APPLICATION PROTECTION ENFORCEMENT IN THE CLOUD

A method and system provide the ability to enforce application protection in the cloud. A request to register an application is received in a registration tool executing within a cloud computing environment. The registration tool collects application information data and protection policy settings, and registers the application by returning, to a build-time environment, a secure protection authorization (SPA) certificate that authorizes the application to be built. A build registration tool executing in the cloud computing environment receives, from a cloud protection toolchain executing in the build-time environment, signed build-data that includes the SPA and build information for a build of the application. After determining, in the cloud, that the SPA is authenticate, developer credentials are authorized, and the build information is valid, the build registration tool responds to the cloud protection toolchain that the build for the application is authorized.