Escrow Agent Decryption Verification via Blinding
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Solution Overview
Problem
Computing devices face challenges in securely managing sensitive data, as existing security measures are inadequate in preventing unauthorized access to encrypted secrets, especially when escrow agents may lose their decryption capabilities.
Innovation Solution
A method involving escrow agents and client devices that utilize public and private keys, where the client encrypts secrets using public keys and performs blinding operations to ensure only joint access with the escrow agents, with periodic verification tests to ensure escrow agent capabilities and remediation actions for lost decryption capabilities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If escrow agents store private keys for decryption, then secret decryption capability is maintained, but security risk increases due to potential loss or compromise of decryption capabilities
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the decryption capability verification into periodic verification tests that divide the trust validation into discrete time-based checks. Each verification test independently validates whether escrow agents retain their private keys without requiring continuous monitoring, thus maintaining reliability while reducing security risks associated with constant access to decryption capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary verification tests before actual secret decryption operations. By conducting periodic verification tests that check whether escrow agents still possess their private keys, the system proactively identifies potential security issues before they compromise the actual secrets, thereby maintaining decryption reliability while preventing unauthorized access.
2Reliability
If periodic verification tests are implemented, then escrow agent capability is ensured, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The verification test system operates autonomously without requiring manual intervention. The client automatically initiates periodic verification tests, sends encrypted verification values to escrow agents, and processes the results to determine whether remediation is needed. This self-service approach ensures escrow agent capability reliability while minimizing the operational complexity of the verification system.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of continuous monitoring, the system implements periodic verification tests at predetermined intervals. This approach maintains escrow agent capability reliability by regularly checking private key possession while significantly reducing system complexity compared to continuous verification, as the system only activates verification functionality at scheduled times rather than continuously.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If blinding operations are used for encryption, then data privacy is protected, but ease of operation decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces blinding values as intermediary elements between the secret and the encryption process. These blinding values act as a mediator that protects the secret during transmission and storage while maintaining the ability to decrypt later. The automated verification system manages the complexity of blinding operations, allowing users to benefit from enhanced data privacy without directly handling the complex blinding mathematics.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for verifying a secret decryption of an escrow agent by a client operatively connected to the escrow agent includes initiating enrollment of the client with the escrow agent, wherein the enrollment results the escrow agent generating a key pair comprising a public key and a private key, obtaining the public key from the escrow agent, wherein the private key is not shared with the client, encrypting the secret with the public key to obtain an encrypted secret, after encrypting the secret, encrypting, based on a verification trigger, a verification value using the public key to obtain an encrypted verification value, sending the encrypted verification value to the escrow agent, obtaining a secret decryption response from the escrow agent, making a determination, based on the secret decryption response, that the escrow agent is not capable of decrypting the secret, and based on the determination, performing a remediation action.