Cloud Computing

Introduction

            Cloud computing is a type of computing based on the Internet. Cloud computing is also a utility model where organizations regardless of the size host their data centers, processes, and applications using the Internet. In the past, people used to run computer applications from the software downloaded on a physical computer or the organizational server housed in a building. However, cloud computing in the modern days allows people to have a timely access to similar applications through the Internet.

            The chances are that people are relying on cloud computing and its applications to solving the problems faced by small businesses whether the user is firing emails off or using several applications to help in the management of the workload. In short, cloud computing is slowly becoming the new way of doing things and the new formal. Historically, cloud computing has become the catalyst for a rapid shift in the world of business. It has created new business models thus accelerating innovation and changing the economic processes of many industries.

Description of Algorithms

            Secure communication would not be provided over the cloud computing network without encryption algorithms. Therefore, security algorithms play a vital role. Also, security algorithms are fundamental in the ways in which data is protected. Encryption algorithms help in the conversion of the data in a scrambled form using “the key” where the user also has the key to decrypt the transmitted data. There are two techniques of encryption which are Symmetric and Asymmetric key encryption. In Symmetric key encryption, there is only one key for both encryption and decryption. In Asymmetric key, there is a public and private key for encryption and decryption respectively (Jian et al., 2016). 

Figure 1: Cloud Computing Security Algorithms

Symmetric Algorithms

·         Data Encryption Standards (DES): The algorithm was developed around 1977, and it was the first recommendation of NIST. The algorithm is 64 bits key size and has a 64 bits block size. Since its development, there have been many attacks and methods to weaken DES thus becoming an insecure block cipher. Below is its algorithm (Tingyuan, Lijian, & Zhe-Ming, 2014):

·         Blowfish: The algorithm was developed as late as 1993. It is also one of the common public algorithms developed and provided by Bruce Schneier. It is also a variable length key having a 64-bit block cipher. There have not been any strong attacks on the algorithm. Its superiority over other algorithms has been proved the different experiments and research it has been exposed to. It also has a better throughput and power consumption than other algorithms.

·         RC5: The algorithm is a development of 1994 with a block size of 32, 64, or 128 if it is an MAX2040 bit. The different use of the algorithm is an indication that it is secure. However, it has a slow speed.

·         3DES: The algorithm was developed in 1998 as an improvement of DES. It has a similar encryption method to the original DES. However, it is applied at least three times to increase the level of encryption. Additionally, it is known to be slower than other methods of block ciphers. It is a 64-bit block size with 192 bits key size. It has a lower performance with regards to power consumption and throughput in comparison with

·         DES. It also requires more time than the DES because it has a characteristic of triple phase encryption.

·         Advanced Encryption Standard (AES): It is the newly developed encryption standard which is also recommended by NIST as a replacement of DES. Brute force attack is the only known method of attack to have passed it. Both AES and DES are similar in that they are block ciphers. Its variable key length is of 128, 192, or 256 bits but its default is 256 bits. It has the capability of encrypting data blocks of 128 bits into 10, 12, and 14 rounds based on the size of the key. It is advantageous in that it is fast and flexible. It can also be implemented on different platforms especially in small devices. It has also been tested carefully for various security applications. 

Asymmetric Algorithms

·         RSA: This is a type of Internet encryption and a system of authentication. It uses an algorithm developed by Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Leonard Adleman in 1977. The RSA algorithm is the most recommended and commonly used algorithm in cloud computing. There is no any other known algorithm for private and public key generation and encryption. It is advantageous in that it is fast (Mirzayi & Rafe, 2015).

RSA is also known to have a multiplicative homomorphic property. This means that a user can easily find the product of the plain text by multiplication of the cipher texts. The product of this operation is the cipher text of that particular product as represented below:

·         Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA): The algorithm is one of the Federal Information Processing Standards for digital standards. It was also a proposal of National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in 1991 to be specifically used in their Digital Signature Standard (DSS). It went on to be adopted as an FIPS 186 in 1993. With this algorithm, the entropy, uniqueness, and secrecy of the random signature value k is essential. Violation of any of the above three requirements can reveal to the attacker the entire private key. DSA can easily be broken by using a value that can easily be predicted or omitting a few bits of k in each of the different signatures.

