A Novel Approach to Prevent Hijacking of Accounts in the Cloud

According to studies, majority of enterprises globally are now adopting cloud services, and the number of migrants to cloud environments in the industrialized nations is expanding ever since. Moving business data from a centrally hosted server to cloud storage has a lot of merits. However, it increases the chance of data security breach. An aaccount hijacking is the most frequent type of attack that happens in cloud system, it is a type of attack where hackers will get the account holder's credentials and control over the account. Considering the fact that cloud system is vulnerable to attacks, it is crucial to have a remediation mechanism like a secured authentication system. Authentication system which uses textual password can be used in cloud system, but it is vulnerable to regular attacks like brute-force attack, spyware attack, and so many more. The present research mainly focuses on creating a unique authentication system that prevents account hijacking in cloud by mitigating common attacks. To achieve the key objective a graphical password authentication system has been developed with OTP and colouring scheme in order to specifically minimize brute force and shoulder surfing attacks. It is a simple and easy to remember authentication system for customers while minimizing account hijacking in cloud at the same time. It is proved that the present approach is successful authentication system that is less vulnerable to shoulder surfing and brute force attack while involving easy way for customers to remember their passwords without hassle.