Secure and Efficient Data Hiding in the Cloud with Quantum-Resistant Encryption

Abstract

Traditional steganographic methods in multi-cloud environments face significant challenges in cloud security, including complex key management, high computational overhead, and vulnerabilities to various attacks regaring secure data concealment. This paper presents a novel steganographic mechanism tailored for single cloud environments that address these issues. The proposed mechanism leverages a combination of homomorphic encryption, elliptic curve cryptography (ECC), and lattice-based cryptographic techniques to ensure robust security against classical and quantum attacks. Confining operations to a single cloud simplifies credential and key management, reducing operational complexity and enhancing system efficiency. The proposed approach mitigates the risks associated with multi-cloud environments and offers strong resistance to brute-force, differential, and steganalysis attacks. The implementation and validation of the mechanism demonstrate its efficacy in maintaining data integrity, confidentiality, and availability while minimizing computational resources. The results indicate that this approach significantly improves the security and performance of steganographic operations in cloud storage environments, setting a new standard for secure data concealment in cloud computing.