SC-DAC: a robust partially and fully access control mechanism for secure cloud data in outsourced environments

Cloud computing has revolutionized data storage and processing, yet it poses significant security challenges, necessitating robust access control mechanisms. This study proposes a novel approach to secure cloud data access control called the Robust Mechanism for Secure Cloud Data Access Control (SC-DAC), which combines advanced cryptographic techniques such as Ciphertext-Policy Attribute-Based Encryption (CP-ABE) and Hybrid Public Key Encryption. By enabling fine-grained access control based on user attributes and policies, and ensuring data confidentiality and integrity during transmission, SC-DAC addresses critical security challenges in cloud environments. It features two innovative protocols: Partially Outsourced Access Control Protocol (PO-ACP), which allows for partial delegation of access control tasks while retaining oversight of critical functions, and Fully Outsourced Access Control Protocol (FO-ACP), which streamlines operations by fully outsourcing challenge generation and resource accounting to the cloud provider. The mechanism’s effectiveness is rigorously validated through formal verification with the ProVerif tool, mathematical proofs, and informal security analyses, demonstrating resilience against replay attacks, man-in-the-middle attacks, and denial-of-service (DoS) attacks. This comprehensive approach significantly advances cloud security by providing a robust solution to unauthorized access and data breaches. Simulation results further show that SC-DAC achieves superior performance in computation and communication costs, significantly advancing cloud security.