Policy Management Service for Distributed Access Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Ensuring secure access control and data protection in complex computing resource configurations, where networks span multiple geographic boundaries and involve multiple service providers, is challenging due to the complexity and size of these configurations.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a system where a service provider allows customers to programmatically configure policies for access control through an API, using an authentication service to validate requests and enable or deny access based on predefined conditions, and utilizing a policy management service to evaluate compliance with customer policies across multiple services.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If access control policies are implemented across multiple services in complex network configurations, then data security and access control reliability are improved, but system complexity and difficulty of policy management increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a policy management service as an intermediary component that sits between authentication services and customer policies. This service receives authentication results, evaluates them against customer-defined policies, and makes access decisions. By mediating between the authentication mechanism and policy enforcement across multiple services, it centralizes policy management complexity while maintaining reliable access control across the distributed system.
2Reliability
If authentication services validate all requests across multiple services, then access security is improved, but authentication service load and processing latency increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the access control process into distinct phases: authentication (verified by authentication services) and authorization (evaluated by the policy management service). Authentication services focus solely on verifying credentials, while the policy management service handles policy evaluation. This segmentation allows authentication services to process requests faster without bearing the burden of complex policy evaluation, reducing overall latency while maintaining security.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary authentication validation by authentication services before requests reach the policy management service. This preliminary action filters out obviously unauthorized requests early in the process, reducing the workload on the policy management service and minimizing the time spent on complex policy evaluations for requests that will ultimately be denied.
3Stability of the object's composition
If centralized policy management is implemented across distributed services, then access control consistency is improved, but network communication overhead and system complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The policy management service is designed as a universal component that can evaluate policies for multiple different services through a standardized interface. Rather than implementing separate policy management systems for each service, this single multi-functional service handles policy evaluation across the entire distributed system, reducing network complexity by eliminating the need for multiple specialized policy management components.
Data Source
AI summary
A first service submits a request to a second service on behalf of a customer of a service provider. The request may have been triggered by a request of the customer to the first service. To process the request, the second service evaluates one or more policies to determine whether fulfillment of the request is allowed by policy associated with the customer. The one or more policies may state one or more conditions on one or more services that played a role in submission of the request. If determined that the policy allows fulfillment of the request, the second service fulfills the request.