• Aditya Jaitly
• Subhash Chandra Maurya
• Divya Dubey
• Aditya Gupta

Abstract- In today's digital era, the need for secure and user-controlled cloud storage solutions is more critical than ever. This project, "Secure Cloud Storage Using Password-Based AES Encryption," focuses on empowering users by giving them complete control over the security of their data. Unlike traditional cloud storage services that often rely on server-side encryption, this system ensures that encryption and decryption happen entirely under the user's control, minimizing the risk of unauthorized access [4], [7], [16]. The platform has been developed using Python and Django, making it lightweight, efficient, and easy to deploy [9]. AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) encryption is utilized to protect the confidentiality of files [1], [2], with passwords supplied by users being central to the encryption and decryption process. The password-based approach ensures that even if the cloud server is compromised, the files remain unreadable without the correct password [3], [15]. During the testing phase, multiple scenarios such as file upload, download, and encryption/decryption processes were rigorously validated. Security checks were performed to ensure that unauthorized access attempts failed and data integrity was preserved [5], [12], [14]. The implementation of local encryption ensures data protection even if the cloud infrastructure is breached [6], [13]. The project successfully demonstrates that secure cloud storage can be implemented in a simple yet powerful way, without depending on third-party trust [17]. By combining strong encryption algorithms with user-managed passwords, this system significantly enhances file privacy and user autonomy [18], [19]. Future improvements may include: • Implementing a secure password hint mechanism • Enabling encrypted file sharing among multiple users [13] • Adopting stronger key derivation functions like PBKDF2 to further harden security [3], [15], [20]

Secure Cloud Storage, User-Controlled Encryption, Password-Derived Keys, Django Framework, Data Confidentiality

"User-Controlled Encrypted Cloud Storage with AES", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.12, Issue 5, page no.c230-c237, May-2025, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2505227.pdf

"User-Controlled Encrypted Cloud Storage with AES", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.12, Issue 5, page no. ppc230-c237, May-2025, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2505227.pdf