Attribute-based access control scheme with efficient revocation in cloud computing

Attribute-based encryption (ABE) supports the fine-grained sharing of encrypted data. In some common designs, attributes are managed by an attribute authority that is supposed to be fully trustworthy. This concept implies that the attribute authority can access all encrypted data, which is known as the key escrow problem. In addition, because all access privileges are defined over a single attribute universe and attributes are shared among multiple data users, the revocation of users is inefficient for the existing ABE scheme. In this paper, we propose a novel scheme that solves the key escrow problem and supports efficient user revocation. First, an access controller is introduced into the existing scheme, and then, secret keys are generated corporately by the attribute authority and access controller. Second, an efficient user revocation mechanism is achieved using a version key that supports forward and backward security. The analysis proves that our scheme is secure and efficient in user authorization and revocation.