A method for verifying the integrity of user activity logs in cloud services
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: User activity logs are one of the key sources of information when investigating information security incidents in distributed and cloud computing systems. During a cyberattack, attackers can modify or delete user activity log entries in order to complicate the investigation of the incident. Information security audits are often carried out by third-party organizations that do not have legitimate access to user data, which may make it impossible to verify the integrity of user activity logs without disclosing log data, while disclosing log data may carry legal risks for a cloud service provider or a service consumer organization. The object of the study is user activity logs hosted in the cloud services infrastructure. The subject of the research is methods and tools that ensure the integrity of user activity logs without disclosing the contents of the logs. A method based on blockchain technology is presented that makes it possible to verify the integrity of user activity logs without access to information stored in the logs. A method of organizing the storage of log files for the implementation of the developed method is proposed. The main components of the proposed method and the procedures for interaction between them are described, including the procedure for initializing a new block, the procedure for recording the payload, and the procedure for recording the end of the block. The procedures performed by a third-party auditor when performing integrity checks of user activity logs are described. It is possible to selectively verify integrity based on published hash sums and hash tree data structures, without the need to access data stored in logs. The developed method can be integrated into existing distributed and cloud computing systems and can be used both in the investigation of information security incidents and during routine inspections.
Authors: Vladimir Vadimovich Eremuk, Vyacheslav Aleksandrovich Goroshkov, Aleksandr Vladimirovich Kas'yanov, Viktor Andreevich Romashov, Danil Pavlovich Ostrovsky
Language: English
Subfield: Information Systems
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4413922372