Integrity Coded Databases: An Evaluation of Performance, Efficiency, and Practicality
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In recent years, cloud database storage has become an inexpensive and convenient option for businesses and individuals to store information. While its positive aspects make the cloud extremely attractive for data storage, it is a relatively new area of service, making it vulnerable to cyber-attacks and security breaches. Storing data in a foreign location also requires the owner to relinquish control of their information to system administrators of these online database services. This opens the possibility for malicious, internal attacks on the data that may involve the manipulation, omission, or addition of data. The retention of the data as it was intended to be stored is referred to as the database's integrity. Our research tests a potential solution for maintaining the integrity of these cloud-storage databases by converting the original databases to Integrity Coded Databases (ICDB). ICDBs utilize Integrity Codes: cryptographic codes created alongside the data by a private key that only the data owner has access to. When the database is queried, an integrity code is returned along with the queried information. The owner is then able to verify that the information is correct, complete, and fresh. Consequently, ICDBs also incur performance and memory penalties. In our research, we explore, test, and benchmark ICDBs to determine the costs and benefits of maintaining an ICDB versus a standard database.
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