The blockchain-based searchable symmetric encryption (SSE) scheme allows the retrieval and verification of outsourced data on cloud servers in sixth generation (6G) networks while ensuring the privacy of data. However, existing schemes are challenging to comprehensively meet the requirements of 6G-based intelligent application systems for low latency, high security, and high reliability. To address these limitations, we present VSSE, a novel blockchain-based SSE scheme designed for 6G-based intelligent application systems. Our scheme constructs a state chain structure to resist file injection attacks, thereby ensuring forward privacy. Moreover, we execute the search and verification operations separately on the cloud server and blockchain, while introducing a bitmap index structure and message authentication code (MAC) technology to achieve efficient searching and dynamic verification. Notably, VSSE also includes access control functionality, permitting only authorized users to access relevant files. The combination of remarkable efficiency and strong security establishes our VSSE as an ideal solution suitable for implementation in G-based intelligent application systems.
29 November 2025 in ACM Transactions on Privacy and Security
In cloud-Internet of Things (IoT) healthcare systems, private medical data leakage is a serious concern as the cloud server is not fully trusted. Dynamic searchable symmetric encryption (DSSE), with necessary forward and backward privacy security properties, enables doctors to retrieve ciphertexts while guaranteeing data privacy. However, existing forward and backward private DSSE schemes are not well-suited for cloud-IoT healthcare systems with attribute-value type databases. To this end, we propose an efficient privacy-preserving conjunctive searchable encryption scheme for cloud-IoT healthcare systems, called PC-SE. It is the first conjunctive DSSE scheme designed for attribute-value type databases. Specifically, we design flexible search capabilities for PC-SE to address users’ various search requirements. It can not only achieve precise conjunctive search based on keywords but also realize broad attribute search. Moreover, our scheme achieves fine-grained search for attribute values while maintaining forward and Type-I - backward privacy. This approach reduces the communication burden and minimizes the risk of privacy exposure. To ensure that users with different authorities can only access the corresponding attribute values, we introduce an attribute access control mechanism in PC-SE. Finally, security analysis and experimental results demonstrate that PC-SE is secure and effective.
In the cloud-assisted industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), since the cloud server is not always trusted, the leakage of data privacy becomes a critical problem. Dynamic symmetric searchable encryption (DSSE) allows for the secure retrieval of outsourced data stored on cloud servers while ensuring data privacy. Forward privacy and backward privacy are necessary security requirements for DSSE. However, most existing schemes either trade the server’s large storage overhead for forward privacy or trade efficiency/overhead for weak backward privacy. These schemes cannot fully meet the security requirements of cloud-assisted IIoT systems. We propose a fast and firmly secure SSE scheme called Veruna to address these limitations. To this end, we design a new state chain structure, which can not only ensure forward privacy with less storage overhead of the server but also achieve strong backward privacy with only a few cryptographic operations in the server. Security analysis proves that our scheme possesses forward privacy and Type-II backward privacy. Compared with many state-of-the-art schemes, our scheme has an advantage in search and update performance. The high efficiency and robust security make Veruna an ideal scheme for deployment in cloud-assisted IIoT systems.