Enhancing Cloud Communication Security: A Blockchain-Powered Framework with Attribute-Aware Encryption

Abstract

The global production of information continuously increases in quantity and variety. However, the tools and technologies developed to handle such large volumes of data have not adequately met the security and privacy requirements. Existing cloud security systems, often managed by a trusted third party, are susceptible to various security risks. To address these challenges and ensure the protection of personal information, blockchain technology emerges as a crucial solution with substantial potential. This research uses the blockchain-powered attribute-aware encryption method to establish a real-time secure communication approach over the cloud. By employing attribute-based encryption technology, data owners can implement fine-grained search permissions for data users. The proposed solution incorporates accessible encryption technology to enable secure access to encrypted data and facilitate keyword searches on the blockchain. This study provides a functional comparison of recently developed attribute-based encryption algorithms. The access control strategy comprises two access tree types and a linear secret-sharing system, serving as the main components. The elliptic curve’s base field was set to 512b, and the bilinear pairing parameter type used was Type-A. This approach involves storing keywords on a remote server and encrypting them using attribute-based encryption. Furthermore, the encrypted data blockchain and the corresponding ciphertext are stored in the blockchain. Numerical experiments were conducted to evaluate the system’s key generation, trapdoor building, and keyword retrieval capabilities.