Cross-Tenancy Bastion Access with Immutable Session Logging
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Solution Overview
Problem
Software companies face challenges in ensuring secure access to computing resources while maintaining control over shared environments, as unauthorized access can lead to data breaches and cyberattacks, especially when sharing code or environments with partners.
Innovation Solution
Implementing cross-tenancy authorization policies to manage different levels of access for users from different tenancies, allowing secure bastion sessions with logging to a non-modifiable recording destination, and enforcing constraints on bastion session activity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If customers are allowed to use or modify computing resources without proper security review, then ease of operation is improved, but security is worsened due to potential back door pathways
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a bastion service as an intermediary component between customers and computing resources. This bastion service acts as a secure gateway that allows customers to access resources while maintaining security boundaries. The bastion service includes a recording destination that captures all access activities, providing visibility without compromising the security architecture.
2Reliability
If code is shared with partners to guard against data breach, then security is improved, but data breach risk increases due to lack of visibility into shared code usage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism through the recording destination that captures all bastion session activities. This feedback loop provides visibility into how shared code and environments are being used by partners. The recorded activities can be reviewed to ensure partners are using shared resources within authorized boundaries, thereby maintaining both security and trust.
3Adaptability or versatility
If different users from different tenancies are granted access to bastion functionality, then adaptability is improved, but access control complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments access control into distinct roles: bastion service creation is separated from bastion session access. Different users from different tenancies can be granted specific permissions for specific functions. The recording destination is configured with restricted access to prevent unauthorized modification, creating clear separation of duties while enabling cross-tenancy collaboration.
Data Source
AI summary
A cloud infrastructure system is provided for storing cross-tenancy authorization policies for authorizing different users from different tenancies to have different levels of access to bastion functionality that impacts the different tenancies. Stored cross-tenancy authorization policies include, for a first tenancy, policies that authorize a first set of users for bastion service creation and a second set of users for bastion service access, and, for a second tenancy, policies that authorize the second set of users for bastion session creation and the first set of users for deleting a portion of the second tenancy from which bastion sessions may be accessed. Based on the policies, the system authorizes creation of a bastion service that is configured to use a recording destination that is not modifiable by the second user, and then uses the bastion service to create a bastion session for securely accessing resource(s) of the first tenancy. Bastion session activity for the bastion session is logged to the recording destination.