A hybrid approach for data security in cloud data centres

Abstract

A cloud is a replica of Information Technology facilities and in which, resources from the internet are utilized with the help of web-based applications to improve to the performance and storage facility. It has several advantages compared to conventional server connection method. The central concept of Cloud Computing is that every enterprise or individual cannot afford to spend a massive amount for data storage. With the increase in small and medium enterprises, mobile users have started to use the Cloud and hence, efficient and secured data storage has become a challenge. Various solutions have been proposed for data security, but still, there is a problem in security while storing and receiving data in a federated cloud environment. The Cloud computing environment cannot run without encryption algorithms. The encryption algorithm protects the network and cloud data. Similarly, storing the data for fast retrieval by finding the best cloud server for storing the data as well as for fast retrieval is also an important issue in cloud computing. In the present work, a hybrid approach has been proposed for providing security to the cloud servers. The Hybrid method has three phases, namely, Authentication Phase, Cloud Data encryption phase and optimal storage location finding phase. In the authentication phase, the user is verified and approved to access the cloud application as well as to encrypt the input file using the Blowfish algorithm. The given text input file is fragmented using pattern matching and encrypted by using the Blowfish algorithm Before encryption, the input data are grouped column-wise with the help of a pattern-matching algorithm. In this novel methodology, the encryption and decryption processes have been carried out by employing Blowfish algorithm. The process of merging Pattern matching and Blowfish algorithm named as Pat-fish method. The Bat algorithm is an optimization algorithm and it is employed to find the optimal server location to store the encrypted data.