Authorization Service Shadow Policy Testing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing network-accessible services face challenges in maintaining accurate and up-to-date access policies, leading to potential security breaches and loss of service functionality due to outdated or non-compliant policies, as well as difficulties in testing and generating effective access policies.
Innovation Solution
An authorization service that monitors access policy guidelines, notifies users of non-compliant policies, allows for shadow policies to test changes, and programmatically generates policies based on training periods, ensuring compliance and security.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If access policies are manually maintained by service users, then policy accuracy can be maintained, but the complexity of managing and updating policies increases and service users may become outdated on policy changes
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically monitors access policy guidelines and notifies service users when their policies become non-compliant, eliminating the need for manual monitoring while maintaining policy accuracy. The authorization service self-updates its knowledge of policy guidelines and proactively informs users of required changes.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements a feedback mechanism where the authorization service continuously monitors access policy guidelines and provides notifications to service users when their policies diverge from current guidelines. This closed-loop feedback ensures policies remain accurate without requiring active management from users.
2Reliability
If access policies are frequently updated to maintain compliance, then security is improved, but the time required for policy updates and testing increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system allows service users to test access policy changes in advance using shadow policies before implementing them. This preliminary testing phase enables users to verify policy correctness and compatibility without immediate production impact, reducing the time and risk associated with actual policy deployment.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates shadow copies of access policies that can be tested independently of the active policy. These shadow policies replicate the full functionality of production policies, allowing comprehensive testing without affecting actual service operation or requiring time-consuming production deployments.
3Reliability
If comprehensive access policy testing is performed before implementation, then policy correctness is improved, but the complexity of testing procedures increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system creates shadow copies of access policies that replicate production policy behavior without requiring complex testing infrastructure. Shadow policies can be applied to test traffic and automatically evaluated against service instances, simplifying the testing process while maintaining comprehensive coverage.
Solution Approach 2:
The authorization service acts as an intermediary between service users and the actual access control enforcement. It provides a simplified testing interface where users can submit policies for validation and receive automated feedback on correctness, eliminating the need for users to directly manage complex testing procedures.
4Reliability
If service providers implement strict access control policies, then security is improved, but the availability of services to authorized clients may be reduced due to overly restrictive policies
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides feedback to service users about the impact of their access policies on service availability. When policies are applied, the authorization service monitors access requests and can notify users if legitimate clients are being blocked, enabling them to adjust policies to maintain both security and availability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables dynamic adjustment of access policies based on real-time monitoring of service usage patterns. Service users can modify their policies in response to feedback about blocked legitimate access, allowing the system to adapt between security and availability requirements rather than being fixed in one state.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods are described to facilitate generation of access policies for a network-accessible service. An authorization service may use access policies to control whether requests to access a service are authorized. A user may submit to the authorization service a request to implement a “shadow” policy, to be compared to a currently in-force policy for a service during a specified period of time. During that period, the authorization service can evaluate requests to access the service under both the currently in-force policy for the service and the shadow policy. The user can then be notified of any requests for which different authorization results are given under the currently in-force policy and the shadow policy, thus enabling the user to verify that differences between the currently in-force policy and the shadow policy are intentional rather than the result of errors within the shadow policy or currently in-force policy.