Legacy Access Gateway Using Security Tokens for Secure Login
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Solution Overview
Problem
Legacy systems often lack robust security measures, making them vulnerable to unauthorized access, especially when integrated with modern technologies, and updating them is costly and inefficient.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that utilizes a security token service to create single-use user accounts for accessing legacy systems through a federated login infrastructure, ensuring secure access without altering the legacy system, using security tokens to authenticate and manage user accounts dynamically.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If legacy systems are integrated with modern technologies, then access functionality is improved, but security vulnerability increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a gateway system as an intermediary component between modern access requests and legacy systems. This gateway translates modern authentication protocols into legacy-compatible formats, enabling secure integration without directly exposing legacy systems to modern security threats. The gateway acts as a buffer that mediates all interactions, preventing direct vulnerability exploitation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system is divided into distinct functional segments: the legacy system core, the gateway layer, and the modern access interface. This segmentation isolates the vulnerable legacy components from direct exposure to modern threats while maintaining functionality through the intermediary gateway layer. Each segment operates independently with defined interfaces.
2Reliability
If legacy systems are updated with modern security measures, then security is improved, but system complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
Security functionality is segmented into a separate gateway layer rather than being integrated into the legacy system core. This allows modern security measures to be implemented in the gateway without increasing the complexity of the legacy system itself. The legacy system maintains its original simple structure while the gateway handles all security operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The gateway serves as an intermediary that implements modern security protocols without requiring modifications to the legacy system. All security operations are performed by the gateway, which translates secure authentication requests into formats the legacy system can process, thereby improving security without complicating the legacy system architecture.
3Reliability
If legacy systems are updated with modern security measures, then security is improved, but implementation cost and effort increase
Solution Approach 1:
The gateway acts as a cost-effective intermediary that provides modern security capabilities without requiring expensive legacy system updates. By implementing security in the gateway layer using standard protocols, organizations avoid the high costs of legacy system modernization while achieving equivalent security levels.
Solution Approach 2:
The gateway is designed with universal functionality that can serve multiple legacy systems and modern applications simultaneously. This multi-functionality reduces implementation costs by providing a single security infrastructure that protects various systems, eliminating the need for separate security implementations for each legacy system.
4Reliability
If security tokens are used for authentication, then access security is improved, but authentication process complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The gateway serves as an intermediary that manages token authentication complexity internally while presenting a simple interface to users. The gateway handles token generation, validation, and translation automatically, shielding users from the complexity of token-based authentication while maintaining strong security.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements self-service token management where the gateway automatically generates, validates, and manages authentication tokens without requiring user intervention for complex operations. Users simply interact with the simplified interface while the gateway handles all token-related complexity in the background.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for secure access to a legacy data system are disclosed herein. In an embodiment, the method includes verifying user credentials in a database to determine whether a user should be granted access to a legacy system, after verifying the user credentials, causing communication of a security token directly to a legacy access provider, causing the legacy access provider to communicate over a network with a security token service to request that the security token service authenticate the security token, and enabling access to the legacy system upon the legacy access provider verifying authentication of the security token.