and10.

Auditing cloud systems.

Table 3 – Scenarios and Technical Requirements

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6

CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDSStandards are already available in support of many of the functions and requirements for cloudcomputing described in Section 3 and Section 4. While many of these standards were developed insupport of pre-cloud computing technologies, such as those designed for web services and theInternet, they also support the functions and requirements of cloud computing. Other standards are
now being developed in specific support of cloud computing functions and requirements, such as
virtualization.
To assess the state of standardization in support of cloud computing, the NIST Cloud ComputingStandards Roadmap Working Group has compiled an Inventory of Standards Relevant to Cloud
Computing http://collaborate.nist.gov/twiki-cloudcomputing/bin/view/CloudComputing/StandardsInventory.
6.1

INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES (IT) STANDARDS LIFE
CYCLE

Figure 8 is a high-level conceptualization of ways in which IT standards are developed and methodsby which standards-based IT products, processes, and services are deployed. This figure is notmeant to imply that these processes occur sequentially. Many of the processes illustrated can andshould occur concurrently. Some of these processes (e.g., reference implementations, product /process / service / test tools development, testing, deployment) can and usually do also occur
outside of the SDO process. These processes provide input and feedback to improve the standards,
profiles, test tools, and associated stages of product development.
Cloud computing development has been characterized by its emergence during a period in which
extremely interconnected and fast-moving product cycles have led to an explosion of innovationthat strains the conventional SDO-based standards development process. While this is a rapidlychanging area, cloud computing is not unique in this respect, and several other examples exist in
history of similar periods of rapid change followed by standardization. In the long run, the processes
that drive IT standards development are likely to follow historical precedent as over-archingrequirements begin to become clear, and as standards emerge from such processes to fill theserequirements. We therefore expect conformance testing, conformity assessment, and other processes
related to the maturity and adoption of standards to emerge. Some evidence of this maturity isalready starting to become manifest in the cloud standards landscape.

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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

Requirements
Implementation
Requirements

Base Standards

Profile Development

Reference
Implementation/ Test
Tool/Product/Service

Testing

Deployment

Figure 8 – IT Standards Life Cycle
6.2

THE ROLE OF CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT TO STANDARDS

Conformity assessment activities form a vital link between standards, which define necessary
characteristics or requirements, and the products, services, and systems. Conformity assessment
enables buyers, sellers, consumers, and regulators to have confidence that products, processes, andsystems sourced in the global market meet specific requirements. It is the demonstration thatspecified requirements relating to a product, process, or system are fulfilled.
The characteristics of cloud computing including on-demand, self-service, and resource poolingamong multiple tenants need to be considered when establishing conformance regimes for cloudservices. For example, conformance testing may need to be done online against a production systemthat includes data and applications owned and controlled by other tenants. But privacy may preclude
inspection of system logs, and it may not be possible to inspect the source code or run debugging
tools. Test harnesses may not be able to be built into the service but may need to be run as a client
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to the cloud service. It may be necessary to establish an account in order to access the service fortesting.
6.2.1

CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT ACTIVITIESConformity assessment procedures provide a means of ensuring that the products, services, systems,
persons, or bodies have certain required characteristics, and that these characteristics are consistentfrom product to product, service to service, system to system, etc. Conformity assessment can
include: supplier's declaration of conformity, sampling and testing, inspection, certification,
management system assessment and registration, the accreditation of the competence of those
activities, and recognition of an accreditation program's capability. A specific conformity
assessment scheme or program may include one or more conformity assessment activities. Whileeach of these activities is a distinct operation, they are closely interrelated.
Conformity assessment activities can be performed by many types of organizations or individuals.
Conformity assessment can be conducted by: (1) a first party, which is generally the supplier or
manufacturer; (2) a second party, which is generally the purchaser or user of the product; (3) a third
party, which is an independent entity that is generally distinct from the first or second party and has
no interest in transactions between the two parties; and (4) the government, which has a unique rolein conformity assessment activities related to regulatory requirements.
Attestation consists of the issuance of a statement, based on a decision following review, that
fulfillment of specified requirements has been demonstrated. First-party and third-party attestation
activities are distinguished by the terms declaration (first party), certification (third party), andaccreditation (third party).
A supplier’s declaration of conformity is a first party (e.g., supplier) attestation that a product,
process, service, etc., conforms to specified requirements. These requirements may include
normative documents such as standards, guides, technical specifications, laws, and regulations. The
supplier may conduct the testing or contract with a third party to do the testing. The test results areevaluated by the supplier, and when all requirements are met, the supplier issues a formal statementthat the product is in conformance to the requirements. A statement that the product meets specificrequirements can be included in the product documentation or other appropriate location, and thetest results and other supporting documentation can be made available when requested.
Certification is a third-party attestation related to products, services, systems, etc. Accreditation is athird-party attestation related to a conformity assessment body conveying formal demonstration of
its competence to carry out specific conformity assessment tasks. Testing laboratory accreditation
provides formal recognition that a laboratory is competent to carry out specific tests or calibrations
or types of tests or calibrations.
Rapidly advancing technology and increased international competition make it essential that
suppliers have an opportunity to utilize all available options to minimize costs and ensure that thetime to bring a product to market is at a minimum. Conformity assessment is an important aspect in
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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

the development of product, processes and services, but this assessment does add costs and time tothe development cycle.
6.2.2

GOVERNMENT USE OF CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT SYSTEMS

Federal conformity-assessment activities are a means of providing confidence that the products,
services, systems, etc. regulated or purchased by federal agencies, or that are the subject of federal
assistance programs, have the required characteristics and/or perform in a specified manner. The
NTTAA directs NIST to coordinate federal, state, and local government standards and conformity
assessment activities with those of the private sector, with the goal of eliminating unnecessary
duplication and complexity in the development and promulgation of conformity assessment
requirements and measures. Conformity assessment that leverages existing private-sector programs
can help lower the cost of implementation for agencies, and also provide added impetus forinnovation and competitiveness. Numerous federal agencies are engaged in conformity assessment
activities. In addition, as part of its role mandated by the NTTAA, many federal programs utilize
NIST support to help design and implement appropriate and effective conformity assessment
programs.

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6.2.3

VISUALIZATION OF CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT PROCESSES

Figure 9 – Conformity Assessment Infrastructure provides an overview of the range of activities
that can occur in conformity assessment and the relationships between them.

Figure 9 – Conformity Assessment Infrastructure

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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

Figure 10 – Accreditation Process shows the relationships for the laboratory accreditation process.
The key aspect of the process is the identification of the standards, test methods, test tools, andother technical requirements by the procurement agency as they apply to the products, services,
systems, etc., to be tested.

Figure 10 – Accreditation Process

37

NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAPAn example of a conformity assessment system using accredited testing laboratories andcertification is provided in Figure 11 – Assessment Process. The process starts with the submission
by the supplier of the product, service, or system to a third-party accredited testing laboratory. The
laboratory tests the product in accordance with the requirements and forwards the test results to the
supplier. If the results are satisfactory to the supplier, they will be forwarded by the laboratory to thevalidation authority designated by the procurement agency in coordination with the qualified
products list (QPL) owner. These experts will review the test reports and will make a
recommendation as to their acceptance to the QPL owner. If the QPL owner agrees with therecommendations, the product, service, or system will be listed.

Figure 11 – Assessment Process
6.2.4

CURRENT STATE OF CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT IN CLOUD COMPUTINGAs described elsewhere in this document, standards specific to cloud computing are beginning toemerge, and several aspects of the conformance testing and conformity assessment processes
described above are also starting to take place, conducted by a variety of organizations. In somecases, such as the CDMI, OCCI, OVF, and CIMI standards discussed below, industry-sponsoredtesting events and “plug-fests” are being advertised and conducted with participation from a varietyof vendors and open source projects and community-based developers. In other cases, either the
standards are not yet mature enough to permit such testing, or the participants have not yet exposed
the conformity assessment processes to public view.
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6.3

CATEGORIZING THE STATUS OF STANDARDS

Innovation in IT means that IT standards are constantly being developed, approved, and maintained.
Revisions to previous editions of standards may or may not be backward-compatible. Table 4 –Standards Maturity Model provides an indication of the maturity level of a standard. Some SDOs
require two or more implementations before final approval of a standard. Such implementations
may or may not be commercially available products or services. In other cases, an SDO may be
developing standards while commercial products or services are already being sold that conform toearly drafts. (In such cases, companies take on the risk of creating products or services that may notconform to the final standard.)

Maturity Level
No Standard
Under Development
Approved Standard

Technically Stable

Definition
SDOs have not initiated any standard development projects.
SDOs have initiated standard development projects.
Open source projects have been initiated.
SDO-approved standard is available to public.
Some SDOs require multiple implementations before final
designation as a “standard.”
The standard is stable and its technical content is mature. No
major revisions or amendments are in progress that will affectbackward compatibility with the original standard.

Reference
Implementation

Reference implementation is available.

Testing

Test tools are available.
Testing and test reports are available.

Commercial
Availability

Several products/services from different vendors exist on themarket to implement this standard.

Market AcceptanceWidespread use by many groups.
De facto or de jure market acceptance of standards-based
products/services.

SunsetNewer standards (revisions or replacements) are underdevelopment.

Table 4 – Standards Maturity Model

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6.4

CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS FOR INTEROPERABILITY AND PORTABILITY

Cloud platforms should make it possible to securely and efficiently move data in, out, and among
cloud providers and to make it possible to port applications from one cloud platform to another.
Data may be transient or persistent, structured or unstructured and may be stored in a file system,
cache, relational or non-relational database. Cloud interoperability means that data can be processedby different services on different cloud systems through common specifications. Cloud portability
means that data can be moved from one cloud system to another and that applications can be ported
and run on different cloud systems at an acceptable cost.
The migration path to cloud computing should preserve existing investments in technologies
which are appropriate to the cloud system, and that enables the coexistence and interoperability of
on-premises software and cloud services. Additionally, the migration to a cloud system should
enable various multiple cloud platforms seamless access between and among various cloudservices, to optimize the cloud consumer expectations and experience.
Cloud interoperability allows seamless exchange and use of data and services among various cloudinfrastructure offerings and to use the data and services exchanged to enable them to operate
effectively together.
Cloud portability allows two or more kinds of cloud infrastructures to seamlessly use data andservices from one cloud system and be used for other cloud systems.
For example, a financial application might use a petabyte of data, but that data might be securely
housed in a single cloud database, making it relatively easy to port. On the other hand, a customer
relationship management (CRM) application running in the cloud system might process only aterabyte of data but which is shared among thousands of users; moving the CRM application – andall its distributed data – from one cloud system to another would be more challenging. Overall,functionality of cloud interoperability is preferable.
6.4.1

CLOUD STANDARDS FOR INTEROPERABILITY

Interoperability may be assessed in terms of the NIST Cloud Computing Reference Architecture at
the IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS levels. Each of these levels, which may be combined in any particular
cloud service or product in practice, presents special considerations, and as a result, the standards
landscape is intrinsically unique and specific to each level.
At the IaaS level, two published standard sets exist that are applicable, the Open Cloud Computing
Interface (OCCI) specification set from Open Grid Forum and the Cloud InfrastructureManagement Interface (CIMI) set from the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF). OCCI,
published in early 2011, is slightly more general in formulation and presents a generic boundarylevel protocol for achieving RESTful control of a target infrastructure within the given boundary. It
has been applied to virtual machine instantiation and control, provision and discovery of network

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features and other internal features, and has an extensible, self-describing feature set. CIMI, more
recently developed and published in late 2012, has a tightly described calling sequence and also
provides features that conform to DMTF’s Common Information Model (CIM). Each of thesestandard sets has seen significant uptake, and several available cloud system products either already
implement or plan to implement at least one of them. While these IaaS standard sets are so far
separate, OGF and DMTF have stated that they have a work register in place and that they continue
to discuss the possibility of merging these efforts in the future.
In PaaS applications, an extensive ecosystem of vendor-specific products that are notinterchangeable has emerged. A recent effort to produce a PaaS-specific standard 22 has been started
by the OASIS Cloud Application Management Protocol (CAMP) technical committee, with support
from several industry participants, and is making rapid progress towards producing a workablespecification.
In the case where a SaaS application is consumed through a web browser, there may be many
standards that are used to achieve interoperability between what is essentially a web server and theuser’s browser, such as IP (v4, v6), TCP, HTTP, SSL/TLS, HTML, XML, REST, Atom,
AtomPub, RSS, and JavaScript/JSON. None of these web standards are cloud-specific, and thesesame standards are being used in many web browser-based management interfaces.
Where data is acted on by multiple services, cloud or otherwise, there are various standards thatenable interoperability. Also important are interoperability standards for distributed applications
such as SOAP, WS-* and ebXML. Other standards that can be used for interoperability between
cloud services include OpenID, Odata, CDMI, AMQP, and XMPP. Most important forinteroperability are canonical data content formats, typically today expressed using XML standards.
Such standard canonical formats include “nouns,” i.e., the data objects being acted on, but also
(implicitly or explicitly) the “verbs,” i.e., the actions that a receiving service may or should take onsuch a data object (e.g., Sync, Process, Get, Show, etc.). While “verbs” may be somewhat generic,such canonical formats are in general specific to a particular domain.
Various standards exist corresponding to different application domains (e.g., OAGi BODs forbusiness documents or ODF and OOXML for office productivity documents). Also important is thestack of interoperability standards for interfaces, packaging, and transport such as SOAP, WS-* andebXML. Since the SaaS area is so wide-ranging, cloud-based SaaS products are likely to continue toexercise and to explore the full range of Internet protocols for their communication and interfaces. It
is more likely that data formats and metadata-based interchange methods will be standardized incloud system products rather than having SaaS interfaces themselves converge. Examples of such

