Secure cloud communication architecture

Abstract

A cloud communication architecture addresses shortcomings of traditional security protocols (e.g., SSL/TLS) in cloud computing, providing security for data-in-transit and authenticity of cloud users (CUs) and cloud service providers (CSPs). The architecture also protects the communication channel against attacks such as man-in-the-middle (MITM) (including eavesdropping, sniffing, identity spoofing, data tampering), sensitive information disclosure, replay, compromised-key, repudiation and session hijacking attacks. The architecture includes a high-performance cloud-focussed security protocol. The protocol efficiently utilizes the strength and speed of features such as symmetric block encryption with Galois/Counter mode (GCM), cryptographic hash, public key cryptography, and ephemeral key-exchange, and provides faster reconnection facility for supporting frequent connectivity and dealing with connection trade-offs. Embodiments have enhanced security against the above-noted attacks, and are superior to TLSv1.3 (the latest stable version among the SSL successors) in performance, bandwidth consumption, and memory usage at the server-side.