PSR: An Improvement of Lightweight Cryptography Algorithm for Data Security in Cloud Computing

Abstract

Data security in cloud storage is a pressing concern as organizations increasingly rely on cloud computing services. Transitioning to cloud-based solutions underscores the need to safeguard sensitive information against data breaches and unauthorized access. Traditional cryptography algorithms are vulnerable to brute-force attacks and mathematical breakthroughs, necessitating large key sizes for security. Moreover, they lack resilience against emerging quantum computing threats, posing a significant risk to encryption. To tackle these issues, this study presents a novel lightweight cryptography algorithm named as PSR which is aimed at encryption so as to improve data security before storage in cloud systems. The proposed system converts 128 bit plaintext to cipher by employing techniques such as substitution, ASCII and hexadecimal conversions, block-wise transformations including Rail Fence, Grey Code, and XOR operations with random prime numbers. Notably, the proposed algorithm demonstrates superior performance with minimal runtime and memory usage, satisfying the avalanche effect criterion with a noteworthy efficacy in all executions and resistant to brute force attack.