Dynamic Multi-Party Computation for Secret Data Storage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems face challenges in securely storing and processing secret data-items, particularly in preventing attacks and ensuring resilience against security breaches.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a Dynamic Multi-Party Computation (MPC) system that splits a secret data-item into shares, encrypts each share with a different private key, and dynamically re-encrypts and re-shuffles these shares across multiple storage nodes to enhance security and resilience.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a secret data-item is stored in a single location with a single encryption key, then access is simple and fast, but the system is vulnerable to attacks and security breaches
Solution Approach 1:
The secret data-item is divided into multiple shares that are distributed across different storage nodes. Each share is encrypted with a different encryption key associated with a different electronic device. This segmentation ensures that no single point of failure exists, as an attacker would need to compromise multiple devices to reconstruct the secret.
Solution Approach 2:
The system adds temporal and spatial dimensions to security by dynamically replacing encrypted shares over time and across different storage nodes. Instead of static storage, the system rotates which device holds which encrypted share, creating a multi-dimensional security model that resists both spatial and temporal attacks.
2Reliability
If encrypted shares are statically stored on storage devices, then storage is simple, but the system is vulnerable to permanent loss of access if a device is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements dynamic replacement of encrypted shares. Periodically, encrypted shares are re-encrypted with different encryption keys and redistributed to different storage nodes. This dynamic approach ensures that if a device is compromised, the secret can still be accessed through other devices, preventing permanent loss of access.
Solution Approach 2:
The system discards old encrypted shares from compromised or outdated devices and recovers access through newly generated encrypted shares stored on secure devices. This cycle of discarding vulnerable shares and recovering through fresh encryption maintains continuous access while eliminating security risks.
3Reliability
If multiple devices are used to encrypt and store shares, then security is improved, but the complexity of managing multiple encryption keys and storage nodes increases
Solution Approach 1:
Each electronic device independently generates its own encryption key and manages its own encrypted share without requiring centralized key management. This self-service approach distributes the complexity burden across multiple independent devices, making the overall system more resilient while maintaining manageable complexity at each node.
Data Source
AI summary
Dynamic multi-party computation for securely utilizing and storing a secret data-item. A method includes: (a) receiving or generating a secret data-item (S); (b) dividing the secret data-item (S) into shares; (c) at a first electronic device, locally encrypting a first share (S-1) into a first encrypted share (ES-1), by using a private encryption key of the first electronic device as encryption key; (d) at a second, different, electronic device, locally encrypting a second share (S-2) into a second encrypted share (ES-2), by using a private encryption key of the second electronic device as encryption key; (e) storing the first encrypted share (ES-1) and the second encrypted share (ES-2) on one or more storage devices; (f) subsequently, dynamically replacing the first encrypted share (ES-1) with a replacement encrypted share (ES-1B) that is the first share (S-1) of the secret data-item encrypted by using a private encryption key of a third electronic device as encryption key.