Securing Mobile Cloud Data with Personalized Attribute-Based Meta Information

With the spread of fast mobile Internet connections, such as 3G and LTE and the increasing processor power of mobile devices accessing cloud computing services on-the-go is common among all users. Sharing private information with friends and family members are options of popular cloud services, such as storage and social media services. But recent headlines show that the access to private information is often not sufficiently secured on the service level. The approach presented in this paper aims to use attribute-based meta-information to secure data on the level of files without relying on additional functionality of third-party services. A mobile device app is used to access and alter the meta-information. Attribute-based encryption mechanisms secure the private data and define access policies for friends and other users simultaneously.