Encrypted Archive Indexing with User-Specific Keys
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for indexing encrypted archives do not support advanced search functionalities like semantic, linguistic, or cognitive searches while maintaining secure index data with distinct user keys across archives.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for generating and encrypting index keys using user-specific keys, decrypting data archives, and indexing decrypted data, allowing for advanced search operations while preserving security through a cryptographic file system like gocryptfs, with secure storage and authentication mechanisms.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the entire archive is decrypted to access files or determine file existence, then file accessibility is improved, but security deteriorates because all data becomes exposed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the necessary index data from the encrypted archive for search operations, rather than decrypting the entire archive. The index is decrypted and searched separately, allowing file existence verification and search functionality without exposing the actual encrypted file contents, thus maintaining security while improving accessibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary decryption of the index structure before any search operation. The index contains pre-processed information about file locations and metadata, allowing the system to determine file existence and perform searches without needing to decrypt the actual file data, enabling fast access while maintaining security.
2Ease of manufacture
If index data is encrypted using a common encryption key, then encryption simplicity is improved, but user-specific security deteriorates because all archives use the same key
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements user-specific encryption keys for each user's archives rather than a common key for all archives. Each user has their own encryption key that is used to encrypt and decrypt their specific archive index, providing localized security tailored to each user while maintaining the simplicity of symmetric encryption within each user's context.
3Reliability
If index data is encrypted prior to storing in a search engine, then security is improved, but advanced search functionalities deteriorate because encrypted data cannot be processed semantically
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary decryption of the index data before storing it in the search engine. This allows the search engine to process the index data in plaintext, enabling advanced search functionalities such as semantic search, linguistic search, and cognitive search. The actual file data remains encrypted, maintaining security while allowing sophisticated search operations on the index.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed herein are systems and methods for indexing and searching an encrypted archive. In one exemplary aspect, a method comprises generating, by a hardware processor, an encrypted data archive based on a user backup performed using a backup plan with an encryption flag enabled and a user key; generating, by the hardware processor, an index key for the encrypted data archive; encrypting, by the hardware processor, the index key using the user key; storing, by the hardware processor, the index key in a secure data storage; creating and mounting, by the hardware processor, an encrypted file system folder for the encrypted data archive using the index key; decrypting, by the hardware processor, data in the encrypted data archive using the user key; and indexing, by the hardware processor, the decrypted data.