Cloud identity management security issues & solutions: a taxonomy

*Correspondence: [email protected]; [email protected] 1Department of Computing, School of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST), Sector H-12, Islamabad, Pakistan Full list of author information is available at the end of the article Abstract Purpose: Cloud computing systems represent one of the most complex computing systems currently in existence. Current applications of Cloud involve extensive use of distributed systems with varying degree of connectivity and usage. With a recent focus on large-scale proliferation of Cloud computing, identity management in Cloud based systems is a critical issue for the sustainability of any Cloud-based service. This area has also received considerable attention from the research community as well as the IT industry. Numerous Cloud Identity Management Systems (IDMSs) have been proposed so far; however, most of those systems are neither widely accepted nor considered highly reliable due to their constraints in terms of scope, applicability and security. In order to achieve reliability and effectiveness in IDMs for Cloud, further extensive research needs to be carried out to critically examine Cloud based IDMSs and their level of security.