Bibliometric Analysis of Cybersecurity Complexity in Cloud Computing

The growth and integration of cloud computing with other advanced technologies (such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other security technologies and architectures) have introduced different cybersecurity challenges and opportunities that require academic investigation.  This research conducts a bibliometric analysis of 1,583 papers from Scopus database between 2010 to 2026 trying to address four main research aims: (1) publication growth and productivity, (2) active contributors in the field, (3) themes and evolution of cloud security, and (4) emerging and research directions. The findings reveal an exponential growth, with annual output rising from 3 papers in 2010 to 358 in 2025, highlighting an annual growth rate exceeding 30%. Keyword analysis also reveals technical security evolutions: from cloud architecture and basic security (2010–2015), through threat, privacy, risk and intelligent detection (2016–2020), to current state dominated AI-driven approaches and other cutting edge technologies such as blockchain, edge computing, quantum cryptography and decentralized security (2021–2026). The results also show increased security complexity due to the integration of advanced technologies and secure architectures with the cloud such as decentralized security (e.g. federated learning also known as distributed AI models), AI driven cybersecurity, zero-trust architectures, privacy-preserving computation and advanced cryptography such as post-quantum cryptography. These technologies are among the most challenging emerging research areas, yet they are the most promising regarding cloud computing. Finally, as cybersecurity technologies evolve, security complexity of the cloud will continue to grow.