Token-Based Authentication Techniques on Open Source Cloud Platforms

Cloud computing is a service-oriented computational platform that allows on-demand resource provisioning for low-cost application deployment. However, security and privacy of the users is a major concern for the cloud service provider, particularly for applications handling users personal information (health record, GPS location) or performing financial transactions. Authentication is an important security measure for establishing accountability and authorization of the users, is often a prerequisite for accessing cloud-based services. In this paper, we mainly focus on the token-based authentication techniques, supported by popular open source cloud platforms [OSCPs], like Cloudstack, OpenStack, Eucalyptus and OpenNebula. In general, most OSCPs support the basic text-based user authentication. Other techniques, such as biometrics, gesture and image, can also be implemented on OSCPs. However, in this paper, we choose to discuss the token-based authentication, as it allows users to gain access to multiple cloud services with a single sign-on (SSO). Moreover, token's can be shared among multiple users for accessing cloud-based services.