Cloud Forensics
My first paper during my Ph.D at Centre for Cybercrime Investigation, University College Dublin, started the field of Cloud Forensics, a critical domain of Cloud Security at the dawn of Cloud Computing. I travelled the world and had the most amazing experiences authoring international standards, working with international law enforcement agencies, and advising world governments and businesses in their cloud transformation. Forensic readiness is foundational to the safety and security of global digital infrastructure today.
Book
I got to edit the world's first reference book on Cloud Forensics during my Ph.D, working with world renowned experts including Prof. Spaf and Dr. Fred Cohen.
Published during the early rise of cloud computing, Cybercrime and Cloud Forensics explored a fundamental question: how do we create trust and accountability in digital environments that transcend physical boundaries? The book helped lay the foundations for cloud forensics and marked the beginning of my work on trust, risk, and resilience in the digital age.
Selected Publications
Ruan K. (2016) ‘Introducing cybernomics: A unifying economic framework for measuring cyber risk’, Computer & Security, Elsevier
Ruan K. (2013) ‘Designing a Forensic-enabling Cloud Ecosystem’, Cybercrime and Cloud Forensics: Applications for Investigation Processes, IGI Global, December 2012, doi:10.4018/978-1-4666-2662-1
Ruan K., Carthy, J. (2013) ‘Cloud Forensics Definitions and Critical Criteria for Cloud Forensic Capability: an Overview of Survey Results’, Digital Investigation, Elsevier, pp34-43
NIST Special Publication 500-299 (2013) Cloud Computing Security Reference Architecture, NIST Cloud Computing Security Working Group, NIST Cloud Computing Program, Information Technology Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, U.S. Department of Commerce, May 2013
Cloud Security Alliance Cloud Control Matrix v3.0 (contributed on adding forensic control and forensic considerations in a range of other relevant security controls), Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), April 2013
‘Mapping ISO27037 to Cloud Computing Environments’, Cloud Security Alliance Cloud Forensics Working Group, June 2013
Ruan K., Carthy, J. (2012B) ‘Cloud Forensic Maturity Model’, Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Digital Forensics & Cyber Crime, Springer Lecture Notes, October 25-26, Lafayette, Indiana, USA
Ruan K., Carthy, J. (2012A) ‘Cloud Computing Reference Architecture and its Forensic Implications: a Preliminary Analysis’, Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Digital Forensics & Cyber Crime, Springer Lecture Notes, October 25-26, Lafayette, Indiana, USA
Ruan K., Accorsi R. (2012) ‘Challenges of cloud forensics – a survey on the Missing Capabilities’, ERCIM News Special Issue on Cybercrime and Privacy, July 2012
Ruan K., James I.J., Carthy, J., Kechadi, T. (2012) ‘Key Terms for Service Level Agreement to Support Cloud Forensics’, Advances in Digital Forensics VIII, Springer, pp201-212
Ruan K., Baggili, I., Carthy, J., Kechadi, T. (2011B) ‘Survey on Cloud Forensics and Critical Criteria for Cloud Forensic Capability: a Preliminary Analysis’, Proceedings of the 6th Annual Conference of the ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law, Richmond, Virginia, USA
Ruan K., Baggili, I., Carthy, J., Kechadi, T. (2011B) ‘Survey on Cloud Forensics and Critical Criteria for Cloud Forensic Capability: a Preliminary Analysis’, Journal of Network Forensics
Ruan K., Carthy, J., Kechadi, T., Crosbie, M. (2011A) ‘Cloud Forensics’, Advances in Digital Forensics VII, Springer, pp35-46
Selected Speaking
"Cloud Forensics: Challenges and Opportunities", InterForensics2017, Brasilia, Brazil, May 2017
Host, "Cloud Forensics”, Cloud Forensics Workshop, NIST Cloud Computing and Mobility Forum 2014, 24-27 March 2014, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, U.S.A.