22

ID Cloud-PaaS https://www.oasis-open.org/committees/download.../IDCloud-paas-v1c.odt

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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

data format description standardization include the Data Format Description Language (DFDL)
from OGF and the Cloud Data Management Interface (CDMI) data-container metadata model of theStorage Networking Industry Association (SNIA). As the cloud computing landscape is currently
heavily populated by vendor-specific formats, such general-purpose standardization efforts may be
crucial to achieving interoperability at the SaaS level.
As appropriate, some of these interfaces will be tested and analyzed by NIST to validate theircapabilities against the list of cloud computing use cases. Opportunities will also be made available
for the vendor and open source community to demonstrate the applicability of standards and APIs tothe defined NIST SAJACC cloud computing technical use cases.
6.4.2

CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS FOR PORTABILITY

Over the last year, much progress has been made on new standards in this area. Open Virtualization
Format (OVF) from the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF), for example, was developed
to address portability concerns between various virtualization platforms. It consists of metadata
about a virtual machine image or groups of images that can be deployed as a unit. It provides amechanism to package and deploy services as either a virtual appliance or used within an enterpriseto prepackage known configurations of a virtual machine image or images. It may contain
information regarding the number of CPUs, memory required to run effectively, and network
configuration information. It also can contain digital signatures to ensure the integrity of themachine images being deployed along with licensing information in the form of a machine-readable
EULA (End User License Agreement) so that it can be understood before the image(s) is deployed.
Significant progress has also been made in the creation of new standards focused on portability
concerns at higher levels of abstraction such as the cloud service and application. Topology andOrchestration Services for Applications (TOSCA) from OASIS, for example, was developed toaddress portability concerns between services and applications that may be required to be deployedon different cloud providers and platforms due to reasons such as regulatory concerns, changing
business and market factors, or evolving technical requirements. TOSCA provides a machinereadable language to describe the relationships between components, requirements, and capabilities.
The intent is to facilitate service and life cycle management of services and applications in IaaS,
PaaS, and SaaS environments while enabling the specification of life cycle operations at that levelof abstraction, e.g., deploy, patch, shutdown, in a cloud platform and provider independent fashion.
As of February 2013, the TOSCA specification had completed a 30-day public review. A primer,
which includes a chapter on the relationship between OVF and TOSCA is under development.
A future direction of workloads data and metadata standardization is to help improve theautomation of inter-cloud system workload deployment. Concepts such as standardized SLAs,
sophisticated inter-virtual machine network configuration and switching information, and software
license information regarding all of the various components that make up the workload are
possibilities.

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Another aspect of portability in the cloud system is that of storage and data (including metadata)
portability between cloud systems, for example, between storage cloud services and between
compatible application services in SaaS and PaaS layers.
Cloud storage services may be seen as a special class of application service, where the storage
metadata (as distinct from the stored data content) is the application data that a receiving cloudsystem must be able to process. For cloud storage services, as much of the actual data movement
needs to be done in bulk moves of massive numbers of objects, retaining the data organization (intocontainers, for example) and retaining the associated metadata are main portability requirements.
Data portability between cloud application services requires standard formats and protocols. The
canonical data formats commonly involved in portability scenarios may be focused on widely usedapplication categories, for example, email or office productivity, or on specific formats used byparticular domains of use, for example, science or medical domains. Popular methods forinterchange of data in cloud systems generally leverage representations in either JSON or XML
formats, and are often customized to particular fields of use through standards.
Standards are key to achieving portability. Building on existing standards and specifications that are
known to work and are in widespread use and documenting how the standards are implemented,
allows developers to continue to use their chosen development languages and tools as they build forcloud systems. This keeps migration costs and risks low by enabling organizations to leverage their
IT staff’s current skills, and by providing a secure migration path that preserves existing
investments. Examples of languages, tools, and standards that are common in the cloud system
include programming languages such as Java, C#, PHP, Python and Ruby; Internet protocols forservice access such as REST, SOAP, and XML; federated identity standards for service
authentication such as SAML and OAuth; and standards for managing virtualized environments.
Standards continue to rapidly evolve in step with technology. Hence, cloud standards may be atdifferent stages of maturity and levels of acceptance. OVF, for example, is an open standard for
packaging and distributing virtual appliances. Originally offered as a proprietary format to the
DMTF, OVF was first published in March 2009, and subsequently adopted in August 2010 as anational standard by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).
When a provider claims conformance with any other standard, it should cite the specific version andpublish implementation, errata, and testing notes. This will provide the transparency necessary for
informed consumer choice, as well as ensure reasonably seamless technical interoperability between
on-premises and cloud virtualized systems.
6.4.3

SUMMARY ON INTEROPERABILITY AND PORTABILITY

Substantial progress has been made by SDOs to develop standards that meet specific cloudcomputing requirements and use cases. There are now existing standards that support cloud service
interoperability and data portability but gaps remain in the standards, specifically in the PaaS area,

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and current development efforts still need to mature. As cloud standards evolve, they will need todescribe how services interoperate and how data can be readily ported between cloud offerings.
As cloud standards and IT standards that support cloud implementations change and evolve, theissues of governance and orchestration of cloud architectures will become more prevalent andsimultaneously, how to ‘standardize’ a governance model will need to be updated. Governance ofthe cloud is analogous to the governance of Internet but rather than standardizing on packets of data,
it is standardizing on how data and services are shared. Cloud standards will need to describe how
services and data can be readily ported or interoperate between cloud offerings as seamless,efficient access to data and services across cloud providers will become the demand signal from
customers. The SAJACC group has received and has begun analyzing input from several SDOs andfrom federal agencies with regard to this topic, including the area of service agreements and SLAs
that is explored further in Section 6.6, “Cloud Standards for Performance”.
6.5

CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS FOR SECURITY

As noted in SP 800-146, “the term cloud computing encompasses a variety of systems andtechnologies as well as service and deployment models, and business models”. Cloud computing’s
unique attributes such as elasticity, rapid provisioning and releasing, resource pooling, multitenancy, broad-network accessibility, and ubiquity bring many benefits to cloud adopters, but alsoentails specific security risks associated with the type of adopted cloud and deployment mode. To
accelerate the adoption of cloud computing, and to advance the deployment of cloud services,
solutions coping with cloud security threats need to be addressed. Many of the threats that cloudproviders and consumers face can be dealt with through traditional security processes andmechanisms such as security policies, cryptography, identity management, intrusion
detection/prevention systems, and supply chain vulnerability analysis. However, risk management
activities must be undertaken to determine how to mitigate the threats specific to different cloudmodels and to analyze existing standards for gaps that need to be addressed.
Securing the information systems and ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of
information and information being processed, stored, and transmitted are particularly relevant as
these are the high-priority concerns and present a higher risk of being compromised in a cloudcomputing system. Cloud computing implementations are subject to local physical threats as well as
remote, external threats.
Consistent with other applications of IT, the threat sources include accidents, natural disasters thatinduce external loss of service, hostile governments, criminal organizations, terrorist groups, andmalicious or unintentional vulnerabilities exploited through internal, external, authorized, or
unauthorized access to the system. The complexity of the cloud computing architecture supporting
three service types and four deployment models, and the cloud characteristics, specifically multitenancy, heighten the need to consider data and systems protection in the context of logical,
physical boundaries and data flow separation.

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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

Possible types of security challenges for cloud computing services include the following:•

Compromises to the confidentiality and integrity of data in transit to and from a cloudprovider and at rest;•

Attacks which take advantage of the homogeneity and power of cloud computing
systems to rapidly scale and increase the magnitude of the attack;•A consumer’s unauthorized access (through improper authentication or authorization, or
exploit of vulnerabilities introduced maliciously or unintentionally) to software, data,
and resources provisioned to, and owned by another authorized cloud consumer;•

Increased levels of network-based attacks that exploit software not designed for an
Internet-based model and vulnerabilities existing in resources formerly accessed throughprivate networks;•

Limited ability to encrypt data at rest in a multi-tenancy environment;•

Portability constraints resulting from the lack of standardization of cloud services
application programming interfaces (APIs) that preclude cloud consumers to easily
migrate to a new cloud service provider when availability requirements are not met;•

Attacks that exploit the physical abstraction of cloud resources and exploit a lack oftransparency in audit procedures or records;•

Attacks that take advantage of known, older vulnerabilities in virtual machines that havenot been properly updated and patched;•

Attacks that exploit inconsistencies in global privacy policies and regulations;•

Attacks that exploit cloud computing supply chain vulnerabilities to include those that
occur while cloud computing components are in transit from the supplier to the cloudservice provider;•

Insider abuse of their privileges, especially cloud provider’s personnel in high risk roles(e.g. system administrators; and•Interception of data in transit (man-in-the-middle attacks).

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Some of the main security objectives for a cloud computing implementer should include:•

Protect consumers’ data from unauthorized access, disclosure, modification ormonitoring. This includes supporting identity management and access control policies
for authorized users accessing cloud services. This includes the ability of a customer tomake access to its data selectively available to other users.

•

Prevent unauthorized access to cloud computing infrastructure resources. This includes
implementing security domains that have logical separation between computing
resources (e.g. logical separation of customer workloads running on the same physicalserver by VM monitors [hypervisors] in a multi-tenant environment) and using secureby-default configurations.

•

Deploy in the cloud web applications designed and implemented for an Internet threat
model.

•

Challenges to prevent Internet browsers using cloud computing from attacks to mitigate
end-user security vulnerabilities. This includes taking measures to protect internetconnected personal computing devices by applying security software, personal firewalls,
and patch maintenance.

•

Include access control and intrusion detection and prevention solutions in cloudcomputing implementations and conduct an independent assessment to verify that thesolutions are installed and functional. This includes traditional perimeter security
measures in combination with the domain security model. Traditional perimeter security
includes restricting physical access to network and devices; protecting individualcomponents from exploitation through security patch deployment; setting as default
most secure configurations; disabling all unused ports and services; using role-based
access control; monitoring audit trails; minimizing privileges to minimum necessary;
using antivirus software; and encrypting communications.

•Define trust boundaries between cloud provider(s) and consumers to ensure that the
responsibilities to implement security controls are clearly identified.

•

Implement standardized APIs for interoperability and portability to support easy
migration of consumers’ data to other cloud providers when necessary.

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6.6

CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS FOR PERFORMANCE

There are numerous reasons why cloud computing standards for performance are needed in today’s
market. Consumers need to be able to objectively determine the costs and benefits of moving tocloud services; to validate claims of performance by cloud providers; and to objectively compare
services from multiple providers in order to better meet a specific need.
Determining performance involves establishing a set of metrics that will provide a clear picture of
how a given cloud service performs. This is complex due to the fact that specific metrics andstandards will be needed for not only specific categories of services, but also due to the domains inwhich they are needed. For example, dealing with private healthcare data will need performancestandards relating to both privacy and security. Standards might be needed for attributes that areassociated with the service such as network performance. Additionally, standards are needed thatmeasure attributes specific to cloud service such as virtual machine performance.
While not an exhaustive list, other potential performance aspects relevant to the cloud include:•

Management performance•

Benchmark performance•

Cloud service life cycle elements:o Negotiation performanceo Instantiation performanceo Termination performance•

Performance testingo Monitoringo Auditing

In the end, these performance standards will be of interest to many of the stakeholders involved incloud computing. Cloud consumers and providers will use these standards and metrics as a basis forcreating measurable and enforceable service level agreement contracts. Auditors will be able tomeasure performance for their customers. Cloud brokers will need these standards to ensure that
their customer’s specific needs are met. Cloud providers will be performing self-evaluations on
their own offerings.

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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAPThe topic of performance includes considerations related to monitoring, reporting, measuring,scaling, and right-sizing cloud resources to meet the expected or experienced demand. This area
deserves careful consideration, as it relates directly to the factors that control the potential costsavings to the government from the use of cloud computing.
Performance can potentially be scaled to meet conditions of anticipated or real-world demand,
within the parameters of a cloud service agreement. It is therefore crucial that such agreements
contain all necessary parameters that relate to the conditions for delivery of the associated cloudservice or product. Only by careful measurement and by proper anticipation of peak workload
conditions, backed by appropriate service remedies, credits, or penalties and appropriate fallback
arrangements, can true cost savings be realized with proper delivery of services.
Agencies using cloud services should be careful to include suitable performance, monitoring, andemergency metrics and conditions into the cloud service master agreement and associated SLA.
These elements, reflecting the agencies given mission and goals, will help to ensure that eachagency will pay only for needed services.
Cloud services are particularly well suited to deployment of automated terms and conditions for thedelivery of these services. While the basic parameters, legal, and cost controls for cloud services
require agency approval and human-mediated review, automated tools should be deployed whereappropriate to ensure conditions such as failover in the event of cloud service component failure orcompromise, and scaling to meet emergent needs or to grow or shrink service delivery according tocost and/or demand, and other relevant features.
Wherever possible, standards-based methods for monitoring, measuring, and scaling delivery of theresources to meet agency missions should be pursued.
6.6.1

