Convergent Encryption Key Derivation for Data Validation
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Solution Overview
Problem
In distributed electronic ledger technologies like blockchain, if an encryption key is lost, it becomes difficult to validate the correspondence between the original data and the encrypted data, as the key is determined independently of the content, making it impossible to identify the encrypted content as the original content.
Innovation Solution
A data management method where multiple peers hold inverse mappings of a cryptographic hash function, allowing the calculation of a hash value for the original data, decrypting the encrypted data with this hash value, and comparing the result with the original data to validate correspondence, using convergent encryption to ensure the encryption key can be reproduced from the original data.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a key is decided regardless of the content of content in distributed electronic ledger technology, then the encryption system is simple and easy to implement, but it becomes impossible to validate that encrypted content corresponds to the original text when the key is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a mediator (the key derivation function and content hash) between the content and the encryption key. Instead of using a completely independent key, the key is derived from the content itself through a hash function, creating a link that allows validation while maintaining the benefits of key-based encryption. This intermediary mechanism enables the system to both encrypt content and verify its correspondence without requiring external key management.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If the encryption key is lost, then the encrypted data remains confidential, but it becomes impossible to identify the encrypted content as the original content
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a copy of the content's essential identifying feature (its hash value) and uses this copy to derive the encryption key. This allows the system to maintain confidentiality through encryption while preserving the ability to identify the original content through the hash comparison, without needing to retain the actual content or the encryption key separately.
3Reliability
If convergent encryption is used to derive the key from content, then validation becomes possible, but the encryption process becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the content hash serve multiple functions: it acts as both the identifier for the content and as the basis for deriving the encryption key. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate key generation and content identification mechanisms, reducing overall system complexity despite the enhanced validation capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The content itself serves to generate its own encryption key through the hash function. The original content (or its hash) automatically provides the means for both encryption and future validation, making the system self-sufficient and reducing the complexity of external key management infrastructure.
Data Source
AI summary
A data management method includes: in a case where A denotes a set of symbols, A* denotes a set of all character strings composed of the symbols in A, L denotes a subset of A, and h(L) denotes a mapping performed on L with h that denotes a cryptographical hash function, regarding h: A*→A, multiple peers each hold an inverse mapping hL−1 of hL: L→h(L) that denotes a partial mapping of h, and in a case where at least one original data item M and an encrypted data item C encrypted from the original data item M are present, the encrypted data item C being held in hL−1, and correspondence between the original data item M and the encrypted data item C is to be validated, calculating a hash value h(M); decrypting the encrypted data item C with a hash value k; and comparing a result of the decrypting with the original data item M.