Secured Virtual Diffused File System for the cloud

One of the major concerns for users of public cloud storage is data confidentiality, integrity and availability. Secured Virtual Diffused File System (SVDFS) is a distributed file system which aims to address this concern by allowing users to transparently layer a secured virtual file system on top of existing public cloud infrastructure. SVDFS uses Information Dispersal Algorithm (IDA) to slice up data into multiple unrecognizable slices and “diffuse” them across multiple storage servers in one or more cloud providers. With IDA, the adversary is required to obtain a minimum number of slices as well as the information on the transform matrix to be able to reconstruct the information. IDA also provides availability of data without requiring full replication. This helps to mitigate the loss of information in case a storage server or a specific storage medium is corrupted or compromised. The proposed architecture supports a clear separation of storage owner and information owner. Unlike other IDA-based storage systems, SDVFS supports file system semantics by providing dynamic reading and writing of files which have been dispersed using IDA.