CLOUD STANDARDS FOR SERVICE AGREEMENTS

At the moment, most cloud service agreements are expressed in human-readable terms for review
by legal staff and management. Tools are increasingly available, however, for expression of service
agreement conditions, remedies, and provisions that can be expressed in machine-readable terms
and that can even serve as the basis for service templates that can be provisioned automatically,
directly from the service agreement template.
Examples of these methods can be seen in several open source products based on the WSAgreement and WS-Agreement-Negotiation specifications from OGF. Recent work from an interSDO joint task force led by TM Forum has also produced a white paper 23 describing the23

https://www.tmforum.org/WhitePapers/CloudMonetization/47730/article.html

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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

considerations for end-to-end service agreement management specifically oriented towards
management of multiple cloud service SLAs. The possibility of “TOSCA service template
extension to support SLA management and possible mapping to SID information framework,” isalso discussed.
The TM Forum has developed a set of standards to help in the implementation and management ofservices that span multiple partners in a “multi-cloud” system. Organized as "packs", thesestandards focus on managing service level agreements between partners, and ensure consistency inthe management of information across aggregated services with particular emphasis where these
services cross multi-company boundaries. There are Business, Technical, and Accelerator Packs
that have been published; these documents augment the Cloud Service Level Agreement Handbook(GB917) that was published by the TM Forum in April 2012. The TM Forum has also developed aseries of documents working primarily with large-scale enterprises and ensuring that their bestpractice needs are met in the delivery of cloud services.
6.6.2

CLOUD STANDARDS FOR MONITORING

The situation with regard to cloud service monitoring is less well developed than for other areas dueto the multiplicity of underlying products and the lack of a single set of well-defined monitoring andmetric terms. To address this need, the NIST Cloud Computing Reference Architecture andTaxonomy group is developing a set of terms related to monitoring and metrics for service
agreements, including SLAs.
The input from this group and from the TM Forum-led joint cross-SDO report discussed above will
be used by the Business Use Case and SAJACC groups to develop use case scenarios that can beused to identify appropriate standards and standards gaps in this area.
ITU-T’s establishment of a cloud computing resource management area of study, a roadmap for thearea of study and the initiation of related supporting standards, is beginning to address the closure ofsome of the standards gaps in cloud computing monitoring. The roadmap outlines the standards thatare needed in order to monitor the health, QoS, and reliability of cloud services that are based on theaggregation of services from one or more cloud service providers.
6.7

CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS FOR ACCESSIBILITY

Accessibility is relevant to cloud computing services at the application level where a humaninteracts with an application. This is where accessibility is measured. Therefore, many of theexisting accessibility standards for ICT applications are relevant to cloud computing applications.
The U.S. Access Board is an independent federal agency devoted to accessibility for people withdisabilities. The Access Board develops and maintains design criteria for the built environment,
transit vehicles, telecommunications equipment, and for electronic and information technology. It

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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

also provides technical assistance and training on these requirements and on accessible design andenforces accessibility standards that cover federally funded facilities.
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (29 U.S.C. 794d), requires that Federal
employees with disabilities have access to and use of information and data that are comparable tothe access and use by federal employees who are not individuals with disabilities. Section 508 also
requires that individuals with disabilities, who are members of the public seeking information orservices from a federal agency, have access to and use of information and data that are comparable
to that provided to the public who are not individuals with disabilities. Both of these requirements
must be met unless an undue burden would be imposed on the agency.
Section 508 standards that would be applicable for many cloud computing applications are:Subpart B -- Technical Standards 1194.21 Software applications and operating systems; § 1194.22
Web-based intranet and internet information and applications; and 1194.23 Telecommunications
products. The Access Board is in the process of revising the Section 508 standards. This is the firstmajor revision since the standards were initially published in 2001. The initial product oriented
approach to requirements is being replaced with a more functional approach. The Access Board
plans to reference the W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0(http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/ ), which is an international voluntary consensus guideline.
Additional voluntary consensus standards that may be applicable to cloud computing applications
are: ISO 9241-20:2008, Ergonomics of human-system interaction -- Part 20: Accessibility
guidelines for information/communication technology (ICT) equipment and services; ISO 9241171:2008, Ergonomics of human-system interaction -- Part 171: Guidance on software accessibility;
ANSI/HFES 200 Human Factors Engineering of Software User Interfaces (Parts 1, 2, and 3); andISO/IEC 24751-1:2008, Information technology -- Individualized adaptability and accessibility in elearning, education and training -- Part 1: Framework and reference model.
The White House released a memorandum Strategy Plan for Improving Management of Section 508
of the Rehabilitation Act, January 24, 2013 24. The strategic plan provides a comprehensive andstructured approach to further improve agencies’ management of the requirements of Section 508.
The objective is to ensure that all electronic and information technology (EIT) that is developed,
procured, maintained, or used by the federal government is accessible, as required by Section 508 of
the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

24

www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/procurement/memo/strategi-plan-508-compliance.pdf

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7

CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS MAPPINGOne approach to cloud computing standards mapping is to map relevant standards using theconceptual model and the cloud computing taxonomy from the NIST Cloud Computing Reference
Architecture and Taxonomy Working Group. As presented in Figure 12, the cloud computing
conceptual model is depicted as an integrated diagram of system, organizational, and processcomponents. The cloud computing taxonomy produced by the same working group has provided
further categorizations for the security, interoperability, and portability aspects for cloud computing.
While many standards are generally relevant to these cloud computing areas, the following sections
will map those specifically relevant cloud standards and capture their standard maturity status in atabular format. The online cloud standards inventory (as described in Section 5) will be the place tomaintain and track other relevant standards. Some standards may apply to more than one category
from the cloud taxonomy and therefore may be listed more than once.

Figure 12 – The Combined Conceptual Reference Diagram

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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

7.1

SECURITY STANDARDS MAPPINGThe following tables map security standards to various security categories and list the status (ref:Section 6.3/ Table 4 – Standards Maturity Model). Some of the listed standards apply to more than
one category and are therefore listed more than once.
Categorization
Authentication&
Authorization

Available Standards

SDO

Status

RFC 5246
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)/ Transport
Layer Security (TLS)
RFC 3820: X.509
Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) Proxy
Certificate Profile
RFC5280: Internet X.509
Public Key Infrastructure Certificate andCertificate Revocation List (CRL) Profile
RFC 5849
OAuth (Open Authorization Protocol)
ISO/IEC 9594-8:2008 | X.509
Information technology -- Open Systems
Interconnection -- The Directory: Publickey and attribute certificate frameworks
ISO/IEC 29115 | X.1254
Information technology -- Security
techniques -- Entity authentication
assurance framework
FIPS 181
Automated Password Generator
FIPS 190
Guideline for the Use of Advanced
Authentication Technology Alternatives
FIPS 196
Entity Authentication Using Public Key
Cryptography

IETF

Approved Standard
Market Acceptance

IETF

Approved Standard
Market Acceptance

IETF

Approved Standard
Market Acceptance

IETF

Approved Standard
Market AcceptanceApproved Standard
Market Acceptance

ISO/IEC&ITU-T
ISO/IEC&ITU-T

Approved Standard

NIST

Approved Standard
Market AcceptanceApproved Standard
Market Acceptance

NIST

NIST

Approved Standard
Market Acceptance

OpenID Authentication

OpenID

eXtensible Access Control Markup Language(XACML)OASISApproved Standard
Market AcceptanceApproved Standard

Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML)OASISMarket AcceptanceApproved Standard
Market Acceptance

Table 5 – Security Standards: Authentication and Authorization

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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

Categorization

Available Standards

SDO

Status

IETF

Confidentiality

RFC 5246
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)/ Transport
Layer Security (TLS)

Approved Standard
Market Acceptance

Key Management Interoperability Protocol(KMIP)OASISApproved Standard
Market Acceptance

XML Encryption Syntax and Processing

W3C

Approved Standard
Market Acceptance

FIPS 140-2
Security Requirements for Cryptographic
ModulesNIST

Approved Standard
Testing
Market Acceptance

FIPS 185
Escrowed Encryption Standard (EES)NIST

Approved Standard
Market Acceptance

FIPS 197
Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)NIST

Approved Standard
Testing
Market Acceptance

FIPS 188
Standard Security Label for Information
Transfer

NIST

Approved Standard
Market Acceptance

Table 6 – Security Standards: Confidentiality

Categorization

Available Standards

SDO

StatusXML signature (XMLDSig)

W3C

Approved Standard

Integrity

Market Acceptance
FIPS 180-4

NIST

Secure Hash Standard (SHS)FIPS 186-4

Market Acceptance
NIST

Digital Signature Standard (DSS)FIPS 198-1

Approved Standard
Market AcceptanceNIST

The Keyed-Hash Message Authentication
Code (HMAC)

Table 7 – Security Standards: Integrity

53

Approved Standard

Approved Standard
Market AcceptanceNIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

Categorization
Identity
Management

Available Standards

SDO

StatusX.idmcc

ITU-T

Under Development

NIST

Approved Standard

Requirement of IdM in Cloud Computing
FIPS 201-1
Personal Identity Verification (PIV) of
Federal Employees and Contractors

Market Acceptance

Service Provisioning Markup Language(SPML)OASISApproved Standard

Web Services Federation Language (WSFederation) Version 1.2

OASIS

Approved Standard

WS-Trust 1.3

OASIS

Approved Standard

Security Assertion Markup Language(SAML)OASISApproved Standard

OpenID Authentication 1.1

OpenIDFoundation

Market AcceptanceApproved Standard
Market Acceptance

Table 8 – Security Standards: Identity Management

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Categorization
Security
Monitoring &Incident
Response

Available Standards

SDO

StatusISO/IEC WD 27035-1

ISO/IEC

Under Development

ISO/IEC

Under Development

ISO/IEC WD 27039; Information
technology -- Security techniques -Selection, deployment and operations of
intrusion detection systems

ISO/IEC

Under Development

ISO/IEC 18180

ISO/IEC

Approved Standard

Information technology -- Security
techniques -- Information security incident
management -- Part 1: Principles ofincident management
ISO/IEC WD 27035-3
Information technology -- Security
techniques -- Information security incident
management -- Part 3: Guidelines for
CSIRT operations

Information technology - Specification for
the Extensible Configuration Checklist
Description Format (XCCDF) Version 1.2(NIST IR 7275)
X.1500Market Acceptance

ITU-T

Cybersecurity information exchange
techniques

Approved Standard
Market Acceptance

X.1520: Common vulnerabilities andexposures

ITU-T

Approved Standard

X.1521ITU-T

Approved Standard

PCI

Approved Standard

Common Vulnerability Scoring System
PCI Data Security Standard

Market Acceptance
FIPS 191

NIST

Guideline for the Analysis of Local Area
Network Security

Approved Standard
Market Acceptance

Table 9 – Security Standards: Security Monitoring & Incident Response

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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

Categorization
Security
Controls

Available Standards

SDO

StatusCloud Controls Matrix Version 1.3

CSA

Approved Standard

ISO/IEC 27001:2005

ISO/IEC

Approved Standard

ISO/IEC

Under Development

ISO/IEC

Under Development

ISO/IEC

Under Development

Information Technology – Security
Techniques Information Security
Management Systems Requirements
ISO/IEC WD TS 27017
Information technology -- Security
techniques -- Information security
management - Guidelines on information
security controls for the use of cloudcomputing services based on ISO/IEC
27002
ISO/IEC 27018
Code of Practice for Data Protection
Controls for Public Cloud Computing
Services
ISO/IEC 1st WD 27036-4
Information technology – Security
techniques – Information security forsupplier relationships – Part 4: Guidelines
for security of cloud services

Table 10 – Security Standards: Security Controls

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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

Categorization
Security Policy
Management

Available Standards

SDO

Status

ATIS-02000008
Trusted Information Exchange (TIE)

ATIS

Approved Standard
Commercially
Available

FIPS 199
Standards for Security Categorization ofFederal Information and Information
Systems

NIST

Approved Standard
Testing
Market Acceptance

FIPS 200
Minimum Security Requirements forFederal Information and Information
Systems

NIST

Approved Standard
Testing
Market Acceptance

ISO/IEC 27002
Code of practice for information security
management

ISO/IEC

Approved Standard
Market AcceptanceeXtensible Access Control Markup
Language (XACML)OASISApproved Standard
Market Acceptance

Table 11 – Security Standards: Security Policy Management

Categorization
Availability

Available Standards

SDO

Status

ATIS-02000009

ATIS

Approved Standard

ISO

Approved Standard

Cloud Services Lifecycle Checklist
ISO/PAS 22399:2007
Societal security - Guideline forincident preparedness and operational
continuity management

Table 12 – Security Standards: Availability

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Market AcceptanceNIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

7.2

INTEROPERABILITY STANDARDS MAPPINGAs discussed in Section 6.3, the interoperability of cloud services can be categorized by the
management and functional interfaces of the cloud services. Many existing IT standards contributeto the interoperability between cloud consumer applications and cloud services, and between cloudservices themselves. There are standardization efforts that are specifically initiated to address theinteroperability issues in the cloud system. These cloud specific standards are listed in Table 13 –Interoperability Standards.
Categorization

Available Standards

SDO

StatusService
Interoperability

Cloud Infrastructure Management Interface(CIMI)IEEE P2301, Draft Guide for Cloud Portability
and Interoperability Profiles (CPIP)
IEEE P2302, Draft Standard for IntercloudInteroperability and Federation (SIIF)
Y.3520
Cloud computing framework for end to end
resource management.
Cloud Application Management Platform(CAMP)
Open Cloud Computing Interface (OCCI)DMTFApproved Standard

IEEE

Under Development

IEEE

Under Development

ITU-T

Approved Standard

OASIS

Under Development

OGF

Approved Standard

Data Format Description Language (DFDL)OGFApproved Standard

Topology and Orchestration Specification or
Cloud Applications (TOSCA),Version 1.0
Committee Specification Draft 06 / Public
Review Draft 01
Cloud Data Management Interface (CDMI)[Also approved as ISO/IEC 17826:2012,
Information technology – Cloud DataManagement Interface (CDMI)]OASISUnder Development

SNIA

Approved Standard
Market AcceptanceCommercially
Available

Table 13 – Interoperability Standards

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7.3

PORTABILITY STANDARDS MAPPINGAs discussed in Section 6.4, portability issues in the cloud system include workload and data
portability. While some of the cloud computing workload portability issues are new, many ofexisting data and metadata standards were developed before the cloud computing era. The following
table focuses on cloud-specific portability standards.

