Centralized Policy Appliance for Heterogeneous Database Security
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Solution Overview
Problem
In distributed data storage systems, managing and enforcing data security policies across multiple databases is complex and time-consuming, requiring individual configuration of each database, which complicates deployment and lacks unified privacy controls.
Innovation Solution
A centralized policy appliance with a policy administration point, decision point, and enforcement point manages and enforces data access policies uniformly across heterogeneous databases, masking sensitive data and filtering records based on defined access privileges, thereby simplifying policy management and enhancing data privacy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If individual policy components are configured for each database in a distributed system, then each database can have customized access control, but the complexity of policy management increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple separate policy components into a single centralized policy appliance that can manage policies for multiple databases uniformly. This consolidation reduces the complexity of managing individual policy components for each database while maintaining the ability to enforce customized access controls through a unified interface and centralized configuration.
Solution Approach 2:
The policy appliance is designed as a universal system that can enforce data security policies across multiple different types of databases (relational, NoSQL, file systems, cloud storage) through a single configuration. This multi-functional capability eliminates the need for database-specific policy components while maintaining adaptability to various data storage technologies.
2Ease of manufacture
If centralized policy management is implemented across multiple database types, then deployment is simplified, but individual database configuration needs may not be met
Solution Approach 1:
The policy appliance implements a universal policy enforcement mechanism that works across multiple database types (SQL, NoSQL, file systems, cloud storage) through a single configuration interface. This allows simplified deployment while maintaining the ability to enforce appropriate access controls for each database type through standardized policy templates and adaptive enforcement mechanisms.
3Loss of time
If policy management complexity is reduced through centralization, then deployment time decreases, but fine-grained control over specific databases may be limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the policy management functions into a centralized appliance that provides both simplified deployment and fine-grained control. The unified interface allows rapid policy deployment across multiple databases while maintaining the capability to enforce detailed, database-specific access controls through centralized configuration and policy templates that can be customized for each database type.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for managing, and enforcing policies on data security. A policy appliance includes a policy administration point, a policy decision point, a policy enforcement point and, optionally, an auditing module. The policy appliance can execute in a self-contained environment, e.g., a single virtual machine, a single physical machine, or a cluster of virtual machines or physical machines identically configured. The self-contained policy appliance can receive, manage, enforce and audit multiple policies that specify access privileges of multiple users on multiple databases. The databases can include heterogeneous databases that are configured separately and differently from one another. A single configuration of the policy appliance centralizes and unifies policy management of the heterogeneous database in the self-contained environment.