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There are two main aspects to security in relation to the OpenECOMP platform: security of the platform itself and the capability to integrate security into the cloud services. These cloud services are created and orchestrated by the OpenECOMP platform. This approach is referred to as security by design.

 


Figure 1. OpenECOMP Platform Decomposition

The enabler for these capabilities within OpenECOMP is an API-based Security Framework, depicted in Figure 1. The right-hand boundary of the OpenECOMP region depicts OpenECOMP's Security APIs, which call external security platforms.

Security of the platform begins with a strong foundation of security requirements and following security best practices as an inherent part of the OpenECOMP design. Some examples include:

  • deployment of the platform on a secure physical and network infrastructure
  • adherence to secure coding best practices
  • security analysis of source code
  • vulnerability scanning
  • defined vulnerability patching process

Building upon this foundation, external security platforms that provide additional security capabilities such as identity and access management, micro-perimeter controls and security event analysis are integrated onto the platform through advantageous use of the OpenECOMP Security Framework. The additional security these external platforms provide are described below.

Security modules

Security modules such as

the

Identity

and

and Access

Management (IAM) platform provide critical security

capabilities to the OpenECOMP solution. Access

management enhancements deliver preventive and

detective access controls for the OpenECOMP portal and

related front ends. Options for fine grained

authoriz
ation

authorization capability also exist. For identity

lifecycle management, this platform provides user

provisioning, access request, approval and review

capabilities and

is

design
ed

designed to minimize

the administrative burden.

ternal to AT&T, security such as micro
-
perimeter
controls can be provided by Astra, the AT&T
-
developed innovative and award winning
1
cloud
security platform; this platform enables continuous
protection for the AT&T Integrated Cloud (AIC).
The
Astra security ecosystem and framework
allows
virtual securi
ty protections to be enabled effortlessly
via APIs and automated intelligent provisioning,
creating micro
-
perimeters around the platform and
applications. Astra enables security function
virtualization as well as dynamic real
-
time security
controls in res
ponse to the ever evolving threat
landscape.
For example, based on security analytics
using big data intelligence, Astra enables virtual
security functions on
-
demand, leveraging our SDN
enabled network,
to
dynamically mitigat
e
security
threats.
Security e
vent

No mention of ASTRA here.

Security event analysis, provided by a

security

security analytics platform

,

will

use

the OpenECOMP DCAE data

collection and analytics engine to gather VNF data,

network data, logs and events. Once the

security
1
ISE® Northeast Project Award Winner 2015

security analysis has determined that a security event has

occurred, a pre

-

de
termined

determined policy can be invoked via

the OpenECOMP platform. The ability to respond

automatically to a security

-

related event, such as a

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack,

will

enable closed loop security controls, such as

modifying firewall rules, or

updating Intrusion

Prevention System (IPS) signatures, etc. In the event

that a pre

-

determined policy has not been created for

an event, it will be sent to a ticket system, and then a

new policy can be generated for the next time that

event occurs.

The

ECOMP

ECOMP platform also enables security by design

for services it orchestrates by engaging a

security

security trust model and engine. This begins with validation

of security characteristics of resources as part of the

ASDC resource certification process. This assures

service designers are using resource modules that

have accounted for security.

Using

the

OpenECOMP

OpenECOMP security framework to access an external

security

security engine, additional security logic can be applied and

enforced during service creation.

OpenECOMP is a platform

for

for many types of services.

Because of its inherent security, it is also a powerful

means to provide security as a service. In many ways,

security

 security services are similar to other services;

however, even more so than other services,

securityservices

security services must be

provided

provided via a platform

/

and infrastructure that is inherently secure.

Many types of security services can be offered,

spanning access control, authentication,

authorization, compliance monitoring, logging, threat

analysis and management, etc. Management of

vFW

(virtual Firewall) capabilities can be described to

illustrate this opportunity. For example,

when a

customer has a need for firewall capability

,

the

customer provides the needed information

via the

portal

to enable OpenECOMP to determine and

orchestrate

the firewall placement. In addition, the

firewall capabilities (e.g., rules, layer 7 firewall) are

instantiated at the appropriate locations within the

architecture. If necessary

,

many

many security controls and

technologies including firewalls, URL blocking

, etc.

,

can be service

-

chained to provide all the needed

functionality. As part of an overall

security

security architecture, the log data from the firewalls can be

captured by DCAE and used by the threat

management application to perform

security
29

security analytics.

Should

Should a threat be detected, various

mitigation steps can be taken, such as altering IPS

settings, change routing, or deploy more resources to

better absorb an attack. This can be achieved by

Astra

an external security mechanism (?? formerly ASTRA) working with OpenECOMP to deploy the appropriate

updates across

the

the infrastructure,

thereby

minimizing

the service interruption due to the security threat.

13.
T