ESB Logging Subsystem with Application-Controlled Encryption
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) implementations lack the ability to record operations performed and data transferred, and fail to provide construction of such records in accordance with privacy requirements of each communicating application, leading to inadequate management and security of transaction information.
Innovation Solution
An ESB logging system that records operations and data transferred via the ESB, allowing applications to control what data is logged and applying appropriate security measures, including encryption, to ensure compliance with privacy policies, utilizing an ESB logging subsystem with components like ESB log manager, privacy policy manager, encryption key manager, audit log manager, input data manager, and output data manager to manage and encrypt logs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional ESB implementations are used without logging capabilities, then the system maintains simplicity and lower operational overhead, but the ability to record operations and data transferred is lost, leading to inadequate management and security of transaction information
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a logging subsystem as an intermediary component between the ESB core and the external logging infrastructure. This subsystem includes a log manager that intercepts, processes, and manages logging operations, acting as a mediator that adds logging functionality without requiring modifications to the core ESB message routing and transformation logic. The log manager collects message data, applies privacy policies, and forwards logs to appropriate destinations, thereby improving transaction information security while containing the added complexity within a dedicated modular component.
2Loss of information
If comprehensive logging of all operations and data is implemented, then complete audit trails and security monitoring are achieved, but the system complexity and processing overhead increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements local quality by applying different logging policies to different types of messages and data elements based on their sensitivity and importance. The privacy policy manager evaluates each message against configured privacy policies and determines which data elements require logging and what level of detail is appropriate. Sensitive personal information may be logged with masking or encryption, while non-critical message metadata may be logged in full detail. This selective approach ensures complete audit trails for important transactions while reducing the overall volume of logged data, thereby minimizing processing overhead and maintaining message throughput.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If privacy policies are applied to control logged data, then data protection and compliance are improved, but the complexity of policy management and encryption operations increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service by enabling applications to declare their own privacy requirements and data sensitivity levels when submitting messages to the ESB. The privacy policy manager automatically evaluates these declarations against organized privacy policies and applies appropriate protection measures without requiring manual intervention. The system self-manages the complexity of policy evaluation, data classification, and encryption key selection through automated rules-based processing. This approach improves data privacy protection while containing policy management complexity within the logging subsystem, without burdening application developers with complex privacy management tasks.
Data Source
AI summary
Logging of enterprise service bus (ESB) activity includes receiving, from the ESB, information specific to an inter-application message. Control data, provided by an application communicating via the ESB that specifies how the information is to be encrypted for logging and what portions of the information is to be logged is extracted from the information. The information is encrypted in accordance with the control data, and the encrypted information is recorded.