“Cloud Forensics Research and Future of Digital Infrastructure”, Government Digital Service, 2 December 2013, London, United Kingdom
“Digital Forensics and Cybercrime”, 12th Transatlantic Science Week, 12-13 November 2013, Washington DC, U.S.A.
Guest Lecture, “Introduction to Cloud Forensics”, NISLecture, Norwegian Information Security Laboratory, Gjovik University College, 29 August 2013, Gjovik, Norway
“Women Who are Creating Positive Change through Technology”, Apple Store, 18 July 2013, Berlin Germany
Guest Lecture, “Big Data, Big Brother, Big Problems?”, Humboldt-Viadrina School of Governance, July 5 2013, Berlin, Germany
Member of the Program Committee, the DIMACS / BIC / A4Cloud / CSA International Workshop on Trustworthiness, Accountability and Forensics in the Cloud (TAFC) held in conjunction with 7th IFIP WG 11.11 International Conference on Trust Management, 6-7 June 2013, Malaga, Spain
“Cloud Forensics”, CIRRUS & Cloudscape V “Cloud for Savings, Cloud for Quality”, 28 Feb 2013, the International Auditorium, Brussels, Belgium
“Dealing with menace of Cybercrime- social, economic, national and global imperatives”, Annual Information Security Summit 2012, December 11-12, 2012, Mumbai, India
Speaker & Host, Cloud Security Alliance Cloud Forensics WG, RSA Conference Europe, 9-11 October 2012, London, United Kingdom
“Cloud Forensic Artifacts”, RSA Conference Europe, 9-11 October 2012, London, United Kingdom
“Cloud Forensics: Assessing Cloud Computing’s Impact on Digital Investigation”, the Inaugural Cloud Security Alliance Congress EMEA, 25-26 September 2012, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
“Cloud Forensics and Privacy”, Privacy Workshop, National Library of Wales, 6 September 2012, Wales, United Kingdom
“Cloud Forensics”, OWASP InfoSec Conference 2012, 24-25 August 2012, Delhi, India
“Finding Optimism in Cyber Security”, Campus Party Europe, 21-26 August 2012, Berlin, Germany
“Science Entrepreneurship”, Science Foundation Ireland and Sandbox Event, April, Dublin, Ireland
“Digital Investigation and the Future of Cyberspace”, TEDxDublin, 22 November 2011, Dublin, Ireland
“Cloud Forensics: an Overview”, Cloud Futures 2011, Microsoft Research Headquarters, 2-3 Jun 2011, Redmond, Washington, USA
Presenter, 6th Annual Conference of the ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law, 25-27 May 2011, Richmond, Virginia, USA
Presenter, the 7th IFIP 11.9 International Conference on Digital Forensics, Jan 30 – February 2 2011, Orlando, Florida, USA
“Cloud Forensics: Challenges and Opportunities”, CloudEXPO 2010 Silicon Valley, 1-4 November 2010, Santa Clara, California, USA
“All Science is Provisional”, 10th Performance Theatre, 17-18 September 2010, Venice, Italy
“Cloud Forensics: Challenges and Opportunities”, CloudEXPO 2010 Europe, Prague, Czech Republic, 21-22 Jun 2010
Training and Industry Contribution
Course development, Europol ECTEG Training on Cloud Forensics (available to all member states), October 2015
Lead Expert Trainer, ‘Cloud Security, Forensics and Risk Management’, International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Asia-Pacific Centres of Excellence Training, 25-28 November 2014, Bangkok, Thailand
Technical Lead, NIST Cloud Computing Forensic Science Working Group
Contributor, ETSI Cloud Standard Coordination
Contributor, NIST Cloud Security
Contributor, NIST Cloud Computing Program
Contributor, Cloud Security Alliance Cloud Control Matrix
Co-chair, Cloud Security Alliance Telecom Working Group Cloud Forensics and Incident Management, Jun 2012 – Mar 2013
Contributor, IEEE P2302 InterCloud Working Group
Contributor, DMTF Cloud Management Initiative
Contributor, ETSI NFV ISG