Title: Encryption-based safe cloud data storage using Merkle hash sum tree with message authentication code

Authors: G. Gangoni Vani; Y. Ambica; Rohita Yamaganti; Varanasi Aruna

Addresses: Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Sreenidhi Institute of Science and Technology, Ghatkesar, Hyderabad – 501301, Telangana, India ' Department of Computer Engineering, CMR College of Engineering and Technology, Medchal – 501401, Telangana, India ' Department of Computer Engineering, Sreenidhi Institute of Science and Technology, Ghatkesar, Hyderabad, Telangana, India ' Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Sreenidhi Institute of Science and Technology, Ghatkesar, Hyderabad – 501301, Telangana, India

Abstract: Security is a major concern in computer applications, especially with cloud storage security playing a crucial role. The cloud provides a desirable platform for cognitive smart cities to access user data, enabling them to adapt their current actions and learn from past experiences. The data in a cloud has minimum security, because of mutable establishment procedure of data integrity. In this study, the Merkle hash sum tree with message authentication code (MHST-MAC) approach is proposed for enhancing the security in the cloud. This approach supports the privacy-preserving public auditing to give a secure storage to cloud. Files stored in the cloud are accessed by the data owner (DO), who works in coordination with a third-party auditor (TPA). Additionally, a multi-owner authentication mechanism is adopted when different procedures are needed to verify the user's identity. The results show that a proposed MHST-MAC approach delivers the performance metrics such as encryption as well as decryption time values about the 126 ms and 323 ms for 200 (KB) file size compared with existing methods such as Rivest Shamir Adleman (RSA) and ElGamal algorithms.

Keywords: cloud storage; decryption; encryption; message authentication code; Merkle hash sum tree; third-party auditor; TPA.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESDF.2026.153330

International Journal of Electronic Security and Digital Forensics, 2026 Vol.18 No.3, pp.261 - 275

Received: 29 Jan 2024
Accepted: 30 Apr 2024
Published online: 01 May 2026 *

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