Encrypted Target Database Synchronization Without Cloud Key Exposure
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing data synchronization methods fail to provide transparent and secure data management between trusted on-premises systems and untrusted cloud storage, failing to comply with data security regulations and customer privacy requirements.
Innovation Solution
A method and system for data synchronization that encrypts data changes in a trusted source database and integrates them into an untrusted target database using a decryption key, ensuring data is stored and accessed only in encrypted form, with key management controlled on-premises to maintain security and compliance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If data is stored in an untrusted cloud data store for accessibility and scalability, then data availability and storage capacity are improved, but data security and compliance are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
Data is encrypted before being stored in the untrusted cloud data store. The encryption occurs in advance during the data synchronization process, so that even though the data resides in an untrusted environment, it remains secure because the decryption keys are never stored in the cloud.
Solution Approach 2:
Encryption and decryption keys act as an intermediary mechanism between the trusted on-premises system and the untrusted cloud storage. The keys enable controlled access to the encrypted data without requiring the cloud storage provider to have trustworthiness, thus mediating the security trust relationship.
2Reliability
If data is encrypted to maintain security compliance, then data security is improved, but system complexity increases due to key management requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The decryption key management functionality is extracted from the cloud environment and placed entirely in the trusted on-premises system. This separation ensures that the complex key management operations are performed only in secure, controlled environments, reducing the overall system complexity in the untrusted cloud portion.
3Ease of operation
If decryption keys are stored with encrypted data in the cloud for easy access, then data accessibility is improved, but data security is compromised as keys become vulnerable to unauthorized access
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the data and key storage into separate locations: encrypted data is stored in the untrusted cloud data store, while decryption keys are stored exclusively in the trusted on-premises target database. This segmentation ensures that even if cloud storage is compromised, the keys remain secure, maintaining both accessibility and security.
Data Source
AI summary
According to one embodiment, a method, computer system, and computer program product for performing data synchronization between a source DBMS, comprising a trusted database, and a target DBMS, comprising an untrusted datastore and a trusted datastore, is disclosed. The present invention may include upon the source DBMS performing an update to an object in the trusted source database, sending the object change to a trusted data replication engine, encrypting the object change, sending the encrypted object change with a related decryption key to the target DBMS, upon receiving the encrypted object change and the related decryption key at the target DBMS, searching an object related to the object change in the untrusted target data store, identifying a decryption key for the searched object, replacing the identified decryption key by the received decryption key, and integrating the encrypted object change in encrypted form into the untrusted target data store.