Cross-Cloud Access Tokens for Secure Protected Resource Authentication

The system performs preliminary actions by generating cloud web tokens in advance with embedded secret keys and authorization information. The identity provider pre-validates access requests and caches token validation results, so that when actual access is needed, the authentication is already prepared and can be quickly verified without complex real-time computations.

The patent introduces an identity provider as an intermediary component that mediates between the accessing cloud and the cloud hosting protected resources. This intermediary handles token generation, validation, and secret key management, isolating the complexity from the resource owner and accessor systems. The intermediary uses cached validation results and periodic secret key rotation to balance security with operational simplicity.

The identity provider performs preliminary validation of cloud web tokens and caches the validation results before actual access occurs. When an access request comes in, the system checks the cached results rather than performing full token validation with secret key verification, significantly speeding up authentication while maintaining security through periodic cache invalidation and secret key rotation.

The system implements periodic secret key rotation where the identity provider periodically updates secret keys used for token validation. This periodic action maintains security by limiting the window of vulnerability if a key is compromised, while allowing faster authentication between rotation events by using cached validation results and efficient token checking mechanisms.

The identity provider implements periodic secret key rotation at predetermined intervals or after a certain number of token validations. This periodic action thwarts network-based attacks by limiting the usefulness of intercepted tokens, as their associated secret keys become invalid after rotation. The system manages this complexity by automatically tracking key versions and invalidating old keys without requiring manual intervention or complex key management infrastructure.

The system discards old secret keys after they have been used for a predetermined period or number of validations, and recovers security by generating new secret keys for subsequent token validations. This approach limits the impact of potential key compromises while maintaining a manageable key inventory. The identity provider tracks which keys are active and which have been rotated out, automatically invalidating discarded keys and preventing their reuse.