Hash-Based Security Configuration Evaluation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
System administrators face challenges in ensuring secure security configurations for Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications due to the complexity and time-consuming nature of configuring and regularly reevaluating large numbers of settings across numerous users and objects.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a security configuration evaluation system that generates a binary representation and hash of a reference security configuration, allowing for efficient detection of insecure configurations by comparing instance security configurations against a reference hash and performing semantic checks against guardrail conditions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If security configurations are manually checked and evaluated, then security reliability is improved, but time consumption and operational complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a binary representation (copy) of the security configuration that simplifies the original complex configuration data. This binary representation can be quickly hashed and compared without analyzing the full complexity of the original security settings, enabling fast evaluation while maintaining security checking capability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual mechanical checking of security configurations with automated computational methods. By using hash functions and binary representations, the system automatically evaluates security configurations without requiring manual intervention, significantly reducing time consumption while maintaining or improving reliability
2Measurement precision
If all security settings are thoroughly evaluated, then security detection precision is improved, but computational complexity and resource consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a simplified binary representation of the security configuration that captures essential security properties without requiring analysis of every single setting. This copy enables efficient hash-based comparison that maintains detection precision for critical security issues while reducing computational complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transforms the security configuration from its original complex format into a binary representation with specific parameters optimized for hashing. This parameter transformation allows the system to evaluate security configurations efficiently by working with simplified binary data rather than complex configuration objects
Data Source
AI summary
Systems, devices, and techniques are disclosed for security configuration evaluation. A binary representation of a reference security configuration for an application may be generated. The binary representation of the reference security configuration for the application may be hashed to generate a reference hash for the application. Data for an instance security configuration for an instance of the application may be received. A binary representation of the instance security configuration may be generated from the received data for the instance security configuration. The binary representation of the instance security configuration may be hashed to generate an instance hash. The computing device may determine the distance between the reference hash and the instance hash. The instance security configuration may be determined to be secure if the distance is not greater than a threshold.