Enclave-Mediated Key Collaboration for Encrypted Data Restoration
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Data platforms are vulnerable to system intrusion and privilege misuse, leading to unauthorized access and exfiltration of data, as traditional encryption methods do not provide sufficient protection against attacks that compromise data encryption keys.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a data platform that utilizes a trusted execution environment (TEE) with enclaves to manage access to data and employs multiple units of distinct key data for encryption, requiring collaboration between different parties to decrypt encrypted data, thereby enhancing security against unauthorized access.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional data encryption is used, then data protection is provided, but the system becomes vulnerable to system intrusion and privilege misuse attacks that can compromise encryption keys
Solution Approach 1:
The encryption key is segmented into multiple distinct key data units (first key data, second key data, etc.), each stored in different locations and managed by different parties. Access to decrypt data requires collaboration between multiple parties holding different key units, preventing single-point compromise from system intrusion or privilege misuse attacks.
2Reliability
If multiple units of distinct key data are required for decryption, then security against unauthorized access is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
A trusted execution environment (TEE) enclave acts as an intermediary that securely manages the key data units and decryption process. The enclave provides a protected space where key operations occur, abstracting the complexity from users while ensuring that multiple key units must be collaborated upon for decryption, thus improving security without significantly increasing user-facing complexity.
3Ease of operation
If data encryption keys are stored in traditional storage systems, then ease of operation is maintained, but computing resources are consumed and data exfiltration risk increases in case of unauthorized access
Solution Approach 1:
Traditional mechanical storage systems for encryption keys are replaced with a distributed key management approach using trusted execution environments. Instead of storing all key material in centralized storage that can be accessed and exfiltrated, the system uses cryptographic mechanisms where key data is distributed across multiple TEEs, requiring collaborative access that prevents bulk exfiltration while maintaining operational ease through automated key collaboration protocols.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques are described for protected data restoration using confidential computing. An example method comprises receiving, by a data platform implemented by a computing system, a request to restore an encrypted chunk of data, the encrypted chunk stored with first encrypted key data and second encrypted key data, receiving, by an enclave implemented in a trusted execution environment, first encrypted key data and second encrypted key data from the storage cluster, decrypting, by the enclave, the first encrypted key data to obtain the first key data and the second encrypted key data to obtain the second key data, generating, by the storage cluster, a derived data encryption key corresponding to the data encryption key based on the first key data and the second key data, and decrypting, by the storage cluster, the encrypted chunk with the derived data encryption key to generate a decrypted chunk.