ENHANCING DATA SECURITY AND ACCESS CONTROL IN CLOUD COMPUTING: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ACTIVE DATA CUBE FRAMEWORK (ADCU) AND TRADITIONAL APPROACHES

Abstract

Cloud computing security faces critical challenges that existing frameworks inadequately address: fragmented security implementations requiring multiple disparate tools, performance-security trade-offs forcing organizations to sacrifice either protection or efficiency, and static policy frameworks unable to adapt to dynamic environments. This article presents the Active Data Cube (ADCu) framework as an integrated solution combining dynamic access control, real-time threat monitoring, and active data protection within a unified multi-layer architecture. Through rigorous experimental evaluation comparing ADCu against traditional security models—encryption-based systems, Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), and Zero Trust Model—we demonstrate substantial performance advantages across critical metrics. ADCu achieved 88.67% average attack mitigation rate, exceeding encryption-based systems by 22 percentage points, RBAC by 23.67 percentage points, and Zero Trust by 7.67 percentage points. Response time measurements revealed ADCu's 150 millisecond average response outperformed traditional frameworks by 40-57%, while simultaneously reducing computational resource consumption by 34-38% in CPU usage and 25-53% in memory allocation. Statistical analysis confirmed all performance differences as highly significant (p < 0.001). A healthcare case study demonstrated ADCu's practical applicability, achieving 87-94% mitigation rates against domain-specific threats while reducing access review time by 86% and accelerating breach detection by 91%. These results validate ADCu as an effective solution addressing fundamental limitations of existing cloud security approaches. The framework's Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC) mechanism with real-time context evaluation provides the dynamic security management modern cloud environments require, while its automated threat response capabilities enable rapid incident containment without human intervention delays. Future research directions include integration with artificial intelligence for enhanced threat prediction, blockchain technology for strengthened audit trails, and expansion to additional sensitive domains including banking and education sectors.