Backup Data Authenticity Validation Using Hash and Provenance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing data recovery systems lack efficient methods for authenticating the integrity and origin of backed-up information, making it difficult to accurately restore data after loss events such as corruption or deletion.
Innovation Solution
An authentication system that utilizes provenance data and cryptographic hashes to verify the authenticity of backed-up data, comparing hash values and analyzing operation histories to determine the legitimacy of data changes, enabling automated authentication and restoration of authentic data.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If data is backed up for recovery purposes, then data availability is improved, but data authenticity and integrity cannot be verified
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by computing and storing hash values of data at the time of backup, and recording provenance information about the backup process. This preliminary authentication setup enables later verification of data authenticity without compromising the primary backup function.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces hash values and provenance data as intermediary elements that mediate between the backup data and the verification process. These intermediaries enable authenticity verification without directly altering the backup data itself, thus maintaining both availability and verification capabilities.
2Reliability
If automated authentication is implemented using provenance data, then data integrity is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements self-service by having the authentication process automatically verify data integrity using pre-stored hash values and provenance information. This automated self-verification reduces the need for complex manual authentication procedures while maintaining high data integrity standards.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces complex mechanical or manual verification mechanisms with cryptographic hash-based authentication. This substitution simplifies the overall system architecture by using mathematical properties of hash functions rather than complex procedural verification systems.
3Measurement precision
If hash values and provenance data are stored with backups, then authenticity determination is improved, but storage requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system creates compact copies of data in the form of hash values rather than storing complete data copies for verification purposes. These hash copies serve as authentication tokens that verify the authenticity of the original backup data without requiring additional full data storage.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transforms the large amount of backup data into compact hash values with fixed sizes regardless of the original data size. This parameter transformation from variable-size data to fixed-size hashes dramatically reduces the additional storage requirements while maintaining authentication capability.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for validating data authenticity. One of the methods includes retrieving data that includes (i) an archived version of a data source, (ii) a first hash value, and (iii) a set of provenance data for the archived version of the data source; hashing the archived version of the data source to generate a second hash value; determining that the second hash value and the first hash value satisfy a similarity criterion; detecting one or more differences between archived data in the archived version of the data source and current data in a current version of the data source; determining, using the set of provenance data, whether the archived version of the data source is likely authentic; and in response, restoring one or more portions of the data source corresponding to some of the one or more differences.