Scalable Data De-Duplication and Retrieval Using Public Key Encryption and Keyword Search Mechanisms

In the modern era, the demand for data storage has grown exponentially, with cloud storage becoming the go-to solution for individuals and organizations. It offers efficient data backup, sharing, and cost reduction. However, the presence of duplicate data from different users can significantly affect the performance of cloud servers. While deduplication of plaintext data is relatively simple, the semitrusted nature of cloud servers necessitates encryption to safeguard consumer privacy. This research work focuses on addressing the complexities of secure de-duplication and data retrieval for encrypted data shared by multiple users. By leveraging public key searchable encryption indexes and trapdoor mechanisms for ciphertext matching, the proposed approach ensures secure de-duplication. For identical files, the re-encryption key of the data owner is appended to the ciphertext chain table of the stored file. This key allows the cloud server to generate a transformed ciphertext, which the user can decrypt using their private key. Security analysis and simulation results demonstrate the scheme’s robustness and efficiency.