Categorization
Data
Portability

Available Standards

SDO

StatusCloud Data Management Interface (CDMI)

SNIA

SystemPortability

Open Virtualization Format (OVF), OVF 1.0[Also approved as INCITS 469-2010 &ISO/IEC 17203: 2011]

DMTF

Open Virtualization Format (OVF), OVF 2.0

DMTF

Approved Standard
Market AcceptanceCommercially
Available
Approved Standard
Market AcceptanceCommercial
Availability
Approved Standard

IEEE P2301
Draft Guide for Cloud Portability andInteroperability Profiles (CPIP)
Topology and Orchestration Specification for
Cloud Applications (TOSCA),Version 1.0
Committee Specification Draft 06 / Public
Review Draft 01

IEEE

Under Development

OASIS

Under Development

Table 14 – Portability Standards

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7.4

PERFORMANCE STANDARDS MAPPINGAs discussed in Section 6.6, performance standards are needed for cloud service agreements and forcloud service monitoring, Table 15 – Performance Standards provides a list of current standards that
may be considered.

Categorization
Service
Agreements

Available Standards

SDO

Topology and Orchestration Specification for OASISCloud Applications (TOSCA),Version 1.0
Committee Specification Draft 06 / Public
Review Draft 01
GB917
TM
Forum
SLA Management Handbook, Release 3.1
GB963
TM
Forum
Cloud SLA Application Note, Version 1.2
TR178
TM
Forum
Enabling End-to-End Cloud SLA
Management, Version 0.4
TR194
TM
Forum
Multi-Cloud Service Management Accelerator
Pack - Introduction, Release 1.0
TR195
TM
Forum
Multi-Cloud Service Management Pack Business Guide, Release 1.0
TR196
TM
Forum
Multi-Cloud Service Management Pack Technical Guide, Release 1.0
TR197
TM
Forum
Multi-Cloud Service Management Pack –SLA Business Blueprint
TR198
TM
Forum
Multi-Cloud Service Management Pack –Developer Primer

Table 15 – Performance Standards

60

StatusUnder Development

Approved Standard
Approved Standard
Approved Standard

Approved Standard

Approved Standard

Approved Standard

Approved Standard

Approved Standard

NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

7.5

ACCESSIBILITY STANDARDS MAPPINGAs discussed in Section 6.7, adherence to Section 508 accessibility standards would be required formany federal cloud computing applications. The Section 508 standards are being revised and areincorporating international voluntary consensus standards. The following table lists accessibility
standards, which may be relevant for federal cloud computing applications.

Categorization
Accessibility

Available Standards

SDO

StatusSection 508 standards (Technical Standards
1194.21 Software applications and operating
systems; § 1194.22 Web-based intranet andinternet information and applications; and1194.23 Telecommunications products)

US Access
Board

Approved Standard

W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines(WCAG) 2.0

W3C

ISO 9241-20:2008, Ergonomics of humansystem interaction -- Part 20: Accessibility
guidelines for information/communication
technology (ICT) equipment and services

ISO/IEC

Approved Standard

ISO 9241-171:2008, Ergonomics of humansystem interaction -- Part 171: Guidance on
software accessibility

ISO/IEC

Approved Standard

ISO/IEC 24751-1:2008, Information
technology -- Individualized adaptability andaccessibility in e-learning, education andtraining -- Part 1: Framework and reference
model

ISO/IEC

Approved Standard

ANSI/HFES 200 Human Factors Engineeringof Software User Interfaces (Parts 1, 2, and 3)

ANSI

Approved Standard

Under Revision
Approved Standard
Market Acceptance

Table 16 – Accessibility Standards

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Market AcceptanceNIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

8ANALYZING USE CASES TO IDENTIFY STANDARDS GAPS

There are several facets of cloud service interfaces that are candidates for standardization including:•Management APIs;•

Data Exchange Formats;•Federated Identity and Security Policy APIs;•

Resource Descriptions; and•Data Storage APIs.

With these candidate areas in mind, the following business use cases can be analyzed with regard totheir possible deployment modes (as discussed in Section 4.3) to identify required standards. This
analysis, in conjunction with the NIST Cloud Standards Inventory, enables the availability of
relevant existing and emerging standards to be evaluated. Where no suitable standards of any kindexist, this is a gap. The priority of the standards or requirements in question is also identified.
8.1

USE CASE: CREATING, ACCESSING, UPDATING, DELETING DATA OBJECTS IN
CLOUD SYSTEMS

Benefits: Cross-cloud system applications
Deployment Mode Considerations: Basic Create-Read-Update-Delete (CRUD) operations on data
objects will primarily be done between a single client and provider, and should observe any
required standards for authentication and authorization.
Standardization Needed: Standard interfaces to metadata and data objects
Possible Standards: CDMI from SNIA62

NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

8.2

USE CASE: MOVING VMS, VIRTUAL APPLIANCES, SERVICES, AND APPLIANCESBETWEEN CLOUDS

Benefits: Migration, Hybrid Clouds, Disaster Recovery, Cloudbursting
Deployment Mode Considerations: When moving a VM out of one cloud system and into another as
two separate actions, conceivably two different ID management systems could be used. When
moving VMs in a truly hybrid cloud, however, federated ID management standards will be needed.
Standardization Needed: Common VM description format, common service and application
description format
Possible Standards: OVF from DMTF, TOSCA from OASIS, OpenID, Oauth
8.3

USE CASE: SELECTING THE BEST IAAS CLOUD VENDOR, PUBLIC OR PRIVATE

Benefits: Provide cost-effective reliable deployments
Deployment Mode Considerations: When considering hybrid or distributed (inter)cloud
deployments, uniform and consistent resource, performance, and policy descriptions are needed.
Standardization Needed: Resource and performance requirements description languages.
Possible Standards: For basic resource descriptions, DMTF CIM and OGF GLUE are candidates.
Other, more extensive description languages for performance or policy enforcement are to be
determined. For Master Service Agreements and Service Level Agreements, WS-Agreement and
WS-Agreement-Negotiation (WS-AG, WS-AN) from OGF; for cloud application and service leveldescription of attributes, relationships, requirements, and capabilities, TOSCA from OASIS.
8.4

USE CASE: PORTABLE TOOLS FOR MONITORING AND MANAGING CLOUDSYSTEMS

Benefits: Simplifies operations as opposed to individual tools for each cloud
Deployment Mode Considerations: Monitoring and managing are separate but closely related tasks.
The standards required will differ depending on whether the monitoring and managing must be
done across trust boundaries or across distributed environments.
Standardization Needed: Standard monitoring and management interfaces to IaaS resources

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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

Possible Standards: Cloud IaaS management standards include CIMI from DMTF and OCCI from
OGF; OCCI has also been successfully applied to management of aggregated federated cloudsystems. PaaS APIs vary widely, but CAMP from OASIS has begun standardization work in thisarea. SaaS standardization on data formats and exchange protocols may be possible. Basic
monitoring standards exist, such as the Syslog Protocol (IETF RFC 5424), which can be used with
the Transport Layer Security (TLS) Transport Mapping for Syslog (IETF RFC 5425). Basicmanagement standards include the Cloud Management WG from DMTF, and OCCI from OGF.

8.5•

An Overview of the IETF Network Management Standards (IETF RFC 6632)•

Simple Network Management Protocol or SNMP (IETF RFC 3411)•

IP Flow Information eXport or IPFIX (IETF RFC 5101)•

Network Configuration Protocol or NETCONF (IETF RFC 6241)•

WS-AG and WS-AN for expression of service agreement monitoring parameters andunits and for expression of remedy terms and negotiation parameters.

USE CASE: MOVING DATA BETWEEN CLOUD SYSTEMS

Benefits: Migration between cloud systems, cross-cloud application, and B2B integration
Deployment Mode Considerations: Migrating data from one cloud system to another in two separate
moves through the client is a simpler case. Migrating data directly from one cloud system to anotherwill require standards for federated identity, delegation of trust, and secure third-party datatransfers.
Standardization Needed: Standard metadata/data formats for movement between cloud systems
Standardized query languages (e.g., for NoSQL for IaaS)
Possible Standards: AS4, OAGIS, NoSQL, GridFTP, DFDL, CDMI

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8.6

USE CASE: SINGLE SIGN-ON ACCESS TO MULTIPLE CLOUD SYSTEMS

Benefits: Simplified access, cross-cloud applications
Deployment Mode Considerations: Single sign-on can mean using the same credentials to accessdifferent cloud systems independently at different times. Single sign-on to access an inter-cloud
application that spans multiple cloud systems will require federated identity management,delegation of trust, and virtual organizations.
Standardization Needed: Federated identity, authorization, and virtual organizations
Possible Standards: OpenID, OAuth, SAML, WS-Federation and WS-Trust, CSA outputs; Virtual
Organization Management System (VOMS) from OGF.
8.7

USE CASE: ORCHESTRATEDENTERPRISE SYSTEMSPROCESSESACROSSCLOUD

SYSTEMSAND

Benefits: Direct support for necessarily distributed systems
Deployment Mode Considerations: This use case is inherently distributed and across trust
boundaries. This can be generally termed federated resource management and is a central concept in
the grid computing community. The term inter-cloud can also be used to denote this concept.
Standardizations Needed: To address this use case completely, an entire set of capabilities need to
be standardized, e.g.:•

Infrastructure services;•

Execution Management services;•

Data services;•

Resource Management services;•

Security services;•

Self-management services; and•Information services.

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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

Possible Standards: SOA standards (such as WS-I) and grid standards (such as the OGSA WSRF
Basic Profile, OGF GFD-R-P.072) exist that cover these areas, but issues around stateful resources,
callbacks/notifications, and remote content lifetime management has caused these to be eclipsed by
the simplicity of Representational State Transfer (REST). Hence, standard, REST-based versions ofthese capabilities must be developed. Such work is being done in several organizations, including
the IEEE.
DMTF and OGF. The OGF Distributed Computing Infrastructure Federations Working Group (DCI
Federal [DCIfed]-WG) is addressing two usage scenarios: (1) delegation of workload from one
domain into the other, covering job description, submission, and monitoring; and (2) leasing ofresources, including resource definition, provisioning, and monitoring. Existing standards to support
this include WS-Agreement, Job Submission Description Language, GLUE, OGSA Basic
Execution Service, OCCI, and Usage Record. Specific business application data formats may besupported by OASIS.
Workflow and workflow engines will also need standardization and adoption in the cloud arena.
BPEL is one existing standard but extensions might be needed to efficiently support scientific andengineering workflows.
8.8

USE CASE: DISCOVERING CLOUD RESOURCES

Benefits: Selection of appropriate cloud systems for applications
Deployment Mode Considerations: To support inter-cloud resource discovery, secure federated
catalog standards are needed.
Standardization Needed: Description languages for available resources, Catalogue interfaces
Possible Standards: This use case addresses two areas of standardization: (1) description languages
for the resources to be discovered, and (2) the discovery APIs for the discovery process itself. Someexisting standards and tools cover both areas. RDF is a standard formalism for describing resources
as triples consisting of subject-predicate-object. The Dublin Core is a small fundamental set of text
elements for describing resources of all types. It is commonly expressed in RDF. Since the Dublin
Core is a “core” set, it is intended to be extensible for a broad range of application domains.
Such work is being pursued by the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative. ebXML Registry Information
Model (ebRIM) actually defines both a description language and a discovery method, ebXML
Registry Services (ebRS).
ID-WSF also defines both a discovery information model and discovery services that coverfederated identity and access management. LDAP is an existing standard that has been used to build
catalogue and discovery services, but issues might occur with regards to read vs. write optimization.
UDDI is another existing standard from OASIS. A third existing standard is CSW from OGC that66

NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

uses ebRIM. While this was originally developed to support geospatial applications, it is widelyused in distributed catalogues that include services. All of these existing standards need to beevaluated for suitability for cataloguing and discovery of cloud resources and services.
8.9

USE CASE: EVALUATING SLAS AND PENALTIES

Benefits: Selection of appropriate cloud resources
Deployment Mode Considerations: SLAs will be primarily established between a single client andprovider, and should observe any required standards for authentication, authorization, and nonrepudiation. The need for SLAs between a single client but across multiple providers will be muchless common. The difficulty in effectively implementing distributed SLAs will also discourage theirdevelopment.
Standardization Needed: SLA description language
Possible Standards: WS-Agreement (GFD.107) defines a language and a protocol for advertising
the capabilities of service providers and creating agreements based on creational offers, and formonitoring agreement compliance at runtime. This is supported by WS-AgreementNegotiation(OGF), which defines a protocol for automated negotiation of offers, counter offers, and terms ofagreements defined under WS-Agreement-based service agreements.
8.10

USE CASE: AUDITING CLOUD SYSTEMS

Benefits: Ensure regulatory compliance. Verify information assurance.
Deployment Mode Considerations: Auditing will be done primarily between a single client andprovider, and should observe any required standards for authentication, authorization, integrity, andnon-repudiation.
Standardization Needed: Auditing standards and verification check lists
Possible Standards: CSA Cloud Audit. Relevant informational work can be found in Guidelines for
Auditing Grid Certificate Authorities (OGF GFD.169).

