A Secure file encryption and integrity verification framework based on AES and cryptographic hashing
TL;DR
Results indicate that the proposed framework can provide confidentiality and integrity verification while maintaining efficient memory utilization and processing performance for large files, and provides a practical and scalable approach to secure file storage and retrieval.
Abstract
Secure management of digital files requires effective mechanisms to protect file contents from unauthorised access while ensuring that any modification can be detected. This study developed and evaluated a secure file encryption and integrity verification framework based on the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) and cryptographic hashing. The framework uses AES-256 encryption to protect file confidentiality and SHA-256 hashing to verify file integrity and detect unauthorized modification during storage and retrieval. A hybrid methodology combining the Waterfall Software Development Model and Object-Oriented Methodology (OOM) was adopted to provide a structured and modular approach to system development. The system was implemented using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, and MySQL, with a 64 KB chunked streaming approach incorporated to improve memory efficiency during file processing. Functional, security, and performance testing were conducted to evaluate the operation and effectiveness of the framework. The functional evaluation confirmed the successful execution of user registration, authentication, file upload, AES-256 encryption, SHA-256 hash generation, file decryption, and integrity verification, including the successful detection of modified files. Performance evaluation using file sizes ranging from 1 MB to 500 MB showed that peak memory consumption increased from 12.4 MB to 28.6 MB, despite a 500-fold increase in file size. For the 500 MB file, AES-256-CBC encryption required 4.215 seconds, while SHA-256 hash generation required 0.742 seconds, corresponding to an encryption throughput of approximately 118.6 MB/s. These results indicate that the proposed framework can provide confidentiality and integrity verification while maintaining efficient memory utilization and processing performance for large files. Overall, the integration of AES-256 encryption, SHA-256 hashing, and chunked streaming provides a practical and scalable approach to secure file storage and retrieval.