Configuration Agent for Secure Third-Party Application Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing technologies face challenges in securely managing applications in networked computer systems, particularly in preventing unauthorized or malicious configuration changes by third-party managers that could compromise system security and integrity.
Innovation Solution
A secure communication channel is established between a configuration agent and a user, utilizing cryptographic signatures and mutual authentication to derive and transmit configuration commands, ensuring integrity and authenticity of application configuration requests.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If third-party managers are allowed to configure applications, then application management flexibility and productivity are improved, but system security and integrity are compromised due to potential unauthorized or malicious configuration changes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a configuration agent as an intermediary component that sits between the third-party manager and the application. This agent verifies configuration requests against predefined policies and cryptographic signatures before executing them, allowing productive third-party management while maintaining security through the mediating verification layer
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary verification of configuration requests using cryptographic signatures and policy checks before allowing any configuration changes to be applied. This preemptive security measure prevents unauthorized or malicious changes from affecting the system, addressing security concerns before they can manifest
2Reliability
If cryptographic verification and mutual authentication are implemented, then system security and integrity are improved, but communication overhead and processing time increase
Solution Approach 1:
Mutual authentication and cryptographic key establishment are performed in advance before configuration requests are processed. This preliminary security setup allows subsequent configuration operations to be verified more efficiently, as the trust relationship is already established
Solution Approach 2:
The system transforms configuration requests into cryptographically signed commands with specific parameters that can be efficiently verified. By changing the representation of configuration data into a verified command format, the verification process becomes more streamlined despite the added security layer
Data Source
AI summary
A system of compromise-resistant configuration of an application, comprising a processing circuitry configured to: utilize an authenticated secure communication channel to a configuration agent that has access to one or more secrets associated with an organization, usable for configuring respective applications of the organization; receive, from a user, a request of configuration of an application, the request including a cryptographic signature of a user of the organization, the signature utilizing a key derivative of a mutual authentication between the user and the configuration agent; derive, from the received request of configuration application configuration commands; transmit, to the application configuration agent, via the authenticated secure communication channel: the request of configuration of the first user, wherein the request comprises the cryptographic signature, and the derived application configuration commands; thereby providing an attestation of integrity of the commands.