ABSTRACT
The emergence of Cloud Computing and consequential changes to infrastructure and work practices leaves little doubt that most computing platforms will be impacted by increased security concerns. Therefore, within the context of a security framework, issues surrounding the exploitation of hard or soft network elements in a Cloud architecture need to be acknowledged. To be applicable to any Cloud architecture, such a framework needs to play a role within the operational context of Cloud Computing. The framework is presented as a taxonomy of security threats specific to Cloud Computing environments.