Performance-conscious key management in encrypted databases

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the key management issues in encrypted database environments. We study the issues in the context database-as-a-service (DAS) model that allows organizations to outsource their data management infrastructures to a database service provider. In the DAS model, a service provider employs data encryption techniques to ensure the privacy of hosted data. The security of encryption techniques relies on the confidentiality of the encryption keys. The dynamic nature of the encrypted database in the DAS model adds complexity and rises specific requirements on the key management techniques. Key updates are particularly critical because of their potential impact on overall system performance and resources usage. In this paper, we propose specialized techniques and data structures to efficiently implement the key updates along with the other key management functions to improve the systems' concurrency performance in the DAS model. © 2004 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc.