Format Preserving Encryption via Segmented Multi-Part Cipher
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing encryption methods often require sharing encryption keys over open channels, which can compromise data security when dealing with legacy systems that cannot handle strong encryption formats, leading to increased risks of data breaches due to incompatible data formats.
Innovation Solution
A multi-part cipher system that preserves the structure of data by encrypting only sensitive portions, allowing each party to access only the data they need, while maintaining compatibility with legacy systems by using a combination of ciphers A and B, which add randomness and limit output to the domain of the plaintext, ensuring secure communication without revealing the complete picture to unauthorized parties.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If strong encryption is applied to data, then data security is improved, but data format compatibility with legacy systems deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The data is divided into two distinct parts: encrypted portions containing sensitive information and unencrypted portions containing non-sensitive information. This segmentation allows the system to apply strong encryption only where needed while preserving format compatibility for legacy systems that process unencrypted data.
Solution Approach 2:
Different encryption treatments are applied to different parts of the data structure. Sensitive fields are encrypted with strong encryption algorithms, while non-sensitive fields remain unencrypted. This local differentiation resolves the contradiction by providing security only where required while maintaining compatibility elsewhere.
2Adaptability or versatility
If encryption keys are shared over open channels, then data sharing between parties is enabled, but security risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The sensitive encrypted portions are extracted and shared separately from unencrypted portions. Each party receives only the encrypted data they need, not the complete unencrypted dataset. This extraction approach enables necessary data sharing while minimizing security risks by limiting exposure of sensitive information.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of sharing complete unencrypted data with all parties, only partial encrypted portions are shared with each party based on their specific needs. This partial action approach enables functional data sharing while reducing overall security risk by limiting the scope of shared sensitive information.
3Ease of operation
If all data are shared in unencrypted form, then ease of use is improved, but vulnerability to data breaches increases
Solution Approach 1:
Data is segmented into encrypted and unencrypted portions, with each portion distributed to parties based on their need-to-know basis. This segmentation maintains ease of use for unencrypted portions while protecting sensitive encrypted portions from unauthorized access, resolving the contradiction between usability and security.
Data Source
AI summary
Encrypting data without losing their format is important in computing systems, because many parties using confidential data rely on systems that require specific formatting for data. Information security depends on the systems and methods used to store and transmit data as well as the keys used to encrypt and decrypt those data. A policy broker is disclosed that maintains keys for clients in confidence, while providing cryptographically secure ciphertext as tokens that the clients may use in their systems as though they were the unencrypted data. Tokens are uniquely constructed for each client by the policy broker based on policies set by a receiving client detailing the formatting needs of their systems. Each client may communicate with other clients via the policy broker with the tokens and will send tokens unique to their system that the policy broker will translate into the tokens of the other party.