Distributed Private Key Recovery Across Multiple Services
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems do not adequately address the inconvenience and inefficiency in recovering a lost private key, requiring users to spend time and effort contacting service centers, which is a common issue across various services using private keys stored in user terminals.
Innovation Solution
A private key recovery system that utilizes a first recovery key from a first service and a second recovery key from a second service to recover the lost private key, managed in a distributed manner to enhance user convenience and security.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a user contacts a call center to recover a lost private key, then the private key can be recovered, but the user must spend time and effort which reduces convenience
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables users to recover their private keys automatically through a self-service mechanism. When a private key is lost, the system uses the public key and associated metadata (such as email address or phone number) to automatically retrieve and restore the private key without requiring user intervention through call centers. This eliminates the time and effort previously needed while maintaining recovery capability.
2Ease of operation
If private key recovery is centralized in one service, then recovery process is simple, but security is reduced as malicious access to one system compromises the private key
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the private key recovery process across multiple independent services. Instead of storing or processing recovery information in a single centralized location, the system distributes the recovery mechanism across multiple services that each hold portions of the recovery capability. This segmentation ensures that compromising one service does not expose the entire private key, thereby maintaining security while preserving operational simplicity through automated processes.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary mechanism that coordinates between multiple services during private key recovery. Rather than directly accessing a single centralized repository, the recovery process involves multiple services acting as intermediaries that verify and validate the recovery request through different channels. This intermediary layer adds security checks while maintaining the simplicity of the user experience.
Data Source
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AI summary
A first recovery key acquisition module (302) of a private key recovery system (1) acquires a first recovery key managed by a first service in which a first private key stored in a user terminal of a user is used. A second recovery key acquisition module (303) acquires a second recovery key managed by a second service different from the first service. A private key recovery module (304) recovers the first private key based on the first recovery key and the second recovery key.