Proactive Secret Provisioning via Trigger Prediction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cybersecurity techniques for providing secrets in network-based environments are vulnerable to attacks, as attackers can retrieve secrets by taking over services, and existing solutions like sidecar containers add inefficiency and do not minimize the attack surface effectively.
Innovation Solution
A system that proactively provides secrets to services based on trigger information, using machine learning models or rule-based correlations to predict which secrets are required, eliminating the need for explicit requests and reducing the attack surface.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If secrets are provided on-demand when services request them, then services can obtain necessary credentials, but the system becomes vulnerable to attackers who can retrieve secrets by taking over services
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by proactively providing secrets to services before they are actually needed, based on prediction of future operations. This eliminates the need for services to request secrets, thereby removing the attack vector where compromised services could maliciously request secrets. The secret management system predicts which secrets will be needed and delivers them in advance, so when a service is compromised, it cannot retrieve additional secrets through requests.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary prediction layer between the secret storage and service consumption. Instead of direct service-to-secret-provider communication, a prediction mechanism acts as an intermediary that analyzes service behavior patterns and pre-determines secret requirements. This intermediary layer filters and controls secret distribution based on predicted legitimate needs, blocking potential malicious requests from compromised services.
2Reliability
If services must request and wait for secrets from the secrets provider, then security control is maintained, but performance is negatively affected due to waiting time
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary secret provisioning by predicting and delivering secrets before services need them. This eliminates the waiting time associated with on-demand requests, as secrets are already available when services require them. The prediction mechanism operates in advance, analyzing service operation patterns to pre-deliver necessary credentials, thus maintaining security control while eliminating performance delays.
Solution Approach 2:
The secret management system provides self-service by automatically predicting and delivering secrets without requiring service requests. The system monitors service behavior patterns and autonomously determines which secrets will be needed, then proactively provides them. This eliminates the request-wait-deliver cycle, improving performance while maintaining security through intelligent prediction-based control.
3Reliability
If services authenticate themselves to the secrets provider before receiving secrets, then authentication security is maintained, but the 'secret zero' problem occurs where services need initial credentials to authenticate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by providing initial secrets to services before authentication is required. The system predicts that services will need credentials for authentication operations and proactively delivers these secrets in advance. This eliminates the 'secret zero' problem where services would need initial credentials to authenticate, as the necessary authentication credentials are already provided beforehand through prediction-based provisioning.
Solution Approach 2:
The secret management system performs self-service by automatically providing authentication credentials without requiring services to undergo complex authentication procedures first. The system analyzes service patterns, predicts authentication needs, and delivers necessary credentials autonomously. This simplifies the authentication process while maintaining security through intelligent prediction, eliminating the circular dependency where services need credentials to authenticate but cannot obtain them without prior authentication.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed embodiments relate to systems and methods for securely providing secrets. Techniques include receiving, from an entity, trigger information indicative of an action to be performed by at least one service based on the trigger information; identifying at least one secret expected to be used by the at least one service to perform the action, the at least one secret being identified based on information correlating the trigger information to the at least one secret; and causing the at least one secret to be provided to the at least one service, wherein the at least one secret is provided to the at least one service independent of any request for the at least one secret.