Extending cloud-based applications with mobile opportunistic networks: Security issues and privacy challenges

Mobile devices (eg, smart phones or PDAs) are becoming increasingly popular. One important feature of such devices is the ability of users to take advantage of cloud-based solutions at their convenience. However, accessing cloud-based solutions in challenged environments is not so trivial, since such solutions rely on the availability of connectivity. For instance, in sparse or rural areas that lack the proper infrastructure, and in high-density, urban areas, with access networks that are restricted or suffer from interference, connectivity cannot be assumed. In such situations, the use of mobile opportunistic networks may enable users to send/retrieve information. Communication in these types of networks depends upon the local user’s mobile network connections and social collaborations. In this chapter, we answer the following research question: What are the security issues and privacy challenges that make such mobile opportunistic/cloud-based networks vulnerable? We begin by addressing the networking and functional challenges related to these networks. Next, we describe a set of constraints intrinsic to mobile opportunistic/cloud-based networks and explore these constraints to understand the potential threat model based on storage issues and resource management challenges. Finally, we identify the challenges to effectively support secure and flexible data transmission in a privacy-preserving manner in such networks, while considering the mobility of the users, confidentiality of the user’s sensitive information, as well as the limitations of battery and storage of the mobile devices