Enhancing Security of Cloud Environment- A Proposal for Authentication Mechanisms Integrating User Credentials and Images

Paper ID: EIJTEM_2025_12_3_41-50

Author's Name: Vikas Talwar, Dr. Pawan Kumar

Volume: 12

Issue: 3

Year: 2025

Page No: 41-50

Abstract:

Cloud computing has become the backbone of modern digital infrastructure, enabling organizations to store, process, and access data seamlessly. Despite its advantages, the cloud environment faces persistent security challenges, with authentication emerging as one of the most critical concerns. Traditional password-based systems remain dominant but are increasingly vulnerable to phishing attacks, brute-force attempts, password reuse, and weak credential management practices. These limitations create significant risks for safeguarding sensitive information and ensuring user trust. This paper proposes a hybrid authentication mechanism that integrates user credentials with image-based authentication techniques. The proposed solution introduces a dual-layer security framework, where users first log in with their credentials and subsequently verify their identity through the selection of pre-registered images. By combining textual and visual factors, the system enhances resistance to common threats such as dictionary attacks, keylogging, and shoulder surfing, while maintaining usability and ease of adoption. The expected contribution of this research is the development of a secure, user-friendly authentication framework that strengthens cloud access control. Benefits include improved data protection, reduced risk of unauthorized access, and greater confidence in adopting cloud services. This approach provides a practical balance between usability and security, offering cloud providers a scalable and effective method for mitigating authentication-related vulnerabilities.

Keywords: Cloud Security, Authentication Mechanism, User Credentials, Image-Based Authentication, Data Protection, Hybrid Security Model

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