ESPoW: Efficient and secured proof of ownership method to enable authentic deduplicated data access in public cloud storage

Abstract

The exponential growth of data in cloud environments necessitates efficient storage management solutions. Data deduplication, a technique that eliminates redundant data, has emerged as a key strategy to optimize storage utilization and reduce costs. However, deduplication introduces security challenges, particularly in verifying data ownership and protecting against unauthorized access. This paper presents efficient and secured proof of ownership (ESPoW), a novel proof-verifier technique designed to authenticate data ownership in deduplicated cloud storage environments. ESPoW utilizes a challenge-response mechanism and a unique secret value for each data file to ensure that only legitimate users can access their data, even in the presence of encrypted storage. Through rigorous experimentation and performance analysis, ESPoW demonstrates superior computational efficiency and enhanced security compared to existing methods. This approach provides a robust framework for secure and efficient deduplication in cloud storage, safeguarding sensitive data while optimizing storage resources.