Secure Data Discarding from Persistent Point-in-Time Images
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional network storage systems lack an effective mechanism to securely discard sensitive data from read-only Persistent Point-in-time Images (PPIs), which can contain confidential information, making it difficult to permanently remove such data while maintaining data integrity and security.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of an encryption procedure that uses a unique original encryption key to encrypt datasets during PPI creation, followed by re-encryption with a new key and shredding of the original key to render sensitive data unrecoverable, ensuring secure deletion and maintaining data consistency by transferring encrypted datasets to a writable storage structure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If sensitive data is retained in PPI for backup and security purposes, then data integrity and recoverability are improved, but security risk and potential exposure of confidential information increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the cryptographic parameter (encryption key) of the data over time. The original encryption key is replaced with a new key, and the old key is destroyed. This parameter change allows the data to remain in storage while its security properties are fundamentally altered, resolving the contradiction between retaining data for reliability and eliminating security risks.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the sensitive data from the read-only PPI structure by copying it to a writable file system, separating the data retention function from the immutable snapshot structure. This extraction allows the data to be managed differently - preserved for reliability while enabling secure key rotation to mitigate security risks.
2Reliability
If original encryption key is shredded to render sensitive data unrecoverable, then security is improved, but ability to access and retrieve data is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary actions by copying the data to a writable file system and re-encrypting it with a new key before shredding the original key. This preliminary data migration ensures that data accessibility is preserved through the new encryption scheme, preventing the security enhancement from compromising operational accessibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a new encryption key as an intermediary between the original data and the final shredded state. This intermediary key allows continuous data accessibility during the transition, mediating between the need to enhance security by shredding the old key and the need to maintain ease of operation for data retrieval.
3Adaptability or versatility
If data is copied from read-only PPI to writable file system, then flexibility for key management is improved, but storage structure complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the data management burden from the read-only PPI structure to a writable file system. This extraction improves adaptability for key management operations (re-encryption, key rotation, selective deletion) while the PPI structure itself remains simple and unchanged, minimizing the increase in overall storage structure complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A network storage server implements a method to discard sensitive data from a Persistent Point-In-Time Image (PPI). The server first efficiently identifies a dataset containing the sensitive data from a plurality of datasets managed by the PPI. Each of the plurality of datasets is read-only and encrypted with a first encryption key. The server then decrypts each of the plurality of datasets, except the dataset containing the sensitive data, with the first encryption key. The decrypted datasets are re-encrypted with a second encryption key, and copied to a storage structure. Afterward, the first encryption key is shredded.