{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,13]],"date-time":"2025-12-13T05:17:22Z","timestamp":1765603042908,"version":"3.48.0"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,10]],"date-time":"2025-12-10T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1765324800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100006013","name":"United Arab Emirates University","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["12T048"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["12T048"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100006013","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Computers"],"abstract":"<jats:p>In today\u2019s digital era, real-time applications rely heavily on cloud environments for computation, storage, and data retrieval. Data owners outsource sensitive information to cloud storage servers managed by service providers such as Google and Amazon, who are responsible for ensuring data confidentiality. Traditional cryptographic algorithms, though widely adopted, face challenges related to key management and computational complexity when implemented in the cloud. To overcome these limitations, this research proposes a Secure DNA Cryptosystem (SDNA) based on DNA molecular structures and biological processes. The proposed system generates encoding\/decoding tables and encryption\/decryption algorithms, using dynamically generated key files to secure communication between data owners and users in the cloud. The DNA-based cryptographic approach enhances data confidentiality, ensures faster computation, and increases resistance to cryptanalysis through dynamic key operations. The experimental results demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed system. For a character count of 16,384, the encryption and decryption times are 852 ms and 822 ms, respectively. Similarly, for a word count of 16,384, the encryption and decryption times are significantly reduced to 75 ms and 62 ms, respectively. These results highlight the superior computational performance and adaptability of the SDNA compared to conventional cryptographic schemes. Overall, performance and security analysis confirm that the proposed SDNA is computationally secure, faster, and flexible for implementation in cloud environments, offering a promising solution for real-time secure data storage and retrieval.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/computers14120544","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,10]],"date-time":"2025-12-10T15:32:17Z","timestamp":1765380737000},"page":"544","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Secure DNA Cryptosystem for Data Protection in Cloud Storage and Retrieval"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2510-8857","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Thangavel","family":"Murugan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Information Technology, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain P.O. Box 15551, United Arab Emirates"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2913-8807","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Varalakshmi","family":"Perumal","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Information Science and Technology, College of Engineering, Anna University, Chennai 60025, India"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2777-8870","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nasurudeen Ahamed Noor Mohamed","family":"Badusha","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Information Technology, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain P.O. Box 15551, United Arab Emirates"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,10]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"(2025, December 07). Cloud Computing\u2014NIST, Available online: https:\/\/www.nist.gov\/programs-projects\/nist-cloud-computing-program-nccp."},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"(2025, December 07). Cryptographic Storage\u2014OWASP. 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