Blockchain Audit Blocks for Low-Overhead Record Verification
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Solution Overview
Problem
Processing of audit records for computing systems adds significant computational load and communication overhead, and audit records are vulnerable to attacks and tampering.
Innovation Solution
Audit files are batched into blocks with a digital signature generated for the block, reducing computational power and data overhead, and a blockchain is used to secure and verify the integrity of audit records.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If digital signatures are generated for each individual audit file, then authenticity and integrity verification is ensured, but computational power and time are significantly consumed
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple individual audit files are merged into a single audit block, and only one digital signature is generated for the entire block rather than for each individual file. This combining approach maintains verification reliability while significantly reducing the computational overhead and time required for generating and verifying digital signatures.
Solution Approach 2:
The audit system segments audit files into batches grouped by time periods or event types, creating discrete audit blocks. Each block is then signed as a unit, which reduces the total number of signatures needed while maintaining the ability to verify specific segments when required.
2Loss of information
If audit files are transmitted individually, then complete audit information is provided, but communication bandwidth is wasted and data overhead increases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple audit files are combined into a single audit block structure that contains all individual files or their essential information. This merging reduces the number of separate transmission events, minimizes communication overhead, and optimizes bandwidth utilization while preserving the completeness of audit information.
3Ease of operation
If audit records are stored in a traditional system, then access and processing is straightforward, but the system is vulnerable to tampering and deletion attacks
Solution Approach 1:
Digital signatures are generated for audit blocks in advance and stored with the blocks. This preliminary signing creates a cryptographic seal that prevents later tampering. The system performs verification operations before allowing any modifications, ensuring integrity is maintained while preserving ease of access for authorized operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a verification module that acts as an intermediary between the audit storage system and access requests. This module checks digital signatures and block integrity before allowing access, thereby protecting against tampering while maintaining straightforward access for legitimate operations.
Data Source
AI summary
A centralized auditing system receives an audit block containing one or more audit files generated by an audit agent running in an audited device. The audit block additionally stores a first digital signature corresponding to a previous audit block, and a second digital signature generated based at least on the one or more audit files and the first digital signature. After receiving the audit block, the auditing system verifies the integrity of the received audit block based on the second digital signature stored in the audit block and/or the first digital signature corresponding to the previous audit block. In response to verifying the integrity of the received audit block, the auditing system adds the received audit block to an audit register. Moreover, the auditing system adds the one or more audit files included in the audit block to an audit database.