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8.11

END-TO-END: CLOUD RESOURCE MANAGEMENT USE CASE

Benefits: Supports customer service in a multi-cloud service provider environment.
Deployment/Management Mode Considerations: This use case involves the management of end-toend health and QoS of the services offered by a cloud service provider that involves the integrationof several base services offered by multiple cloud service providers, forming composite cloudservices and applications.
Standardizations Needed: A framework for multi-cloud resource and service management that
support the manageability for a single cloud service as well as for multiple cloud services
Possible Standards: In order for the composite cloud computing services to work effectively, all theprerequisite services within the multi-cloud service system must function properly, and when aproblem occurs, the service must be restored rapidly and easily. In this use case, there are the two
types of connection paths, namely Service Delivery Path and Service Management Path. When thecloud consumer is experiencing a problem with an application service and contacts a cloud service
provider support center, the cloud service provider should have visibility into the health and welfareof the cloud service provider application service, its underlying cloud infrastructure, as well as the
local service provider’s network management systems relevant to the voice application service (i.e.,
end-to-end cloud resource management). Standards are needed that would offer ways to build suchend-to-end and manageable multi-cloud solutions.

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9USG PRIORITIES TO FILL CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS GAPS

Cloud computing is the result of evolutions of distributed computing technologies, enabled byadvances in fast and low-cost networks, commoditized faster hardware, practical high-performance
virtualization technologies, and maturing interactive web technologies. Cloud computing continues
to leverage the maturity of these underlying technologies, including many standard-based
technologies and system architecture components. As the previous sections of the cloud computing
standards survey show, the majority of cloud system relevant standards are from these pre-cloud era
technologies.
In the meantime, there are emerging challenges in some areas in cloud computing that have beenaddressed by technology vendors and service providers’ unique innovations. New service modelinteractions and the distributed nature in resource control and ownership in cloud computing haveresulted in new standards gaps. Some of these gaps are introduced by new service modelinteractions and the distributed nature of resource control and ownership in cloud computing andsome are pre-cloud computing era technology standardization gaps that are now brought to theforefront.
In this section, first, we use the cloud computing conceptual model from NIST Cloud Computing
Reference Architecture and Taxonomy Working Group as described in Chapter 3 as the frameworkof reference to identify these gaps in need of standardization. Secondly, we use a broad set of USG
business use cases as described in previous sections and from the NIST Cloud Computing Target
Business Use Case Working Group, to identify priorities of standardization that will maximize thebenefits and meet the more urgent needs of federal government consumers.
9.1

AREAS OF STANDARDIZATION GAPSAs the cloud computing conceptual model indicates, cloud computing consumers do not have direct
visibility into the physical computing resources. Instead, consumers interact with service providers
through three service model interfaces, IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS, to gain a view of the abstracted
computing resource they are using. As described in Chapter 5, Cloud Computing Standards, theseinteraction interfaces can be categorized into two types: (1) functional interfaces that expose theprimary function of the service, and (2) management interfaces that let the consumers manage therented computing resources. The following areas of standardization gaps are observed through thestandards inventory.

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9.1.1

SAAS FUNCTIONAL INTERFACES

The varieties of the SaaS applications determine what can be consumed by the SaaS consumer.
There are varying degrees of functional standardization. SaaS applications are mainly available byusing a web browser, and some are consumed as a web service using other application clients, suchas standalone desktop applications and mobile applications. Even as most SaaS applications areusing web and web service standards to deliver these application capabilities, application-specificdata and metadata standards remain standardization gaps in portability and interoperability. For
example, email and office productivity application data format standards and interfaces are required
to achieve interoperability and portability for migrating from existing systems to cloud systems.
Another important area for standardization is the metadata format and interfaces, in particular, tosupport compliance needs. For example, standard metadata format and APIs to describe andgenerate e-discovery metadata for emails, document management systems, financial accountsystems, etc., will help government consumers to leverage commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) andgovernment off-the-shelf (GOTS) software products to meet e-discovery requirements. This isespecially important when email messaging systems, content management systems, or Enterprise
Resource Planning (ERP) financial systems migrate to a SaaS model.
9.1.2

SAAS SELF-SERVICE MANAGEMENT INTERFACES

Due to the diverse domain and functional differences among SaaS offerings, the management
interfaces used for the consumers to administer and customize the application functionalities arealso very diverse. However, certain management functionalities are common, such as those related
to user account and credential management. These common management functionalities represent
candidates for interoperability standardization.
9.1.3

PAAS FUNCTIONAL INTERFACES

PaaS functional interfaces encompass the runtime environment with supporting libraries and systemcomponents for developers to develop and deploy SaaS applications. Standard-based APIs are often
part of a PaaS offering such that the PaaS provider can enable existing development for a cloudbased hosting system. However, data format for backup and migration of application workload,
including database serialization/de-serialization, need further standardization to support portability.
9.1.4

BUSINESS SUPPORT, PROVISIONING AND CONFIGURATIONIn cloud service management areas, the importance of standard data formats and interfaces to
describe service-level agreement (SLA) and quality of service (QoS) in traditional IT systems ishigh. While standards do exist for SLA negotiation and automated service condition matching, theapplication of these to the fine level of detail expected for large-scale cloud use cases is justdeveloping. Computing resource description and discovery are also in need of standardization as
consumers transition from buying and managing resources to renting resources in a cloud system.
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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAPThis is limited not only to raw computing resources such as virtualized processing, storage, andnetworking resources, but also includes higher-level abstractions of application processing
resources. A standardization gap identified in a related area is metering and billing of service
consumptions; data formats and management interfaces are used to report, deliver, andcommunicate this usage information.
9.1.5

SECURITYAs cloud systems are typically external components in a consumer organization’s overall IT system,
especially in the outsourced (off-site) deployment models, the need to have seamless security
integration calls for interoperable standard interfaces for authentication, authorization, andcommunication protections. The challenges of identity and access management across different
network and administration domains are more prominent in the cloud system as the implementationof these capabilities within the cloud systems are often not the same organization as consumer
organization where the identity information originates. Standardization in areas such as identity
provisioning, management, secure and efficient replication across different systems, and identity
federation will greatly help to improve the identity management capabilities in cloud systems. A
related area with specifically wide government usage that can benefit from standardization is single
sign-on interface and protocols that support strong authentication.
Government IT systems have strong auditing and compliance needs. In many cases, theserequirements must be in place before a system can be approved for operation. The standardization
gap in this area exacerbates as the consumer organizations typically do not own or control theunderlying system resources that implement the system capabilities. Standardization in policies,
processes, and technical controls that support the security auditing requirements, regulations, andlaw compliance needs to consider the collaboration process between the cloud consumers andproviders, their roles, and the sharing of the responsibilities in implementing the system capabilities.
9.1.6

ACCESSIBILITY

A standardized “framework” for exchanging an individual’s accessibility requirements does notpresently exist. A standardized method for automatic recognition of a user’s requirements foraccessibility would automatically identify the need for having an accessibility requirement known
after the first request, for example, captioning for all subsequent video. (Note: Such automatic
recognition features can trigger privacy issues depending how the information is used.)71

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9.2

STANDARDIZATION PRIORITIES BASED ON USG CLOUD COMPUTING ADOPTIONPRIORITIESAs described in the Federal Cloud Computing Strategy, some cloud computing business use cases
have higher priorities than others. The requirements expressed in these high-priority target businessuse cases can be used to prioritize the standardization gaps. For example, various USG groups haveidentified data center consolidation using virtualization technologies as one of the primary goals in
the next few years. Migrating collaboration applications, including email messaging (email,contacts, and calendars) and online office productivity application, to the cloud system is also
quoted as an early target of government cloud operation.
By analyzing the USG cloud computing target business use cases with their specific technicalrequirements, one can point out the following basic drivers that can be used to prioritize cloudcomputing standard gaps:•

The focus on supporting migration of system workload, including data, metadata andprocessing logic of existing in-house IT systems, to cloud-based systems to ensure
continuous operation; this focus is centered on portability standards.

•

The need to have interoperability between existing in-house IT systems and cloud-based
systems, as cloud-deployed systems will be only a part of the overall enterprise system; thisneed is centered on interoperability standards, including security standards.

•

The need to help government consumers to choose and buy the most cost-effective
solutions. If a cloud solution is not as economical as an in-house traditional IT system, there
is no financial incentive to move the system to the cloud system.

Based on these understandings, the following areas of standardization gaps in cloud computing areof higher priority for USG cloud consumers:
9.2.1

SECURITY AUDITING AND COMPLIANCE

Data format standards for auditing, compliance data and metadata are needed. Standard interfaces toretrieve and manage these data and metadata assets are also required to be integrated with existing
tools and processes. In addition, policy, process and technical control standards are needed tosupport more manageable assessment and accreditation processes, which are often a prerequisite
before a system is put in operation.

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9.2.2

IDENTITY AND ACCESS MANAGEMENTAs described earlier, security integration of a cloud system into existing enterprise security
infrastructure is a must for the majority of government systems with moderate and greater impact.
Existing practices of external cloud-based components in identity and access management is often
based on proprietary and custom integration solutions. Constant and standard ways of provisioning
identity data, managing identity data, and replicating to-and-from cloud system components, areneeded to ensure that consumer organizations’ short-term and long-terms needs are met.
Many government systems are required to have strong authentication, such as two-factor
authentication implemented in an Internet-deployed system. Standards in supporting single sign-on
and strong authentication are a must for these types of systems.
9.2.3

SAAS APPLICATION SPECIFIC DATA AND METADATA

To support the urgent need to migrate certain applications to the cloud system, application-specificdata and metadata format standards are required. This is an area where a lot of SaaS providers
currently help consumer organizations to migrate their existing system by offering custom
conversion and migration support. However, without standards in data and metadata format forthese applications, the potential danger exists of creating non-interoperable islands of cloud
solutions and vendor lock-in. For example, some SaaS email solutions may not be fullyinteroperable with in-house email and calendaring solutions. There are specific email working
groups 25 in the federal cloud computing initiative that are looking into putting forward specificmetadata standardization requirements for email security, privacy, and record management. Other
SaaS functional areas, such as document management and financial systems, are also among thehigh-priority areas where standards in data and metadata are needed.
9.2.4

RESOURCE DESCRIPTION AND DISCOVERY

Description and discovery of computing resources needs are usually the first steps for consumers totake to start using cloud computing. Standard methods to describe resources will facilitate
programmatically interoperable cloud applications to discover and use cloud computing resources
such as computing resources, storage resources, or application resources. To establish private orcommunity cloud computing as a way to implement data center consolidation, standards for theseareas are important to avoid the implementation of vendor-specific interfaces, and also helps toincrease the dynamic provisioning capabilities of the solution and utility of the computing
resources.

25

https://www.fbo.gov/utils/view?id=4c4e37f4f1bcd2cb8d0a16f0e1b0ddbe

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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAPThe following table summarizes the areas of standardization gaps and standardization priorities
based on USG cloud computing adoption requirements.
9.2.5

SUMMARY OF STANDARDIZATION GAPS AND STANDARDIZATION PRIORITIES

Table 17 – Areas of Standardization Gaps and Standardization Priorities provides a mapping ofpresent standards gaps and how they relate to USG high priorities.

Area of Standardization Gaps

High Priorities for Standardization Based
On USG Requirements

SaaS Functional Interfaces (9.1.1 / page 70),e.g.,High standardization priorities on:-

Data format and interface standards foremail and office productivity-

Metadata format and interface
standards for e-discovery

SaaS Self-Service Management Interfaces(Section 9.1.2), e.g.,-

SaaS application specific data andmetadata format standards to support
interoperability and portability
requirement when migrating highvalue, low-risk applications to SaaS
(Section 9.2.3).

Not a high standardization priority at thistime

Interface standards related to user
account and credential management

PaaS Functional Interfaces (Section 9.1.3),
e.g.,
-

-

Not a high standardization priority at thistimeStandards of data format to support
database serialization and deserialization

Business Support, Provisioning andConfiguration (Section 9.1.4), e.g.,-Standards for describing cloud servicelevel agreement and quality of services-

Standards for describing anddiscovering cloud service resources-Standards for metering and billing ofservice consumptions and usage

High standardization priorities on:-

74

Resource description and discovery
standards to support data center
consolidation using private andcommunity IaaS cloud systems(Section 9.2.4)

NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP

Area of Standardization Gaps

High Priorities for Standardization Based
On USG Requirements

Security (Section 9.1.5), e.g.,High standardization priorities on:-Standards for identity provisioning andmanagement across different network
and administration domains-

Standards for secure and efficient
replication of identity and access policy
information across systems-

Single Sign-On interface and protocol
standards that support strong
authentication-

Standards in policies, processes, andtechnical controls in supporting thesecurity auditing, regulation, and law
compliance needs

Accessibility (Section 9.1.6), e.g.
-Standardized “framework” for exchanging
an individual’s accessibility requirements-

Security auditing and compliancestandards to support secure
deployment, assess, and accreditation
process for cloud-specificdeployment (Section 9.2.1)-

Identity and access management
standards to support secure
integration of cloud systems into
existing enterprise security
infrastructure (Section 9.2.2)

Not a high standardization priority at thistime

Table 17 – Areas of Standardization Gaps and Standardization Priorities

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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP10CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

10.1

CONCLUSIONS

Cloud computing can enable USG agencies to achieve cost savings and increased ability to quickly
create and deploy enterprise applications. While cloud computing technology challenges many
traditional approaches to data center and enterprise application design and management,
requirements for accessibility, interoperability, performance, portability, and security remain
critically important for successful deployments. Technically sound and timely standards are
instrumental to ensuring that requirements for interoperability, portability, and security are met.
There is a fast-changing landscape of cloud computing-relevant standardization under way in a
number of SDOs. While there are only a few approved cloud computing-specific standards atpresent, USG agencies should be encouraged to participate in specific cloud computing standards
development projects that support their priorities in cloud computing services.
10.2

RECOMMEDATIONTO USG
AGENCIES TO HELP ACCELERATEDEVELOPMENT AND USE OF CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDSTHE

USG laws and policies encourage federal agency participation in the development and use ofvoluntary consensus standards and in conformity assessment activities. The following
recommendations provide further guidance on how agencies can help to accelerate the development
and use of cloud computing standards.
Recommendation 1 – Contribute Agency Requirements
Agencies should coordinate and contribute clear and comprehensive user requirements for cloudcomputing standards projects.
Recommendation 2 – Participate in Standards Development
Agencies should actively participate and coordinate in cloud computing standards development
projects that are of high priority to their agency missions. The January 17, 2012, White House
Memorandum, M-12-08, lists five fundamental strategic objectives for federal government agencies
whenever engaging in standards development:•

Produce timely, effective standards and efficient conformity assessment schemes that are
essential to addressing an identified need;•

Achieve cost-efficient, timely, and effective solutions to legitimate regulatory, procurement,
and policy objectives;

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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAP•

Promote standards and standardization systems that promote and sustain innovation andfoster competition;•

Enhance U.S. growth and competitiveness and ensure non-discrimination, consistent withinternational obligations; and•Facilitate international trade and avoid the creation of unnecessary obstacles to trade.

