Group Selection and Key Management Strategies for Ciphertext-Policy Attribute-Based Encryption

Ciphertext-Policy Attribute-Based Encryption (CPABE) was introduced by Bethencourt, Sahai, and Waters, as an improvement of Identity Based Encryption, allowing fine grained control of access to encrypted files by restricting access to only users whose attributes match that of the monotonic access tree of the encrypted file. Through these modifications, encrypted files can be placed securely on an unsecure server, without fear of malicious users being able to access the files, while allowing each user to have a unique key, reducing the vulnerabilites associated with sharing a key between multiple users. However, due to the fact that CPABE was designed for the purpose of not using trusted servers, key management strategies such as efficient renewal and immediate key revocation are inherently prevented. In turn, this reduces security of the entire scheme, as a user could maliciously keep a key after having an attribute changed or revoked, using the old key to decrypt files that they should not have access to with their new key. Additionally, the original CPABE implementation provided does not discuss the selection of the underlying bilinear pairing which is used as the cryptographic primitive for the scheme. This thesis explores different possibilites for improvement to CPABE, in both the choice of bilinear group used, as well as support for key management that does not rely on proxy servers while minimizing the communication overhead. Through this work, it was found that nonsupersingular elliptic curves can be used for CPABE, and Barreto-Naehrig curves allowed the fastest encryption and key generation in CHARM, but were the slowest curves for decryption due to the large size of the output group. Key management was performed by using a key-insulation method, which provided helper keys which allow keys to be transformed over different time periods, with revocation and renewal through key update. Unfortunately, this does not allow immediate revocation, and revoked keys are still valid until the end of the time period during which they are revoked. Discussion of other key management methods is presented to show that immediate key revocation is difficult without using trusted servers to control access

Suspended Sentences and Free-Standing Probation Orders in U.S. Guidelines Systems: A Survey and Assessment

Much academic attention has been directed towards management models, but there is limited research into the details of how these models are put to use in organizations. In this paper, we employ a multi-theoretical process perspective on the introduction of Balanced Scorecard in a Swedish healthcare organization. Through the application of actor-network theory, behavior setting theory and distributed cognition, we have identified a set of complementary observations and conclusions. First, we claim that a critical mass of actors is needed to support the change effort. We also emphasize the need for a problematization process in which critical voices are given room to influence the introduction. Further, we stress the importance of aligning the physical environment with organizational goals, and argue that well-designed feedback mechanisms may prevent undesired decoupling of managerial practice.Working paper

State of The Art and Hot Aspects in Cloud Data Storage Security

Along with the evolution of cloud computing and cloud storage towards matu- rity, researchers have analyzed an increasing range of cloud computing security aspects, data security being an important topic in this area. In this paper, we examine the state of the art in cloud storage security through an overview of selected peer reviewed publications. We address the question of defining cloud storage security and its different aspects, as well as enumerate the main vec- tors of attack on cloud storage. The reviewed papers present techniques for key management and controlled disclosure of encrypted data in cloud storage, while novel ideas regarding secure operations on encrypted data and methods for pro- tection of data in fully virtualized environments provide a glimpse of the toolbox available for securing cloud storage. Finally, new challenges such as emergent government regulation call for solutions to problems that did not receive enough attention in earlier stages of cloud computing, such as for example geographical location of data. The methods presented in the papers selected for this review represent only a small fraction of the wide research effort within cloud storage security. Nevertheless, they serve as an indication of the diversity of problems that are being addressed