IoT Digital Certificate Security via Cloud Revocation Management
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional systems for managing digital certificate revocation in IoT devices face scalability issues due to limited computing resources and network connectivity, particularly when dealing with large numbers of devices and frequent revocations, as they were initially designed for server and datacenter infrastructures rather than IoT environments.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for enhanced IoT digital certificate security that utilizes a cloud service to store and manage digital certificates, where the cloud service server tracks revocation statuses and denies connection requests based on updated status updates, thereby centralizing revocation management and improving scalability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional CRL or OCSP protocols are used for certificate revocation checking in IoT devices, then certificate security is maintained, but scalability deteriorates due to limited computing resources and network connectivity of IoT devices
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a cloud service as an intermediary between IoT devices and the certificate authority. The cloud service receives revocation status requests from IoT devices, queries the CA, and returns the results. This mediator approach allows IoT devices with limited resources to maintain certificate security without directly implementing complex revocation checking protocols, thereby improving scalability.
Solution Approach 2:
The cloud service automatically manages the revocation status checking process without requiring manual intervention. It continuously monitors certificate statuses, updates local caches, and handles revocation queries autonomously, reducing the operational burden and enabling scalable deployment across millions of IoT devices.
2Measurement precision
If OCSP protocol is deployed with large infrastructure to handle high-volume requests, then revocation checking accuracy is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple functions into a unified cloud service: OCSP response caching, CRL distribution, revocation status querying, and certificate validation. By merging these previously separate infrastructure components into a single cloud-based service, the system maintains accurate revocation status checking while significantly reducing overall infrastructure complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The cloud service pre-loads and caches OCSP responses and CRL data before they are needed by IoT devices. This preliminary action ensures that when revocation checks are required, accurate and up-to-date information is already available, maintaining measurement precision while avoiding the need for complex real-time query infrastructure.
3Speed
If periodic pre-generation of large quantities of OCSP responses is implemented, then response time is improved, but storage requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements selective caching where the cloud service stores only the most frequently accessed OCSP responses and revocation statuses locally. Less frequently accessed data is kept in a compressed or on-demand format. This local quality approach ensures fast response times for common queries while minimizing overall storage requirements by adapting the cache strategy to actual usage patterns.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for enhanced internet of things digital certificate security is provided. The system includes a computer device. The computer device is programmed to store, in a database, a plurality of statuses associated with a plurality of digital certificates. The computer device is also programmed to receive, from a first computer device, a status update for the first digital certificate. The computer device is further programmed to update the first status based on the status update. Subsequently to updating the first status, the computer device is programmed to receive a request for a connection from the first device. Subsequently to updating the first status, the computer device is also programmed to deny the request for a connection based on the first status.