Recommendation 3 – Encourage Testing to Accelerate Technically Sound Standards-Based
Deployments
Agencies should support the concurrent development of conformity and interoperability assessment
schemes to accelerate the development and use of technically sound cloud computing standards andstandards-based products, processes, and services. Agencies should also include consideration ofconformity assessment approaches currently in place that take account of elements frominternational systems, to minimize duplicative testing and encourage private sector support.
Recommendation 4 – Specify Cloud Computing Standards
Agencies should specify cloud computing standards in their procurements and grant guidance when
multiple vendors offer standards-based implementations and there is evidence of successfulinteroperability testing.
Recommendation 5 – USG-Wide Use of Cloud Computing Standards
To support USG requirements for accessibility, interoperability, performance, portability, andsecurity in cloud computing, the Federal Cloud Computing Standards and Technology Working
Group, in coordination with the Federal CIO Council Cloud Computing Executive Steering
Committee (CCESC) and the Cloud First Task Force, should recommend specific cloud computing
standards and best practices for USG-wide use.

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11

BIBLIOGRAPHY
This section provides sources for additional information.

Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF)• Interoperable Clouds White Paper
DSP-IS0101 Cloud Interoperability White Paper V1.0.0
This white paper describes a snapshot of the work being done in the DMTF Open Cloud Standards
Incubator, including use cases and reference architecture as they relate to the interfaces between a
cloudserviceprovider
and
a
cloud
serviceconsumer.
http://dmtf.org/sites/default/files/standards/documents/DSP-IS0101_1.0.0.pdf• Architecture for Managing Clouds White Paper
DSP-IS0102 Architecture for Managing Clouds White Paper V1.0.0
This white paper is one of two Phase 2 deliverables from the DMTF Cloud Incubator and describes
the reference architecture as it relates to the interfaces between a cloud service provider and a cloudservice consumer. The goal of the Incubator is to define a set of architectural semantics that unify
theinteroperable
managementofenterprise
and
cloud
computing.
http://dmtf.org/sites/default/files/standards/documents/DSP-IS0102_1.0.0.pdf• Use Cases and Interactions for Managing Clouds White Paper
DSP-IS0103 Use Cases and Interactions for Managing Clouds White Paper V1.0.0
This document is one of two documents that together describe how standardized interfaces and data
formats can be used to manage clouds. The document focuses on use cases, interactions, and data
formats. http://dmtf.org/sites/default/files/standards/documents/DSP-IS0103_1.0.0.pdf

Global Inter-Cloud Technology Forum (GICTF)
Use Cases and Functional Requirements for Inter-Cloud Computing
Published on August 2010
http://www.gictf.jp/doc/GICTF_Whitepaper_20100809.pdf
This white paper describes three areas of advantages of inter-cloud computing, which are assured orprioritized performance, availability, and convenience of combined services. Several use cases ofinter-cloud computing are provided with details according to these three areas, such as assured
performance against transient overload, disaster recovery and service continuity for availability, andfederated service provisions, followed by sequential procedures and functional requirements foreach use case. Essential functional entities and interfaces are identified to meet these described
requirements.

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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAPTechnical Requirements for Supporting the Intercloud Networking
Published on April 2012
http://www.gictf.jp/doc/GICTF_NWSWG-WhitePaper_e_20120420.pdf
Based on the preceding Inter-Cloud use cases and functional requirements, this white paper
describes technical requirements for each use case such as assured service level, disaster recovery,
service continuity, and federated service provisions.
It also shows expected technical evolutions in a next few years.
TM Forum
Cloud Monetization Differentiating Cloud Services
Released: January 2012https://www.tmforum.org/WhitePapers/CloudMonetization/47730/article.html
This whitepaper explores the various cloud bill requirements and complexities for the different
cloud business models. It will also explore the expectations from customers of cloud services, withrespect to billing for cloud services, highlighting gaps and potential risks to service provider
success, as well as recommend areas for further action.

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12APPENDIX A – NIST FEDERAL INFORMATION PROCESSING STANDARDSAND SPECIAL PUBLICATIONS RELEVANT TO CLOUD COMPUTING

Federal Information Process Standards Publication (FIPS) 199, Standards for Security
Categorization of Federal Information and Information Systems
Federal Information Processing Standards Publication (FIPS) 200, Minimum Security Requirements
for Federal Information and Information Systems
NIST Special Publication 500-292, NIST Cloud Computing Reference Architecture, September
2011
NIST Special Publication 500-293, U.S. Government Cloud Computing Technology Roadmap,
Release 1.0 (Draft), Volume I High-Priority Requirements to Further USG Agency Cloud
Computing Adoption, November 2011
NIST Special Publication 500-293, U.S. Government Cloud Computing Technology Roadmap,
Release 1.0 (Draft), Volume II Useful Information for Cloud Adopters, November 2011
NIST Special Publication 800-37 Rev.1, Guide for Applying the Risk Management Framework toFederal Information Systems: A Security Life Cycle Approach
NIST Special Publication 800-53 Rev.4, Security and Privacy Controls for Federal Information
Systems and Organizations
NIST Special Publication 800-53 Rev.3, Recommended Security Controls for Federal Information
Systems and Organizations
NIST Special Publication 800-92, Guide to Computer Security Log Management
NIST Special Publication 800-125, Guide to Security for Full Virtualization Technologies
NIST Special Publication 800-137, Information Security Continuous Monitoring for Federal
Information Systems and Organizations
NIST Special Publication 800-144, Guidelines on Security and Privacy Issues in Public Cloud
Computing
NIST Special Publication 800-145, The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing
NIST Special Publication 800-146, Cloud Computing Synopsis and Recommendations

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13

APPENDIX B – DEFINITIONS

Accreditation - Third-party attestation related to a conformity assessment body conveying formal
demonstration of its competence to carry out specific conformity assessment tasks [SOURCE:
ISO/IEC 17000:2004, Conformity assessment — Vocabulary and general principles]
Accessibility– Measurable characteristics that indicate the degree to which a system is available to, and usable
by, individuals with disabilities. The most common disabilities include those associated with vision,
hearing, and mobility, as well as cognitive disabilities.
[SOURCE: This report]– Usability of a product, service, environment or facility by individuals with the widest range ofcapabilities
NOTE 1 issues.
Although "accessibility" typically addresses users who have a disability, the concept is not limited
to disability.
NOTE 2 Adapted from ISO/TS 16071:2003, Ergonomics of human-system interaction -- Guidanceon accessibility for human-computer interfaces[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 24751-1:2008, Information technology -- Individualized adaptability andaccessibility in e-learning, education and training -- Part 1: Framework and reference model]
Attestation – Issue of a statement, based on a decision following review that fulfillment ofspecified requirements has been demonstrated[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 17000:2004, Conformity assessment — Vocabulary and general principles]
Certification – Third-party attestation related to products, processes, systems or persons.
NOTE 1 Certification of a management system is sometimes also called registration.
NOTE 2 Certification is applicable to all objects of conformity assessment except for conformity
assessment bodies themselves, to which accreditation is applicable.
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 17000:2004, Conformity assessment — Vocabulary and general principles]
Conformity assessment – Demonstration that specified requirements relating to a product process,system, person or body are fulfilled [ISO/IEC 17000:2004, Conformity assessment — Vocabulary
and general principles][SOURCE: Guidance on Federal Conformity Assessment Activities
http://gsi.nist.gov/global/index.cfm/L1-5/L2-45/A-332][SOURCE: The ABC’s of the U.S. Conformity Assessment System
http://gsi.nist.gov/global/index.cfm/L1-5/L2-45/A-337]
First-party conformity assessment activity – Conformity assessment activity that is performed by
the person or organization that provides the object
NOTE: The first-, second- and third-party descriptors used to characterize conformity assessment
activities with respect to a given object are not to be confused with the legal identification of therelevant parties to a contract.
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 17000:2004, Conformity assessment — Vocabulary and general principles]81

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Data Migration – The periodic transfer of data from one hardware or software configuration toanother or from one generation of computer technology to a subsequent generation. Migration is anecessary action for retaining the integrity of the data and for allowing users to search, retrieve, andmake use of data in the face of constantly changing technology.
[SOURCE : http ://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~scisco/lis389c.5/email/gloss.html]
Information Technologies (IT) – Encompasses all technologies for the capture, storage, retrieval,processing, display, representation, organization, management, security, transfer, and interchange ofdata and information.
[SOURCE: This report]
Interoperability – The capabilities to communicate, execute programs, or transfer data among
various functional units under specified conditions.
[SOURCE: American National Standard Dictionary of Information Technology (ANSDIT)]
Maintainability – A measure of the ease with which maintenance of a functional unit can be
performed using prescribed procedures and resources. Synonymous with serviceability. [SOURCE:
American National Standard Dictionary of Information Technology (ANSDIT)]
Network Resilience – A computing infrastructure that provides continuous business operation (i.e.,highly resistant to disruption and able to operate in a degraded mode if damaged), rapid recovery if
failure does occur, and the ability to scale to meet rapid or unpredictable demands.
[SOURCE: The Committee on National Security Systems Instruction No 4009,"National
Information Assurance Glossary.” CNSSI-4009]
Performance – The ability to track service and resource usage levels and to provide feedback on
the responsiveness and reliability of the network.
[SOURCE: ETSI and 3GPP Dictionary]Portability – The capability of a program to be executed on various types of data processing
systems with little or no modification and without converting the program to a different language.
[SOURCE: American National Standard Dictionary of Information Technology (ANSDIT)]–

1) The ability to transfer data from one system to another without being required to recreate orreenter data descriptions or to modify significantly the application being transported.
– 2) The ability of software or of a system to run on more than one type or size of computer undermore than one operating system.
[SOURCE: Federal Standard 1037C, Glossary of Telecommunication Terms, 1996]
Privacy – Information privacy is the assured, proper, and consistent collection, processing,communication, use, and disposition of personal information (PI) and personally identifiable
information (PII) throughout its life cycle.
[SOURCE: NIST Cloud Computing Reference Architecture and Taxonomy Working Group]82

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Reference implementation – An implementation of a standard to be used as a definitive
interpretation for the requirements in that standard. Reference implementations can serve many
purposes. They can be used to verify that the standard is implementable, validate conformance test
tools, and support interoperability testing among other implementations. A reference
implementation may or may not have the quality of a commercial product or service that
implements the standard.
[SOURCE: This report]
Reliability – A measure of the ability of a functional unit to perform a required function under
given conditions for a given time interval.
[SOURCE: American National Standard Dictionary of Information Technology (ANSDIT)]
A time server / time service provides accurate and reliable network time where various vendor’s
products are calibrated to NIST's Time Server / Time Service, for example in wide area computing
TIME sharing, metrics and metering of computational node, cloud center traversals using industry
standard groups protocols such as IEEE C37.118, IEC 61850, and IEEE 802.1AG for execution
management, governance of execution run time where a reference time stamp marks the scheduling,e.g., start, stop and time to live of a run time service or distributed algorithm.
Resilience– The ability to reduce the magnitude and/or duration of disruptive events to critical infrastructure.
The effectiveness of a resilient infrastructure or enterprise depends upon its ability to anticipate,absorb, adapt to, and/or rapidly recover from a potentially disruptive event. [SOURCE: Critical
Infrastructure Resilience Final Report and Recommendations, National Infrastructure Advisory
Council, September 8, 2009]– The adaptive capability of an organization in a complex and changing environment.
[SOURCE: ASIS International, ASIS SPC.1-2009, American National Standard, Organizational
Resilience: Security, Preparedness, and Continuity Management System – Requirements with
Guidance for Use.]
Risk Management – Coordinated activities to direct and control an organization with regard to risk
ISO/IEC 27005, Information Technology – Security Techniques – Information Security Risk
Management

Second-party conformity assessment activity – Conformity assessment activity that is performed
by a person or organization that has a user interest in the object[ISO/IEC 17000:2004, Conformity assessment — Vocabulary and general principles]83

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Security – Refers to information security. Information security means protecting information andinformation systems from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, or
destruction in order to provide:•

