JCDC: A blockchain-based framework for secure data storage and circulation in JointCloud

JointCloud computing represents a new generation cloud computing paradigm, which deeply integrates the cloud resources of multiple Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) to offer tailored cloud services to users. In contrast to traditional multi-cloud environment, JointCloud environment involve data circulation among multiple CSPs. However, in JointCloud environment, CSPs are not always fully trustworthy and they may illegally infringe upon users’ data privacy and security for their own benefit. Additionally, the heterogeneity arising from different data storage formats, structures, access control, and permission management mechanisms adopted by various CSPs makes achieving unified data management in JointCloud challenging. Therefore, to ensure secure storage and efficient circulation of data within JointCloud, it is essential to prevent violations for user privacy and data ownership, shield the heterogeneity of underlying data management mechanisms across different CSPs, and establish trusted transactions between CSPs. In this paper, we propose a framework called JointCloud Data Chain (JCDC) based on JointCloud computing and blockchain for data storage and circulation, aiming to ensure secure data storage and trustworthy transactions. JCDC utilizes blockchain to record data ownership and control data circulation, while integrating storage resources from various CSPs to construct a distributed off-chain Personal Data Storage (PDS) for expanding system storage capacity. Additionally, JCDC employs Certificateless Public Key Cryptography (CL-PKC) and Proxy Re-encryption technologies for user identity management and secure data transactions. Furthermore, smart contracts are designed to enable automated data storage and sharing. We conduct a security analysis of JCDC and develop a prototype system to validate its performance and practicality. Finally, extensive experimentation and analysis demonstrate that JCDC exhibits low time latency and cost, which makes it practical.