Security and Privacy in Cloud Computing Environments

A special issue of Algorithms (ISSN 1999-4893).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2017) | Viewed by 31116

Special Issue Editors

School of Computing Science, Sir Alwyn Williams Building, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8RZ, Scotland, UK
Interests: Internet-of-Things; cyber security; next generation networking; device-to-device communication; ad-hoc networking; trustworthy AI; blockchain
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Data Storage Institute (DSI), Agency of Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore
Interests: security, systems, and applied cryptography

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Cloud Computing has revolutionized the IT industry and become the core technology to provide continuous access to computational resources, storage and processing. Many business organizations now have a huge dependency on cloud services for their daily operations, with critical data being stored remotely in the cloud. However, the convenience brought by cloud services comes with a trade-off: there has been a significant increase in the number of data breaches in the cloud environment. Hence, security and privacy in cloud environments must be high priorities, in order to protect the integrity and confidentiality of the data. On the other hand, with the advent of big data analytics, data across different business domains is shared to discover new knowledge and to perform data mining; data privacy is a also serious concern in this field. The open access journal Algorithms will host a special issue on ``Security and Privacy in Cloud Computing Environments'', the aim of which is to offer a forum for exchanging and proposing new ideas and techniques related to the design and usage of novel security solutions for the cloud. The special issue will present research and development results of lasting significance in the algorithms, design, implementation, analysis, and applications of secure and privacy preserved cloud computing environments. It also provides a forum for ideas about the meaning and implications of security and privacy, particularly those with important consequences for the cloud computing environment.

The following is a (non-exhaustive) list of topics of interest:

  • Algorithmic primitives for encrypted applications
  • Authentication for cloud-based services
  • Access control for cloud services
  • Homomorphic encryption
  • Obfuscation techniques
  • Practical aspects of functional encryption
  • Privacy-preserving big data analytics
  • Privacy-preserving technologies for data sharing in cloud environments
  • Secure cloud storage
  • Searchable encryption for cloud storage
  • Secure virtualization

Dr. Sye Loong Keoh
Dr. Khin Mi Mi Aung
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Algorithms is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Algorithmic primitives
  • Authentication
  • Access Control
  • Functional encryptions
  • Homomorphic encryption
  • Privacy
  • Secure cloud computing
  • Secure multi-party computation
  • Secure deduplication
  • Searchable encryption

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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3001 KiB  
Article
Searchable Data Vault: Encrypted Queries in Secure Distributed Cloud Storage
by Geong Sen Poh, Vishnu Monn Baskaran, Ji-Jian Chin, Moesfa Soeheila Mohamad, Kay Win Lee, Dharmadharshni Maniam and Muhammad Reza Z’aba
Algorithms 2017, 10(2), 52; https://doi.org/10.3390/a10020052 - 09 May 2017
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 6242
Abstract
Cloud storage services allow users to efficiently outsource their documents anytime and anywhere. Such convenience, however, leads to privacy concerns. While storage providers may not read users’ documents, attackers may possibly gain access by exploiting vulnerabilities in the storage system. Documents may also [...] Read more.
Cloud storage services allow users to efficiently outsource their documents anytime and anywhere. Such convenience, however, leads to privacy concerns. While storage providers may not read users’ documents, attackers may possibly gain access by exploiting vulnerabilities in the storage system. Documents may also be leaked by curious administrators. A simple solution is for the user to encrypt all documents before submitting them. This method, however, makes it impossible to efficiently search for documents as they are all encrypted. To resolve this problem, we propose a multi-server searchable symmetric encryption (SSE) scheme and construct a system called the searchable data vault (SDV). A unique feature of the scheme is that it allows an encrypted document to be divided into blocks and distributed to different storage servers so that no single storage provider has a complete document. By incorporating the scheme, the SDV protects the privacy of documents while allowing for efficient private queries. It utilizes a web interface and a controller that manages user credentials, query indexes and submission of encrypted documents to cloud storage services. It is also the first system that enables a user to simultaneously outsource and privately query documents from a few cloud storage services. Our preliminary performance evaluation shows that this feature introduces acceptable computation overheads when compared to submitting documents directly to a cloud storage service. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Security and Privacy in Cloud Computing Environments)
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209 KiB  
Article
Trust in the Balance: Data Protection Laws as Tools for Privacy and Security in the Cloud
by Darra Hofman, Luciana Duranti and Elissa How
Algorithms 2017, 10(2), 47; https://doi.org/10.3390/a10020047 - 27 Apr 2017
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 6737
Abstract
A popular bumper sticker states: “There is no cloud. It’s just someone else’s computer.” Despite the loss of control that comes with its use, critical records are increasingly being entrusted to the cloud, generating ever-growing concern about the privacy and security of those [...] Read more.
A popular bumper sticker states: “There is no cloud. It’s just someone else’s computer.” Despite the loss of control that comes with its use, critical records are increasingly being entrusted to the cloud, generating ever-growing concern about the privacy and security of those records. Ultimately, privacy and security constitute an attempt to balance competing needs: privacy balances the need to use information against the need to protect personal data, while security balances the need to provide access to records against the need to stop unauthorized access. The importance of these issues has led to a multitude of legal and regulatory efforts to find a balance and, ultimately, to ensure trust in both digital records and their storage in the cloud. Adding a particular challenge is the fact that distinct jurisdictions approach privacy differently and an in-depth understanding of what a jurisdiction’s laws may be, or even under what jurisdiction particular data might be, requires a Herculean effort. And yet, in order to protect privacy and enhance security, this effort is required. This article examines two legal tools for ensuring the privacy and security of records in the cloud, data protection laws, and data localization laws, through the framework of “trust” as understood in archival science. This framework of trust provides new directions for algorithmic research, identifying those areas of digital record creation and preservation most in need of novel solutions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Security and Privacy in Cloud Computing Environments)

Review

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1358 KiB  
Review
From Intrusion Detection to an Intrusion Response System: Fundamentals, Requirements, and Future Directions
by Shahid Anwar, Jasni Mohamad Zain, Mohamad Fadli Zolkipli, Zakira Inayat, Suleman Khan, Bokolo Anthony and Victor Chang
Algorithms 2017, 10(2), 39; https://doi.org/10.3390/a10020039 - 27 Mar 2017
Cited by 134 | Viewed by 17453
Abstract
In the past few decades, the rise in attacks on communication devices in networks has resulted in a reduction of network functionality, throughput, and performance. To detect and mitigate these network attacks, researchers, academicians, and practitioners developed Intrusion Detection Systems (IDSs) with automatic [...] Read more.
In the past few decades, the rise in attacks on communication devices in networks has resulted in a reduction of network functionality, throughput, and performance. To detect and mitigate these network attacks, researchers, academicians, and practitioners developed Intrusion Detection Systems (IDSs) with automatic response systems. The response system is considered an important component of IDS, since without a timely response IDSs may not function properly in countering various attacks, especially on a real-time basis. To respond appropriately, IDSs should select the optimal response option according to the type of network attack. This research study provides a complete survey of IDSs and Intrusion Response Systems (IRSs) on the basis of our in-depth understanding of the response option for different types of network attacks. Knowledge of the path from IDS to IRS can assist network administrators and network staffs in understanding how to tackle different attacks with state-of-the-art technologies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Security and Privacy in Cloud Computing Environments)
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