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This localized version of this publication was produced from the original source material through the efforts of chapters and volunteers but the translated content falls outside of the CSA Research Lifecycle. For any questions and feedback, contact research@cloudsecurityalliance.org.

The CSA Enterprise Architecture (EA) is both a methodology and a set of tools. It is a framework, a comprehensive approach for the architecture of a secure cloud infrastructure, and can be used to assess opportunities for improvement, create roadmaps for technology adoption, identify reusable security patterns, and assess various cloud providers and security technology vendors against a common set of capabilities.

To create the CSA Enterprise Architecture, the EA Working Group leveraged four industry standard architecture models: TOGAF, ITIL, SABSA, and Jericho, therefore combining the best of breed architecture paradigms into a comprehensive approach to cloud security. By merging business drivers with security infrastructure, the EA increases the value proposition of cloud services within an enterprise business model. The CSA Enterprise Architecture was adopted by the National Institute of Standards and Technologies in NIST SP 500-299 and NIST SP 500-292.

This guide is your deep dive into each EA domain. For quick reference and a visual representation of these domains, refer to the Enterprise Architecture Reference Diagram.

To learn how the EA maps to CSA’s standard controls set, refer to the Enterprise Architecture v2 to CCM v3.01 Mapping.