Integrity, which means guarding against improper information modification or destruction, andincludes ensuring information non-repudiation and authenticity;• Confidentiality, which means preserving authorized restrictions on access and disclosure,including means for protecting personal privacy and proprietary information; and• Availability, which means ensuring timely and reliable access to and use of information.
[SOURCE: Title III of the E-Government Act, entitled the Federal Information Security
Management Act of 2002 (FISMA)]
Standard– A document, established by consensus and approved by a recognized body that provides forcommon and repeated use, rules, guidelines or characteristics for activities or their results, aimed at
the achievement of the optimum degree of order in a given context. Note: Standards should bebased on the consolidated results of science, technology, and experience, and aimed at thepromotion of optimum community benefits.
[SOURCE: ISO/IEC Guide 2:2004, Standardization and related activities – General Vocabulary,definition 3.2]
– A document that may provide the requirements for: a product, process or service; a management
or engineering process; or a testing methodology. An example of a product standard is the multipart
ISO/IEC 24727, Integrated circuit card programming interfaces. An example of a management
process standard is the ISO/IEC 27000, Information security management systems, family ofstandards. An example of an engineering process standard is ISO/IEC 15288, System life cycle
processes. An example of a testing methodology standard is the multipart ISO/IEC 19795,
Biometric Performance Testing and Reporting.
Standards Developing Organization (SDO) – Any organization that develops and approves
standards using various methods to establish consensus among its participants. Such organizations
may be: accredited, such as ANSI-accredited IEEE; or international treaty-based, such as the
ITU-T; or international private sector-based, such as ISO/IEC; or an international consortium, such
as OASIS or IETF; or a government agency.
SOURCE: [This report]
Third-party conformity assessment activity – Conformity assessment activity that is performed
by a person or body that is independent of the person or organization that provides the object anduser interests in that object[SOURCE: ISO/IEC 17000:2004, Conformity assessment — Vocabulary and general principles]
Test – Technical operation that consists of the determination of one or more characteristics of agiven product, process or service according to a specified procedure. [ISO/IEC Guide 2:2004]
Testing – Action of carrying out one or more tests. [ISO/IEC Guide 2:2004]

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Usability – The extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals
with effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction in a specified context of use.
[SOURCE: ISO 9241-11:1998 Ergonomic requirements for office work with visual display
terminals (VDTs) – Part 11: Guidance on usability and ISO/IEC 25062:2006 Software engineering– Software product Quality Requirements and Evaluation (SquaRE) – Common Industry Format(CIF) for usability test reports]

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14

APPENDIX C – ACRONYMSANSDIT American National Standard Dictionary of Information Technology
API
BOD
CCESC
CDMI
CDN
CIMI
CIO
CMWG
COTS
CPU
CRM
CRUD
CSA
CSIRT
CSW
DCIFed
DISR
DMTF
DoD
ebRIM
ebXML
ERP
EULA
FCCI
FEA
FIPS
GEIA
GICTF
GLUE
GOTS
HTML
HTTP
ID-WSF
I/O
IaaS

Application Programming Interface
Business Object Document
Cloud Computing Executive Steering Committee
Cloud Data Management Interface
Content Delivery Network
Cloud Infrastructure Management Interface
Chief Information Officer
Cloud Management Working Group
Commercial off-the-shelf
Central Processing Unit
Customer Relationship Management
Create-Read-Update-Delete
Cloud Security Alliance
Computer Security Incident Response Teams
Catalog Service for the Web
DCI Federation Working GroupDefense IT Standards Registry
Distributed Management Task Force
Department of Defense (USA)Electronic business Registry Information Model
Electronic Business using eXtensible Markup Language
Enterprise Resource Planning
End User License Agreement
Federal Cloud Computing Initiative
Federal Enterprise Architecture
Federal Information Processing Standards
Government Electronics & Information Technology Association
Global Inter-Cloud Technology Forum
Grid Laboratory Uniform Environment
Government off-the-shelf
HyperText Markup Language
Hypertext Transfer Protocol
IDentity Web Service Framework
Input/Output
Infrastructure as a Service
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IEC
IEEE
IETF
IODEF
IP
ISIMC
ISO
ISO/IEC JTC 1

IT (ICT)

ITU
ITU-T
J2EE
JSON
KMIP
LDAP
MID
MIL-STDSNIEMNISTNIST SP
OAGi
OAGIS
OASIS
OAuth
OCC
OCCI
ODF
OGC
OGF
OGSA
OMG
OOXML
OS
OVF

International Electrotechnical Commission
Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers
Internet Engineering Task Force
Incident Object Description Format
Internet Protocol
Information Security and Identity Management Committee
International Organization for Standardization
International Organization for Standardization/International
Electrotechnical Commission Joint Technical Committee 1 Information
Technology
Information Technology(Note: it is often referred to as ICT [Information and Communications
Technologies])
International Telecommunication Union (The)ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector
Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition
JavaScript Object Notation
Key Management Interoperability Protocol
Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
Mobile Internet Devices (USA)Military Standards (USA)National Information Exchange Model
National Institute of Standards and Technology
NIST Special Publication
Open Applications Group
Open Applications Group Integration Specification
Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards
Open Authorization Protocol
Open Cloud Consortium
Open Cloud Computing Interface
Open Document Format
Open Geospatial Consortium
Open Grid Forum
Open Grid Services Architecture
Object Management Group
Office Open XML
Operating System
Open Virtualization Format
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P2P
PaaS
PDA
PHP
PI
PII
PIV
PKI
QoS
RDF
REST
RSS
SaaS
SAJACC
SAML
SCAP
SDOs
SLA
SNIA
SOA
SOAP
SPML
SSL
SSO
STANAGS
TCG
TCP
TLS
UDDI
USG
VM
W3C
WG
XACML
XML

Peer-to-Peer
Platform as a Service
Personal Digital Assistant
PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor
Personal Information
Personal Identifiable Information
Personal Identity Verification
Public Key Infrastructure
Quality of Service
Resource Description Framework
Representational State Transfer
Really Simple Syndication
Software as a Service
Standards Acceleration to Jumpstart Adoption of Cloud Computing
Security Assertion Markup Language
Security Content Automation Protocol
Standards Developing Organizations
Service Level Agreement
Storage Networking Industry Association
Service-Oriented Architecture
Simple Object Access Protocol
Service Provisioning Markup Language
Secure Sockets Layer
Standard Setting Organization
Standardization Agreements
Trusted Computing Group
Transmission Control Protocol
Transport Layer Security
Universal Description Discovery and Integration
United States Government
Virtual Machine
World Wide Web Consortium
Working GroupOASIS eXtensible Access Control Markup Language
Extensible Markup Language

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15

APPENDIX D – STANDARDS DEVELOPING ORGANIZATIONS

Global Information and Communications Technologies (IT) standards are developed in many
venues. Such standards are created through collaborative efforts that have a global reach, arevoluntary, and are widely adopted by the marketplace across national borders. These standards aredeveloped not only by national member-based international standards bodies, but also by consortia
groups and other organizations.
In July 2009, a Wiki site for cloud computing standards coordination was established: cloudstandards.org. The goal of the site is to document the activities of the various SDOs working on
cloud computing standards.
The following is a list of SDOs that have standards projects and standards relevant to cloudcomputing.
ATIS
ATIS is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). ATIS is the North
American Organizational Partner for the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), a founding
Partner of oneM2M, a member and major U.S. contributor to the International Telecommunication
Union (ITU) Radio and Telecommunications sectors, and a member of the Inter-American
Telecommunication Commission (CITEL).
The ATIS Cloud Services Forum (CSF) facilitates the adoption and advancement of cloud services
from a network and IT perspective. Drawing upon business use cases that leverage cloud services’
potential, the Forum addresses industry priorities and develops implementable solutions for thisevolving marketplace. CSF is working to ensure that cloud services – as offered by service
providers – are quickly operationalized to facilitate the delivery of interoperable, secure, andmanaged services. Current priorities include inter-carrier telepresence, content distribution network
interconnection, cloud services framework, virtual desktop, virtual private network, anddevelopment of a cloud services checklist for onboarding.
CloudAudit
CloudAudit (A6), a working group under the auspices of the CSA (Cloud Security Alliance).
Founded in January 2010, CloudAudit aims to enable cloud service providers to offer their clientssome degree of transparency in an automated, programmatic manner. The group addresses thechallenges of lack of transparency and audit requirements in a cloud-based system. The official
objective of this working group is to develop a common interface for the automation of the Audit,
Assertion, Assessment and Assurance of IaaS (infrastructure as a service), PaaS (platform as aservice) and SaaS (software as a service) environments. As of October 2010, CloudAudit isofficially under the auspices of the Cloud Security Alliance.

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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAPDistributed Management Task Force (DMTF)
DMTF spans the industry with 160 member companies and organizations, and more than 4,000
active participants crossing 43 countries. DMTF members collaborate to develop IT management
standards that promote multi-vendor interoperability worldwide.
Open Virtualization Format (OVF)
Open Virtualization Format (OVF) V1.0
OVF 1.1 has been designated as ANSI INCITS 469 2010, and ISO/IEC 17203: 2011.
Open Virtualization Format (OVF), OVF 2.0
This specification describes an open, secure, portable, efficient, and extensible format for the
packaging and distribution of software to be run in virtual machines. OVF 2.0 includes support for
network configuration along with the ability to encrypt the package to ensure safe delivery.
Open Virtualization Format (OVF)
DSP0243 Open Virtualization Format (OVF) V1.1.0
OVF has been designated as ANSI INCITS 469 2010, ISO/IEC 17203:2011.
This specification describes an open, secure, portable, efficient, and extensible format for the
packaging and distribution of software to be run in virtual machines.
Open Cloud Standards Incubator
DMTF’s Open Cloud Standards Incubator focused on standardizing interactions between cloudsystems by developing cloud management use cases, architectures, and interactions. This work wascompleted in July 2010. The work has now transitioned to the Cloud Management Working Group.
Cloud Management Working Group (CMWG)
The CMWG will develop a set of prescriptive specifications that deliver architectural semantics aswell as implementation details to achieve interoperable management of clouds between service
requestors/developers and providers. This WG will propose a resource model that, at a minimum,
captures the key artifacts identified in the use cases and interactions for managing clouds document
produced by the Open Cloud Incubator. This group has developed and released the Cloud
Infrastructure Management Inter Face (CIMI).
Using the recommendations developed by DMTF's Open Cloud Standards Incubator, the Cloud
Management Workgroup (CMWG) is focused on standardizing interactions between cloud systems
by developing specifications that deliver architectural semantics and implementation details toachieve interoperable cloud management between service providers and their consumers anddevelopers.

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Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE)The IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA), a globally recognized standards-setting body within
the IEEE, develops consensus standards through an open process that engages industry and brings
together a broad stakeholder community. IEEE standards set specifications and best practices basedon current scientific and technological knowledge. The IEEE-SA has a portfolio of over 900 active
standards and more than 500 standards under development.
The IEEE P2301 Working Group (Cloud Profiles) is developing the Guide for Cloud Portability andInteroperability Profiles (CPIP). The guide advises cloud computing ecosystem participants (cloudvendors, service providers, and users) of standards-based choices in areas such as applicationinterfaces, portability interfaces, management interfaces, interoperability interfaces, file formats,and operation conventions.
The EEE P2302 Working Group (Intercloud) is developing the Standard for IntercloudInteroperability and Federation (SIIF). This standard defines topology, functions, and governancefor cloud-to-cloud interoperability and federation.
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) issues the standards and protocols used to protect theInternet and enable global electronic commerce. The IETF develops cyber security standards for theInternet. Current activities include Public Key Infrastructure Using X.509 (PKIX), Internet Protocol
Security (IPsec), Transport Layer Security (TLS), Secure Electronic Mail (S/MIME V3), DNS
Security Extensions (DNSSEC), and Keying and Authentication for Routing Protocols (karp).
Another IETF standard is the Incident Object Description Format (IODEF), which provides aframework for sharing information commonly exchanged by Computer Security Incident Response
Teams (CSIRTs) about computer security incidents. IODEF is an underpinning for the National
Information Exchange Model (NIEM), which enables jurisdictions to effectively share criticalinformation on cyber incident management, security configuration management, security
vulnerability management, etc.
International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission
Joint Technical Committee 1 Information Technology (ISO/IEC JTC 1)
ISO/IEC JTC 1 is the standards development environment where experts come together to develop
worldwide Information and Communication Technology (ICT) standards for business and consumer
applications. Additionally, JTC 1 provides the standards approval environment for integrating
diverse and complex ICT technologies. These standards rely upon the core infrastructuretechnologies developed by JTC 1 centers of expertise complemented by specifications developed inother organizations. Presently, there are 91 country members. Approximately 2100 technical experts
from around the world work within JTC 1. There are presently 18 JTC 1 Subcommittees (SCs) inwhich most of JTC 1 standards projects are being developed.
JTC 1 SC 27 (IT Security Techniques) is the one JTC 1 SC that is completely focused on cybersecurity standardization. There are currently three cloud security standards projects in SC27.

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ISO/IEC 4th WD 27017, Information security management - Guidelines on information security
controls for the use of cloud computing services based on ISO/IEC 27002 (Technical Specification)
Provides organizations using or expecting to use cloud computing services with guidelines for
initiating, implementing, maintaining, and improving the information security management based
upon ISO/IEC 27002:2005 specific to the cloud computing services.
ISO/IEC 2nd WD 27018, Code of practice for data protection controls for public cloud computing
services
Establishes commonly accepted data protection control objectives, controls, and guidelines for
implementing controls to meet the requirements identified by a risk assessment. Applies primarily
to organizations providing cloud computing services that act as PII processors.
ISO/IEC 1st WD 27036-4, Information technology – Security techniques – Information security forsupplier relationships – Part 4: Guidelines for security of cloud services
Provides cloud service acquirers and suppliers with guidance on: managing the information security
risks caused by using cloud services; integrating information security processes and practices into
the cloud –based product and service life cycle processes, while supporting information security
controls; responding to risks specific to the acquisition or provision of cloud-based services that canhave an information security impact on organisations using these services.
In October 2009, JTC 1 established a new Subcommittee, JTC 1 SC 38 Distributed application
platforms and services (DAPS). JTC 1 SC 38 has subsequently established Working Group 3, Cloudcomputing.
Two Collaborative Teams have been established by ISO/IEC JTC1/SC38/WG3 and ITU-T
SG13/WP6:- Collaborative Team on Cloud Computing Overview and Vocabulary (CT-CCVOCAB)- Collaborative Team on Cloud Computing Reference Architecture (CT-CCRA).
International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Telecommunication Standardization Sector(ITU-T)
The ITU-T develops international standards for the telecommunications including voice, data, andvideo. The primary Study Groups in the ITU-T that are developing standards for cloud computing
are SG13: Future networks including cloud computing, mobile and next-generation networks, andSG17: Security.
A new ITU-T Working Party in Study Group 13 (i.e., WP6/13). WP6/13 includes three new
Questions or areas of cloud computing study. WP6/13 is currently developing a number of Draft
Cloud Computing Recommendation and has established two Collaborative Teams with ISO/IEC
JTC 1/SC38. See the JTC 1 SC 38 WG 3 above.

