A CLOUD-BASED DATA PRIVACY FRAMEWORK USING HYBRID ENCRYPTION ALGORITHMS FOR SECURE DATA TRANSMISSION

Abstract

The increasing popularity of cloud computing is creating an increased demand for reliable, flexible, and energy efficient encryption techniques. In this paper we present a new hybrid encryption framework that uses AES to provide fast symmetric block ciphers, RSA to allow for secure asymmetric public-key cryptography, and the bitwise XOR operator to add additional key-space through key masking and/or complexity to previously encrypted data. We propose a three layered approach using obfuscated pre-encrypted data, a standard AES encryption method and then applying a bitwise XOR mask over the AES encryption key; followed by a secure public-key exchange based upon RSA or MECC. Finally, an optional layer of obfuscation can be applied in order to protect against the most common attack vectors currently being used. Our simulations were run using varying input sizes (from 2KB to 12KB) which showed our method produced the fastest encrypt and decrypt times (2.09s and 2.45s respectively), the largest throughput values (.0196 for encrypt and .0167 for decrypt) and minimal power usage of 5.56. Furthermore, compared to other hybrid algorithms (AES+RSA, AES+DH, 3DES+RSA, etc.), we also found our method provided the highest level of security at 96. Also, when comparing our work with similar studies (OB-MECC at 94, ECC at 81, and Base64 at 72), it was determined that our method exceeded them in terms of security. These results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed hybrid model in providing strong cryptographic security while optimizing performance and energy efficiency for cloud-based storage and transmission systems.