Cloud Secret Migration to Local Filesystem
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Solution Overview
Problem
Migrating secrets from a cloud environment to a local system poses challenges due to security risks associated with cloud environments, particularly when multiple users control configuration management, leading to potential data loss or security breaches, and compliance with jurisdictional regulations regarding sensitive information storage.
Innovation Solution
The solution involves migrating secrets from cloud environments to an on-premise computing environment, where they are stored in a filesystem corresponding to their originating geographic location, replicating the cloud ecosystem's topology and ensuring compliance with data privacy regulations by using location identifiers to determine appropriate filesystems and encryption methods.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If secrets are stored in a cloud environment with centralized secret manager, then secrets can be centrally controlled and accessed by components, but security risks increase due to multiple users controlling configuration management and potential compliance violations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts secrets from the cloud environment and stores them in a local secrets file on the host system. This removes the harmful factor of cloud-based centralized storage vulnerability while maintaining the benefit of centralized control through local file-based storage. The automation tool reads secrets from this local file rather than accessing them through the cloud secret manager.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a local secrets file as an intermediary between the cloud secret manager and the automation tool. Instead of direct cloud access, secrets are first exported to a local file format (YAML, JSON, or INI), which then serves as the intermediary storage that the automation tool accesses locally, eliminating direct cloud dependency while maintaining secret management functionality.
2Reliability
If secrets are migrated to a local system, then security and compliance are improved, but complexity increases due to managing multiple filesystems corresponding to different geographic locations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the local secrets storage into multiple filesystems or directories, each corresponding to a specific geographic location or jurisdiction. This segmentation allows compliance with location-specific data sovereignty requirements while maintaining organized, manageable structures. Each geographic location's secrets are stored in separate filesystems that can be independently managed.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary actions by automatically detecting the geographic location of secrets and routing them to the appropriate filesystem before storage. The system proactively manages the complexity of multiple filesystems by implementing automatic location-based routing logic, eliminating the need for manual filesystem management and reducing operational complexity.
3Ease of operation
If cloud environments are used for secret management, then ease of access is improved, but vendor lock-in increases and data privacy protections are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a local copy of the secrets from the cloud environment and stores them in a standardized file format on the host system. This copy enables the automation tool to access secrets locally without ongoing cloud dependency. The copying process uses standardized formats (YAML, JSON, INI) that ensure portability and prevent vendor lock-in while maintaining ease of access through local file reading.
Data Source
AI summary
Secrets can be migrated from a cloud environment to a local system. For example, a computing system can receive a secret stored in a cloud environment from a secret manager associated with the cloud environment. The computing system can identify a source location associated with the secret. The secret can map to a location identifier representing a geographic region that includes the source location of the secret. The computing system can determine that a filesystem in a physical server corresponds to the location identifier of the secret. The computing system then can store the secret in the filesystem of the physical server. The secret can be used to control access of one or more protected computing resources.