Improved Blowfish‐Based Data Security in the Cloud With Proxy Re‐Encryption Key Management and Distribution

Cloud computing offers an efficient platform for storing the massive volume of data generated by modern applications. However, the increasing reliance on cloud services raises significant security concerns related to data confidentiality, integrity, and privacy. To address these challenges, this research introduces a cloud data security framework consisting of three stages, including data encryption, data storage, and a PRE‐based key management and distribution phase. In the first stage, data is encrypted using an enhanced Blowfish algorithm before being stored in the cloud. Following this, data storage allows users to store encrypted data in the cloud, which can then be accessed by third‐party users with an encryption key. Secure key distribution is achieved through a lightweight key management mechanism based on the proxy re‐encryption (PRE) protocol, enabling controlled access without exposing the original encryption keys. Moreover, the performance evaluation demonstrates that the proposed framework improves resistance against cryptographic attacks, achieving a KCA value of 0.034, a KPA value of 0.032, and also achieving a minimal encryption time of 0.0002 s and decryption time of 2.03 × 10 −3 s, outperforming traditional encryption methods. These results indicate that the suggested approach strengthens data protection in cloud storage environments.