Using a Capability Oriented Methodology to Build Your Cloud Ecosystem

Organizations often struggle to capture the necessary functional capabilities for each cloud-based solution adopted for their information systems. Identifying, defining, selecting, and prioritizing these functional capabilities and the security components that implement and enforce them is surprisingly challenging. This article explains recent developments by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in addressing these challenges. The article focuses on the capability oriented methodology for orchestrating a secure cloud ecosystem proposed as part of the NIST Cloud Computing Security Reference Architecture. The methodology recognizes that risk may vary for cloud Actors within a single ecosystem, so it takes a risk-based approach to functional capabilities. The result is an assessment of which cloud Actor is responsible for implementing each security component and how implementation should be prioritized. A cloud Actor, especially a cloud Consumer, that follows the methodology can more easily make well-informed decisions regarding their cloud ecosystems.