Distributed Key Management via Fragment Segmentation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional hardware security modules (HSMs) fail to provide adequate security for private keys, especially in scenarios where assets worth millions are at risk, as they require human trust or potentially compromised servers for key access, introducing points of failure.
Innovation Solution
A distributed key management system using Shamir's Secret Sharing algorithm over Galois Field 256, where private keys are split into fragments held by multiple devices, requiring collective approval from multiple key-holding devices to reconstruct the key, ensuring no single entity has access to the full key and providing redundancy and failover capabilities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If an HSM is used to store private keys, then key storage security is improved, but system reliability deteriorates due to single point of failure and required human trust or server authentication
Solution Approach 1:
The private key is divided into multiple fragments using Shamir's Secret Sharing algorithm, with each fragment stored on a separate key-holding device. This segmentation ensures that no single device or human can access the full private key, eliminating the single point of failure while maintaining security through distributed storage across multiple devices.
2Reliability
If HSM restart requires PIN, password, or digital certificate authentication, then security is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates due to multiple authentication points
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables self-service authentication where key-holding devices automatically present their key fragments to the server without requiring manual authentication inputs. The server reconstructs the private key using the fragments provided by the devices, eliminating the need for PINs, passwords, or digital certificate authentication while maintaining security through the distributed key fragment mechanism.
3Ease of operation
If private key is stored on a single server, then ease of operation is improved, but reliability deteriorates due to potential server breach or failure
Solution Approach 1:
The private key is segmented into multiple fragments distributed across different key-holding devices. The server reconstructs the full private key only when sufficient fragments are received from these distributed devices, ensuring that no single server breach or device failure compromises the entire key system while maintaining operational accessibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transitions from a single-point key storage model to a multi-dimensional distributed storage model where key fragments are dispersed across multiple devices and network locations. This dimensional expansion ensures that key access requires coordination across multiple dimensions (devices, network connections, authentication points), thereby enhancing security without sacrificing operational ease.
Data Source
AI summary
A distributed key management system, which contains a server, a plurality of key-holding devices adapted to communicate with the server; and a key-requesting device adapted to communicate with the server. Each one of the plurality of key-holding devices is adapted to hold a different fragment of a private key. The server is adapted to reconstruct the private key based on the fragments received from the plurality of key-holding devices. The key-requesting device is adapted to obtain the private key from the server. The systems according to the invention provide a zero-trust model key management scheme and would eliminate the risk of key leakage to unauthorized person while providing flexibility of authorizing devices.