A green pattern-based data encryption solution in the cloud

Organisations are increasingly interested in leveraging cloud computing for extensive data storage. However, security concerns hinder its widespread adoption due to the need to entrust data to cloud providers, which reduces customer control. A viable solution is customer-side data encryption, but this can be resource-intensive and lead to performance issues and higher carbon footprints. To address this, we propose a solution that employs customised encryption/decryption patterns and categorises data into three sensitivity levels, while also accounting for data access and update frequency. Furthermore, we consider cost metrics to assess the environmental implications of encryption. These metrics enable to evaluate our proposed solution while highlighting its positive environmental impact in comparison to other state-of-the-art approaches. The results show that our approach not only facilitates the adoption of encryption mechanisms but also manages the fine balance between fulfilling data confidentiality demands and effectively handling practical resources and energy constraints.