Digitally Signed Protobuf Tokens for Faster Microservice Threat Response

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Solution Overview

Problem

The challenge of efficiently scaling cybersecurity threat detection and response services in cloud-based environments is exacerbated by the growing volume of security threats, leading to inefficiencies that hinder timely detection and response.

Innovation Solution

A method utilizing digitally signed Protobuf web tokens is employed to securely share sensitive data within microservice components, involving authentication and authorization processes to validate API requests, ensuring secure and efficient access and response to cybersecurity threats.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If security operation services scale to protect against growing security threats, then security coverage improves, but technical inefficiencies increase and slow down threat detection and response

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvesecurity coverageVSAvoidthreat detection speed

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the security operation service into multiple microservices that can independently process and analyze security threats. This allows the system to scale horizontally by adding more microservice instances, thereby improving security coverage while maintaining efficient threat detection speeds through parallel processing capabilities.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

2Quantity of substance

If the volume of security threats increases, then security monitoring scope expands, but technical inefficiencies prevent timely detection and response

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvesecurity threats monitoredVSAvoidresponse time

Core Design Contradiction:

Quantity of substanceVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements preliminary action by pre-configuring security policies, rules, and response procedures before threats occur. The system pre-processes and categorizes potential threat patterns, enabling rapid automated response when actual threats are detected, thus reducing response time even as the volume of monitored threats increases.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

3Adaptability or versatility

If security services are migrated to cloud-based environments, then accessibility and scalability improve, but vulnerability to sophisticated cyber threats increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecloud accessibilityVSAvoidcyber threat vulnerability

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces an API gateway as an intermediary component that mediates between cloud-based microservices and external threats. The gateway implements authentication, authorization, and request validation, creating a protective layer that enables cloud accessibility while mitigating vulnerability to sophisticated cyber threats through centralized security enforcement.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Data Source

PatentUS12463815B2Systems and methods for intelligently constructing, transmitting, and validating spoofing-conscious digitally signed web tokens using microservice components of a cybersecurity threat mitigation platform

Publication Date: 2025.11.04 EXPEL INC

AI summary

A system and method for using digitally signed web tokens to securely share sensitive data includes identifying an API request that includes an authorization header comprising authentication data; assessing the authentication data of the API request against a corpus of valid authentication data; identifying the authentication data as valid authentication data and a target entity that corresponds to the authentication data; obtaining a set of permissions associated with the target entity; generating a digitally signed protobuf web token that includes a representation of the target entity and a representation of the set of permissions associated with the target entity; and based on the generation of the digitally signed protobuf web token: adapting the API request to an adapted API request that includes a header component comprising the digitally signed protobuf web token; and transmitting the adapted API request to a target API-processing service.