Date of Award

5-2018

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Computer and Information Technology

Committee Chair

Kathryn Seigfred-Spellar

Committee Member 1

Marcus Rogers

Committee Member 2

Baijian Yang

Abstract

As the rise of cloud technology bring about new possibilities to businesses and individuals alike, it also provides cybercriminals with new forms of weapons. The accessibility and availability of computing resources that have induced consumers to increasingly shift their data to the cloud can also be exploited by cybercriminals to facilitate attacks. Therefore, it is important to understand the different ways the cloud environment can be abused by cybercriminals. Analyzing the most commonly reported misuse of the cloud from the cybercriminals’ point of view can allow cloud service providers to reevaluate their policies and infrastructure to decrease, if not prevent, abuse of the cloud. The responses collected from cybercriminals and cybersecurity experts indicated cloud storage to be the cloud service most often used for illegal purposes. Furthermore, the anonymity provided by the ease in creating fake accounts and the low price of services were reported as major factors influencing cybercriminals in choosing to use the cloud.

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