Identity Provider Containment for Compromised User Identities
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing security systems fail to effectively contain user identities compromised by security threats, such as phishing attacks, leading to potential unauthorized access to secure resources.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a system that receives and evaluates security alerts from threat detection devices, allowing an identity provider to enforce security policies by classifying alerts into action categories, such as denying access or requiring additional authentication factors, to protect user identities in real-time.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If device-based security monitoring is used, then security threats on endpoint devices can be detected, but malicious users can bypass security by using stolen user identities on different devices
Solution Approach 1:
The security system segments the monitoring focus from endpoint devices to user identities. Instead of tracking security threats at the device level, the system independently monitors and contains compromised user identities across any device, preventing malicious users from bypassing security by switching devices.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary identity layer between the user and the secure resource. This identity monitoring and containment mechanism acts as a mediator that can detect compromised identities and enforce containment policies regardless of which endpoint device is used to access the secure resource.
2Reliability
If real-time identity containment is implemented, then compromised user identities can be protected, but additional authentication factors and security checks increase authentication complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary security assessments and pre-establishes containment policies for user identities before authentication attempts. By proactively monitoring identities and pre-defining containment actions, the system reduces the need for complex real-time authentication decisions, simplifying the authentication process while maintaining strong security.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where security event data from monitoring user identities is continuously analyzed and used to dynamically adjust containment policies. This feedback loop enables the system to adapt authentication requirements based on actual security conditions, avoiding unnecessary complexity while maintaining appropriate security levels.
Data Source
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Figure 3A~3B
AI summary
An alert source issues security alerts to an identity provider, which acts as a gatekeeper to a secure resource. Each security alert is associated with an alert user identity and a security threat. When a user identity requests access to the secure resource, the identity provider may look up security alerts associated with the user identity, such as my matching up the user identity with the alert user identity associated with each alert. Based on any discovered security alerts that correspond to the user identity and a pre-defined security policy, the identity provider may perform various security actions on the user identity. For example, the identity provider may contain a user identity associated with high-risk and/or high fidelity security alerts. The identity provider may deny the user identity access to the secure resource, or the identity provider may request additional authentication factors associated with the user identity before access to the secure resource is provided. The identity provider may provide access to the secure resource without containing the user identity if there are no discovered security alerts associated with the user identity, or if the discovered security alerts pose a minor threat.