Enabled/disabled predicate encryption in clouds

• We model timed-release and data self-destruction functionalities for predicate encryption in clouds.
• A sender can set the readable/unreadable time of the files to be sent to the receiver.
• It also supports long message encryption and undecryptable search.
• The cloud server can obtain only the matched ciphertexts after the search.

Predicate encryption is a cryptographic primitive that provides fine-grained control over access to encrypted data. It is often used for encrypted data search in a cloud storage environment. In this paper, we propose an enabled/disabled predicate encryption scheme, which is the first work that provides timed-release services and data self-destruction (they correspond to the terms “enabled” and “disabled,” respectively). Owing to these properties, the sender can set the readable/unreadable time of the files to be sent to the receiver. The receiver can read the sent file only after the readable time. After the unreadable time, the structure of the file will be destroyed and the file will become unreadable. Furthermore, for practical usage purposes, the extended scheme, which is based on the proposed scheme, provides not only timed-release services and data self-destruction but also long message encryption and undecryptable search. In the extended scheme, the length of encrypted messages does not depend on the order of the group. Moreover, the cloud server can obtain only the matched ciphertexts after the search.