Enabling Cloud Storage Auditing With Verifiable Outsourcing of Key Updates

Abstract

This research explores the challenge of ensuring data integrity and accountability in cloud storage while outsourcing key management for improved efficiency and scalability. We propose a novel system that enables verifiable auditing of cloud storage data by a third-party auditor, even when key updates are outsourced to a trusted but potentially compromised key management service. Our approach leverages cryptographic techniques to guarantee data integrity and authenticity while maintaining the confidentiality of sensitive data. The system provides strong security guarantees, reducing the reliance on fully trusted cloud providers and minimizing the risks associated with key compromise. Experimental results demonstrate the feasibility and efficiency of our proposed solution.

Introduction

Cloud storage offers scalability and cost-effectiveness but raises concerns regarding data integrity and security. Traditional auditing methods often rely on trusted cloud providers, posing a single point of failure. Outsourcing key management simplifies operations but increases the risk of unauthorized key access or modification. Existing solutions either lack verifiability or suffer from performance limitations. This research addresses these shortcomings by developing a secure and verifiable auditing mechanism that supports outsourced key management, allowing for independent verification of data integrity by a trusted auditor without requiring full trust in the cloud provider or the key management service.

Objectives

• Design a secure and verifiable auditing protocol for cloud storage.
• Implement a system that supports the outsourcing of key management for efficiency.
• Evaluate the performance and security of the proposed system.