Split key management framework for Open Stack Swift object storage cloud

Abstract

Object storage systems are emerging as new generation service oriented store technologies of large scale data management and delivery in clouds. Recently, several object storage technologies are emerging, one such technology is OpenStack Swift. Swift is based on container services methodology for data organization and retrieval, managed via open standards like web services REST protocols. Swift has several components for data management and retrieval, but, lacks in providing security features (like the key management and encryption) of the data while the data is at rest and in transit. In this paper, we propose a framework for OpenStack Swift key management based on multi-factor split keys, and propose a methodology for key organisation using the document database Mongo DB. First, we describe the object based storage mechanisms in swift, its limitations, followed by key management framework and its components. In this paper we compare the performance of the proposed symmetric-split-key encryption/decryption methodology with the symmetric key, and the performance of the key retrieval when organized in Relational database MySQL and Document database Mongo DB.