·         Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange (D-H): Diffie-Hellman key exchange is a particular method used for exchanging cryptographic keys. It is also one of the earliest applied practical examples of key exchange implemented in the field of cryptography. The algorithm method allows any two parties that do not know each other to establish a shared secret key through an insecure communication channel jointly. The key is then used in the encryption of the subsequent communications by use of a symmetric key cipher (Taft, 2013).

·         El Gamal: In the world of cryptography, this method and system of encryption is an asymmetric key encryption algorithm used in the public key cryptography. The method is also based on the Diffie-Hellman key exchange algorithm. It originated from the description by Taher El Gamal in 1984. The method is commonly used in GNU Privacy Guard software as well as recent versions of PGP among other cryptosystems. The Digital Signature Algorithm is also a variant of the El Gamal encryption system and should therefore, not be confused with the El Gamal encryption system. El Gamal encryption system can be defined through any cyclic group. Additionally, its security depends on the difficulty of a particular problem in relation to the computing discrete logarithms (Guiyi, Rongxing, & Jun, 2014).

Comparison and Analysis of Algorithms

            In this comparison, the paper shall compare the existing and the most common algorithms on the basis on different parameters. The parameters on which the comparison will be based are block size, key length, speed, and security as shown in the table below.

Features	DES	Blowfish	RC5	3-DES	AES
Year of development	1977	1993	1994	1998	2000
Size of the block	64	64	32, 64, or 128	64	128, 192, or 256
Security of the algorithm	It has been proven to be inadequate	It is considered secure	It is considered secure	It is considered secure	It is considered secure
Length of the key	56	32 - 448	MAX2040	112 or 168	128, 192, or 256
Execution Speed	Very slow speed	Fast	Slow	Slow	Very fast speed

Table 1: Comparison of different algorithms according to various parameters

Conclusion

            Cloud computing is changing the technological way of doing things. Businesses now have various paths to cloud computing including platforms, applications, and infrastructure that are readily available from cloud computing providers as online services. Many cloud users may be confused by the existence of offerings and the terminology for describing them and therefore, they will not be sure of the risk and benefits. Security is a primary requirement in cloud computing while we deal with data storage. There are various techniques that cloud computing users can use in implementing security in the cloud. This paper discussed different symmetric and asymmetric algorithms. The future of cloud computing should consider some problems about the security algorithms and go on to implement better algorithm versions of DES, RSA, 3DES, AES, IDES, and Blowfish.

References

Guiyi, W., Rongxing, L., & Jun, S. (2014). EFADS: Efficient, flexible and anonymous data        

            sharing protocol for cloud computing with proxy re-encryption. Journal of Computer &    

            System Sciences, 80(8), 1549-1562. doi:10.1016/j.jcss.2014.04.021

Jian, L., Huimei, W., Ming, X., Hong, R., & Kun, H. (2016). Reliable and confidential cloud       

            storage with efficient data forwarding functionality. IET Communications, 10(6), 661-     

            668. doi:10.1049/iet-com.2015.0608

Mirzayi, S., & Rafe, V. (2015). A hybrid heuristic workflow scheduling algorithm for cloud        

            computing environments. Journal Of Experimental & Theoretical Artificial Intelligence,    

            27(6), 721-735. doi:10.1080/0952813X.2015.1020524

Taft, D. K. (2013). IBM Patents Cryptography Invention to Advance Security in the Cloud.        

            Eweek, 6.

Tingyuan, N., Lijian, Z., & Zhe-Ming, L. (2014). Power evaluation methods for data encryption  

            algorithms. IET Software, 8(1), 12-18. doi:10.1049/iet-sen.2012.0137

Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at Melda Research in legitimate research paper writing services if you need a similar paper you can place your order for buy narrative essay.