Format-Preserving Secure Tokens Without Database Lookup
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional methods for exchanging sensitive data using tokens are inefficient, unreliable, and costly due to the need for synchronized relational databases, caching, and maintenance of expired tokens, with offline databases causing inconsistent lookup results and increased complexity.
Innovation Solution
Utilizing format-preserving encryption (FPE) to generate secure tokens with encrypted data and metadata, ensuring user-specific and time-constrained validity, allowing direct data exchange without reliance on external databases, and reducing the need for costly storage and maintenance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional tokenization using relational databases is used, then sensitive data can be exchanged without directly sending the data, but the system requires numerous synchronized databases which increases complexity and reduces reliability
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the token-data relationship from centralized relational databases and embeds it directly within self-contained secure tokens. Each token contains its own encrypted data and metadata, eliminating the need for external database lookups and synchronization infrastructure.
Solution Approach 2:
The secure tokens are designed to be self-sufficient, containing all necessary information (encrypted data, metadata, error detection codes) within themselves. The tokens can be validated and processed independently without requiring external database services or synchronization.
2Ease of operation
If token lookup processes are implemented, then data can be recovered from tokens, but the process fails when relational databases are offline or unavailable
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the token-data relationship into self-contained units where each secure token is an independent, portable entity. The tokens can be transmitted and processed anywhere without requiring connection to centralized database infrastructure.
Solution Approach 2:
All necessary information for data recovery is pre-loaded into the secure token during its creation. The encrypted data and metadata are embedded within the token itself, enabling immediate processing without external database queries.
3Productivity
If caching is used to boost lookup performance, then data retrieval speed improves, but caching is expensive and requires maintenance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces expensive, persistent caching infrastructure with lightweight, transient secure tokens. Each token is a self-contained unit that can be processed quickly without requiring long-term storage or cache management systems.
4Reliability
If relational databases are used to store token-data relationships, then data can be exchanged securely, but additional maintenance is required to purge expired tokens
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces dynamic expiration metadata within each secure token, allowing tokens to automatically indicate their validity status. The embedded metadata includes expiration information that enables straightforward filtering and validation without complex database maintenance procedures.
Data Source
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AI summary
Methods and systems disclosed herein describe tokenizing data to generate a secure token that is limited in scope (e.g., directed to a specific recipient) and limited in time (e.g., valid for only a specified period of time). A detokenization process may be employed to recover encrypted data of the secure token without the need for any relational database lookup processes, thereby reducing cost while maintaining robust protection against unintended recipients that attempt to recover the encrypted data.