Handling Confidential Data on the Untrusted Cloud: An Agent-based Approach

TL;DR

This paper proposes an agent-based approach for securely sharing confidential data on untrusted cloud platforms using simple permission controls, addressing user concerns over data control and security.

Contribution

It introduces a novel agent-based method utilizing grant-and-revoke permissions for secure data sharing in untrusted cloud environments, which is more accessible and adaptable than existing techniques.

Findings

Secure data sharing via agents is feasible in untrusted clouds.

The approach simplifies permission management for non-technical users.

Enhanced user confidence in cloud data security.

Abstract

Cloud computing allows shared computer and storage facilities to be used by a multitude of clients. While cloud management is centralized, the information resides in the cloud and information sharing can be implemented via off-the-shelf techniques for multiuser databases. Users, however, are very diffident for not having full control over their sensitive data. Untrusted database-as-a-server techniques are neither readily extendable to the cloud environment nor easily understandable by non-technical users. To solve this problem, we present an approach where agents share reserved data in a secure manner by the use of simple grant-and-revoke permissions on shared data.