Credential Management Vault Encryption Client Injection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing credential management systems are vulnerable to data-mining attacks when credentials are centrally managed, and users find it inconvenient to maintain unique credentials for multiple websites, leading to potential unauthorized access across accounts.
Innovation Solution
A system where user credentials are encrypted with a key not accessible to the central vault, allowing decryption and injection into website authentication forms at the client, ensuring secure and transparent credential management with a layered approach.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If credentials are centrally managed at a vault, then user authentication across multiple websites is simplified, but the risk of credential exposure increases if the vault is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments credential management into two parts: the vault stores encrypted credential data while the client holds decryption keys. This segmentation allows centralized management benefits while distributing security risks, so that vault compromise does not lead to credential exposure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces encrypted credentials as an intermediary between the vault and client. The vault stores encrypted credentials that cannot be decrypted without the client's key, creating a security buffer that protects against vault compromise while enabling authenticated access.
2Reliability
If users maintain unique credentials for each website, then security against data-mining attacks is improved, but user convenience deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables self-service credential management where the client automatically retrieves and decrypts credentials from the vault without user intervention. Users benefit from unique credentials for each website while the system handles the complexity of retrieval and decryption automatically.
3Reliability
If credentials are stored in encrypted form at the vault, then security against vault compromise is improved, but the complexity of decryption and credential injection increases
Solution Approach 1:
The decryption key is extracted from the vault and stored locally at the client. This extraction eliminates the need for complex decryption mechanisms at the vault, simplifying the overall system while maintaining security through local key storage and automatic decryption.
Data Source
AI summary
A centralized credential management system. Website credentials are stored at a vault. The website credentials are encrypted based upon a key not available to the vault and are for authenticating a user to a third party website. Through a client, a user authenticates to the vault and retrieves the encrypted website credentials and parameters and code for properly injecting the credentials into a website authentication form. The website credentials are decrypted at the client and injected into the authentication form using the parameters and code.