Keeping our data safe
Cloud computing, the delivery of different services via the internet, is transitioning from huge data centres to decentralised computing models. This comes with numerous benefits such as reduced latency, increased processing speed and energy savings. The data produced in end tools like smartphones can be stored, processed and transmitted through fog nodes to cloud services. However, the protection of sensitive data in a decentralised environment raises some concerns. The EU-funded FogProtect project aimed to deliver new and advanced technologies, mechanisms and solutions to ensure end-to-end data protection in the computing continuum. “We aimed at safeguarding sensitive data in a digital ecosystem,” explains Sofia Rosas, project coordinator and project delivery manager at Ubiwhere – a software and R&D company. The project considered sensitive data as not only personal data, but corporate data – that is data with restricted access that, if compromised, read, changed or destroyed, could impact corporate activity.
Creating applicable solutions for data protection
“FogProtect ensures data protection in the computing continuum by combining four main clusters of advanced technologies (innovation areas), each of which is well suited to address specific, complementary aspects of data protection in the computing continuum,” notes Rosas. The four building blocks that were developed by FogProtect are: a secure data container for data portability; end-to-end security management for data protection to ensure different policies are handled; data protection risk management to analyse the risks identified by different use cases and scenarios; and data-protection-aware adaptive service and resource management for proper orchestration, deployment, and interaction of different policies while accessing the security capabilities. Three complementary real-world use cases demonstrated the applicability of FogProtect solutions to multiple contexts and the impact of the project’s novel solutions for data protection.
Protecting smart cities
“For Ubiwhere, one of the key overall results of FogProtect was the successful implementation of the Smart Cities use case. This accomplishment is closely aligned with the company’s vision of the City Nervous System, an organic approach to city management,” highlights Rosas. The Smart Cities use case describes a network of closed-circuit television cameras that monitor selected places of a city. These are installed in Ubiwhere’s Smart Lamppost. “Data is processed in a distributed way and only accessible to stakeholders with the appropriate rights. This is achieved by assigning each user different levels of authorisation, giving them access to various levels of detailed or anonymised data. The cameras are connected to fog nodes that pre-process and store local video streams over a given period of time,” explains Rosas. The fog node runs a process to anonymise personal data from the videos. “In the event of a Smart Lamppost being compromised or suspected of being compromised, assigned risk is analysed. If required, another fog node will be found and assigned to process the data,” adds Rosas.
Bringing together knowledge and solutions
Project partners are expected, amongst other key actions, to leverage the knowledge acquired through the project to provide consulting services and know-how in secure service composition, deployment and enactment. “It is FogProtect’s ambition to absorb and combine the latest academic and industry knowledge, sharing it with the community, expanding the professional network for future collaboration, and fostering ideation for future innovation projects. This includes initiatives like digital twin enhancement,” concludes Rosas.
Keywords
FogProtect, sensitive data, data protection, cloud computing, computing continuum, smart cities