Consent-Based Debugging Access Control for Remote Hardware
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing remote hardware debugging systems lack sufficient trust mechanisms, as relying solely on administrator credentials may not guarantee secure access, potentially exposing confidential customer information, and do not adequately protect against unauthorized debugging access.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a consent-based system where customer consent is required for debugging operations, using a secret sharing scheme to generate a consent token that necessitates coordinated authorization from multiple parties, including the customer and additional entities like the service provider or technician, to ensure that debugging access is only granted with explicit permission.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If administrator credentials are used to grant debugging access, then debugging operations can be performed, but unauthorized access and exposure of confidential information may occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the debugging access control into multiple independent components: administrator credentials, customer consent, and additional authorization factors. This segmentation ensures that no single credential provides complete access, thereby resolving the contradiction between ease of operation and security by requiring multiple verification steps while still enabling debugging functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary authorization mechanism that mediates between the administrator's debugging request and the actual system access. This intermediary layer verifies multiple credentials and obtains customer consent before granting access, thus enhancing security without preventing legitimate debugging operations.
2Productivity
If debugging access is granted to administrators, then bugs can be found and resolved, but confidential customer information may be exposed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by obtaining customer consent and verifying multiple authorization factors before granting debugging access. This preliminary authorization process ensures that confidential information is only exposed when properly authorized, while still allowing bug resolution to proceed when appropriate permissions are granted.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent incorporates feedback mechanisms where the system continuously verifies authorization status and customer consent during the debugging process. This feedback loop ensures that confidential information remains protected while enabling productive debugging operations when proper authorization is maintained.
3Reliability
If multiple authorization factors are required for debugging, then security is enhanced, but the complexity of the debugging process increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies universality by creating a multi-functional authorization system that handles multiple types of credentials and consent mechanisms through a unified interface. This universal authorization framework manages the complexity of multiple security factors while presenting a consistent, manageable process to users.
Data Source
AI summary
A system coordinates with remote hardware to execute customer workloads. The system uses an architecture for ensuring trust to ensure that debugging is not performed at the remote hardware while the customer workload is being executed on the remote hardware without customer consent. For example, debugging at the remote hardware may enable an entity performing the debugging to view certain aspects of the customer's workload. The architecture for ensuring trusts uses a shared secret to ensure customer consent is given before debugging can be performed while the customer's workload is being executed on the remote hardware.