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Kantara Initiative
Kantara Initiative was established on April 20, 2009, by leaders of several foundations andassociations working on various aspects of digital identity, aka “the Venn of Identity.” It is intended
to be a robust and well-funded focal point for collaboration to address the issues shared across theidentity community: Interoperability and Compliance Testing; Identity Assurance; Policy and Legal
Issues; Privacy; Ownership and Liability; UX and Usability; Cross-Community Coordination and
Collaboration; Education and Outreach; Market Research; Use Cases and Requirements;
Harmonization; and Tool Development.
Kantara Initiative is not a standards setting organization for technical specifications. The output of
Kantara Initiative is called a Recommendation. Any kind of work can be done in Kantara Initiative
but if the work is a technical specification it must be submitted to a standards setting organization
upon completion. Other “standards” work such as Operational Frameworks or Usability Guidelines
or Interoperability Testing Procedures are the primary focus of Kantara Initiative and will be bothdeveloped and maintained by the organization.
OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards)
Founded in 1993, OASIS is a not-for-profit consortium. OASIS develops open standards for the
global information society. The consortium produces Eeb services standards along with standards
for security, e-business, and standardization efforts in the public sector and for application-specificmarkets. OASIS has more than 5,000 participants representing over 600 organizations andindividual members in 100 countries.
Technical Committees specific to cloud computing include:
Cloud Application Management for Platforms (CAMP) – The purpose of this TC is to define
models, mechanisms, and protocols for the management of applications in, and their use of, aPlatform as a Service (PaaS) environment.
Cloud Authorization (CloudAuthZ) – The focus of this TC is to develop an interoperable protocol
for PaaS (self-service) management interfaces for cloud users to use in developing, deploying andadministration of their applications. PaaS management should allow for, but not require, IaaS
management to manage the deployment of resources for an application.
Topology and Orchestration Specification for Cloud Applications (TOSCA) – The TC was formedin December, 2011, with the goal to substantially enhance the portability of cloud applications andthe IT services that comprise them running on complex virtual and physical software and hardware
infrastructure.”

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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAPThe Open Cloud Consortium (OCC)
OCC is a member-driven organization that develops reference implementations, benchmarks, andstandards for cloud computing. The OCC operates cloud testbeds, such as the Open Cloud Testbed
and the OCC Virtual Network Testbed. The OCC also manages cloud computing infrastructure to
support scientific research, such as the Open Science Data Cloud.
Open Grid Forum (OGF)
Open Grid Forum (OGF) is a leading standards developing organization operating in the areas ofgrid, cloud, and related forms of advanced distributed computing. The OGF community pursues
these topics through an open process for development, creation, and promotion of relevant
specifications and use cases.
OGF engages partners and participants throughout the international arena to champion architectural
blueprints related to cloud and grid computing and the associated specifications to enable thepervasive adoption of advanced distributed computing techniques for business and researchworldwide.
Advanced computing built on OGF standards enables organizations to share computing andinformation resources across department and organizational boundaries in a secure, efficientmanner. Organizations throughout the world use production distributed architectures built on thesefeatures to collaborate in areas as diverse as scientific research, drug discovery, financial risk
analysis, and product design. The capacity and flexibility of distributed computing enables
organizations to solve problems that until recently were not feasible to address due tointeroperability, portability, security, cost and data-integration constraints.
Cloud systems, grids, and virtualized distributed architectures reduce costs through automation andimproved IT resource utilization and improve organizational agility by enabling more efficientbusiness processes. OGF’s extensive experience has enabled distributed computing built on thesearchitectures to become a more flexible, efficient, and utility-like global computing infrastructure.
Standardization is the key to realizing the full vision and benefits of distributed computing. The
standards developed by OGF enable the diverse resources of today’s modern computing
environment to be discovered, accessed, allocated, monitored, and managed as interconnected
flexible virtual systems, even when provided by different vendors and/or operated by different
organizations.
Open Cloud Computing Interface (OCCI) Working GroupThe purpose of this group is the creation of a practical solution to interface with cloudinfrastructures exposed as a service (IaaS). The Open Cloud Computing Interface (OCCI) is a
RESTful Protocol and API for all kinds of cloud management tasks. OCCI was originally initiatedto create a remote management API for IaaS model-based services, allowing for the development ofinteroperable tools for common tasks including deployment, autonomic scaling, and monitoring. It
has since evolved into a flexible API with a strong focus on interoperability while still offering a

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high degree of extensibility. The current release of the Open Cloud Computing Interface is suitable
to serve many other models in addition to IaaS, including PaaS and SaaS.
Object Management Group (OMG)
The OMG was founded in 1989 and develops standards for enterprise integration. Its membership isinternational and is open to any organization, both computer industry vendors and software end
users. Specific cloud-related specification efforts have only just begun in OMG, focusing on
modeling deployment of applications and services on clouds for portability, interoperability, andreuse.
Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA)SNIA Cloud TWG
The SNIA has created the Cloud Storage Technical Work Group for the purpose of developing
SNIA Architecture related to system implementations of cloud storage technology. The cloud
Storage TWG:-

Acts as the primary technical entity for the SNIA to identify, develop, and coordinate
systems standards for cloud storage;
Produces a comprehensive set of specifications and drives consistency of interface standards
and messages across the various cloud storage-related efforts; andDocuments system-level requirements and shares these with other cloud storage standards
organizations under the guidance of the SNIA Technical Council and in cooperation with the
SNIA Strategic Alliances Committee.

SNIA Cloud Data Management Interface (CDMI)
The CDMI specification is now a SNIA Architecture standard and has been submitted to the
INCITS organization for ratification as an ANSI and ISO standard as well.
SNIA Terms and Diagrams
SNIA and OGF have collaborated on cloud storage for a cloud computing white paper. A demo of
this architecture has been implemented and shown several times. More information can be found at
the Cloud Demo Google Group.
Trusted Computing Group (TCG)
The TCG is a not-for-profit organization formed to develop, define, and promote open, vendorneutral industry standards for trusted computing building blocks and software interfaces acrossmultiple platforms. TCG has approximately 100 members from across the computing industry,including component vendors, software developers, systems vendors, and network andinfrastructure companies.

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Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA)
The TIA is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) as a standards
developing organization (SDO). TIA has created the Cloud Computing Subcommittee (CCSC).
Acting as a liaison between TIA’s twelve engineering committees, the CCSC hosts monthly calls
open to TIA member companies and engineering committee participants. The focus of these calls is
to address ways TIA engineering committees may develop or amend TIA standards pertaining tocloud services. The CCSC also maintains liaison relationships with national and international
standards development organizations (SDOs) to determine how existing TIA standards may be
adopted to avoid duplication of efforts
TM Forum
TM Forum is a global, non-profit industry association focused on enabling service provider agility
and innovation. As an established thought-leader in service creation, management and delivery, theForum serves as a unifying force across industries, enabling more than 900 member companies tosolve critical business issues through access to a wealth of knowledge, intellectual capital andstandards.
The Forum provides a unique, fair, and safe environment for the entire value-chain to collaborate
and overcome the barriers to a vibrant, open digital economy, helping member companies of all
sizes gain a competitive edge by enabling efficiency and agility in their IT and operations.
TM Forum’s Digital Services Initiative focuses on overcoming the end-to-end management
challenges of complex digital services, enabling an open, vibrant digital economy. The Forum's
work in cloud is targeted at solving the challenges faced by members as they deliver and consume
digital services hosted in the cloud.
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
Founded in 1994, the W3C is a non-incorporated international community of 334 Member
organizations that develop standards in support of web technologies. The W3C work in the area ofcyber security standards includes secure transferring data from one domain to another domain or
between applications with well-defined document authentication. XML Encryption and XML
Signature are key pieces of the XML security stack.

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APPENDIX E – CONCEPTUAL MODELS AND ARCHITECTURES

General reference models:• Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF): Cloud Service Reference Architecture• Cloud Computing Use Case Discussion Group: a taxonomy for cloud computing• IBM: Cloud Reference Architecture• Cloud Security Alliance: Cloud Reference Model• Cisco Cloud Reference Architecture Framework• IETF: Cloud Reference Framework• ITU-T Focus Group Cloud Reference Architecture
Reference models focusing on specific application requirements:• Open Security Architecture: Secure Architecture Models• GSA: FCCI (Federal Cloud Computing Initiative)• Juniper Networks: Cloud-ready Data Center Reference Architecture• SNIA standard: Cloud Data Management Interface• Elastra: A Cloud Technology Reference Model for Enterprise Clouds

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17

APPENDIX F – EXAMPLES OF USG CRITERIA FOR SELECTION OF
STANDARDSUSG Approach to Selecting Standards

Analysis Model for Selection of Private Sector Consensus Standards 26

F-1

NIST has developed a model set of questions to use when evaluating private sector consensus
standards for agency use:
Applicability of standard•••

Is it clear who should use the standard and for what applications?
How does the standard fit into the Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA)?
What was done to investigate viable alternative standards (i.e., due diligence) before
selecting this standard?

Availability of standard•••

Is the standard published and publicly available?
Is a copy of the standard free or must it be purchased?
Are there any licensing requirements for using the standard?

Completeness of standard•

To what degree does the candidate standard define and cover the key features necessary tosupport the specific E-Gov functional area or service?

Implementations on standard
•
•
•
•

26

Does the standard have strong support in the commercial marketplace?
What commercial products exist for this standard?
Are there products from different vendors in the market to implement this standard?
Are there any existing or planned mechanisms to assess conformity of implementations tothe standard?

http://www.nist.gov/standardsgov/analysis-model-for-selection-of-consensus-standards.cfm

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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAPInteroperability of implementations••

How does this standard provide users the ability to access applications and services throughweb services?
What are the existing or planned mechanisms to assess the interoperability of different
vendor implementations?

Legal considerations••

Are there any patent assertions made to this standard?
Are there any Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) assertions that will hinder USG distributionof the standard?

Maturity of standard•••

How technically mature is the standard?
Is the underlying technology of the standard well-understood (e.g., a reference model iswell-defined, appropriate concepts of the technology are in widespread use, the technology
may have been in use for many years, a formal mathematical model is defined, etc.)?
Is the standard based upon technology that has not been well-defined and may be relatively
new?

Source of standard•••

What standards body developed and now maintains this standard?
Is this standard a de jure or de facto national or international standard?
Is there an open process for revising or amending this standard?

Stability of standard••••

How long has this standard been used?
Is the standard stable (e.g., its technical content is mature)?
Are major revisions or amendments in progress that will affect backward compatibility withthe approved standard?
When is the estimated completion date for the next version?

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F-2

Department of Defense (DoD)

The DoD IT Standards Registry (DISR) mandates the minimum set of IT standards and guidelines
for the acquisition of all DoD systems that produce, use, or exchange information. The Defense
Information Systems Agency (DISA) is the executive agent for the DISR. The DISR is updated
three times a year.
Initial Standards Selection Criteria for Inclusion in the DISR
A number of criteria should be considered when evaluating a standard for inclusion in the DISR.
Selection criteria include:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

the source of the standard;
openness;
technology relevance;
maturity;marketplace support;“usefulness/utility”; andrisk.
Criteria
Description
Source of the Standard Recognized authority
Cooperative stanceFeedback
Process
Consensus
Openness Ownership/IPR
User Participation
Vendor Participation
Technology Relevance
Maturity Planning Horizon
Stability
Revision Content & ScheduleMarketplace Support AcceptanceCommercial Viability
Usefulness/Utility Well-Defined Quality Attributes
Services & Application Interoperability
Risk Performance, maturity & stability issues
Table 18 – DoD Selection Criteria and Description Summary

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NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAPStandards Source
DoD policy articulates a preference hierarchy based on the source (owner/sponsor/publisher) of thestandard. Note that the 5th Priority, Military, has its own internal priority of international first andthen DoD MIL-STDs.
The standards preference hierarchy is:
PriorityStandards Source Hierarchy

Example1stInternational

ISO, IEC, ITU

nd

2
3rd

National
Professional Society; Technology Consortia; Industry
Association

ANSI
IEEE; IETF; W3C;OASIS; GEIA

4th
5th

Government
Military

FIPS
MIL-STDS, STANAGS

Table 19 – DoD Standards Sources Preferences
The standard must be recognized as being available from a reputable and authoritative source. The
responsible SDO/Standard Setting Organization (SSO) must have an established position within therelevant technical, professional, and marketplace communities as an objective authority in its sphereof activity. This means that the standard has been created and approved/adopted/published via aformal process and configuration management of the standard has been established. Accreditation
implies acceptance by a recognized authoritative SSO.

101NIST CLOUD COMPUTING STANDARDS ROADMAPThe Standards Selection Criteria also provides guidance for moving through the standards life cyclethat changes the category of a standard from “emerging” to “mandated” to “inactive/retired.”

Figure 13 – DoD DISR Standards Selection Process102