Efficient and Secure Collaborative Authority-Based Keyword Search in Encrypted Cloud

Abstract

Cloud computing has revolutionized how data is stored and processed, providing users with convenient access and cost savings. However, ensuring data security and privacy remains a significant concern, particularly when sensitive information needs to be stored and searched in an encrypted form. This research paper introduces a novel solution called the Collaborative Authority-Based Keyword Search (MA-ABKS) scheme, designed to facilitate secure and effective searching over encrypted cloud data. The proposed scheme allows users with different attribute authorities to perform keyword-based searches without revealing the actual data or attributes to the cloud service provider. The paper presents the system architecture, key components, and cryptographic techniques utilized in the MA-ABKS scheme. The architecture includes multiple attribute authorities that define access policies based on user attributes. The scheme incorporates encryption and indexing mechanisms to guarantee the privacy and authenticity of the stored data. To evaluate the scheme's performance, various metrics are considered, including search efficiency, security, and scalability. Experimental results demonstrate the scheme's effectiveness in achieving effective and privacy-enhancing keyword searches using encrypted cloud data. The scheme's search time, index size, and communication overhead are evaluated under different workload scenarios. Security analysis is conducted to assess the scheme's resilience against potential threats, ensuring confidentiality and privacy protection. While the proposed MA-ABKS scheme offers notable advantages, there are certain limitations and trade-offs to consider. The paper discusses these aspects and provides insights into potential extensions and future research directions. Overall, the research findings establish the practicality and effectiveness of the MA-ABKS scheme in achieving secure and confidentiality-preserving keyword retrieval on encrypted cloud information, contributing to the advancement of secure data management in cloud computing environments.