The success of cloud computing with its virtually unlimited and scalable resources results in the emergence of numerous novel cloud-based services as well as the transition of traditional software applications to the cloud. Providers of cloud services as well as users benefit from a wide range of advantages: Cloud services can be used for free or at least for a reasonable price, they allow access to data from nearly everywhere, they provide failure-safe and redundant storage of data, and obviate the need of operating own infrastructure. These advantages are dearly bought with giving up privacy to a large extent, often even unnoticeable. It is especially due to cloud providers’ usage of own and third-party infrastructure that hides who (companies and possibly foreign government agencies) has access to data in the cloud. The project TRINICS addresses exactly these concerns.
TRINICS aims at improving the transparency over the usage of data through cloud services. This allows end users to assess their individual risks and uncovers the need for sufficient self data protection. To this end, we will analyze network traffic of a user’s device in order to derive for each application an individual statistic over the utilized cloud services. Based on this information, we can, e.g., inform the user if her private data is being sent to countries with weaker privacy legislation. However, although having access to such information, a layman might still wonder how dangerous or not the own usage behavior is. Hence, TRINICS will enable users to compare their own cloud usage profile anonymously with the profiles of others. To this end, we will group users based on lifestyle and sociodemographic background and derive a representative cloud usage pattern for each group. By doing so, we enable users to compare themselves to different comparison groups and hence allow for a better assessment of the individual cloud usage as a basis for taking an informed decision on the future usage of cloud services.
TRINICS is a joined project with Sirrix AG security technologies and the Chair of Sociology of Technology and Organization at RWTH Aachen University.