Proxy Server Cryptographic Key Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current approaches for maintaining cryptographic keys are inadequate, as they involve storing keys on client devices, leading to poor security management and the risk of unauthorized access, especially in enterprises with multiple devices. Additionally, implementing additional security measures on resource servers is cumbersome and error-prone, particularly when dealing with multiple server configurations or third-party cloud providers.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that shifts the authentication process from client devices to a proxy server, which manages access to cryptographic keys, allowing for enhanced security controls like multi-factor authentication and IP whitelisting, without requiring updates to the resource server. The proxy server interacts with a cryptographic device to generate digital signatures, thereby centralizing key management and security controls.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If cryptographic keys are stored on client devices, then authentication can be performed locally, but security is poor and key management becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts cryptographic keys from client devices and stores them on a remote server. The client device no longer holds the private key, but instead uses a proxied key mechanism where the server generates and manages the actual cryptographic keys. This extraction resolves the contradiction by removing keys from vulnerable client storage while maintaining authentication functionality through the proxy mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a proxy mechanism as an intermediary between the client device and the resource server. The proxy server acts as a mediator that holds and manages cryptographic keys on behalf of the client, allowing authentication without the client directly storing sensitive keys. This intermediary resolves the contradiction by providing secure key management through the proxy while maintaining local authentication capability.
2Reliability
If additional security measures are implemented on resource servers, then authentication security is improved, but the complexity of server configuration and updates increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a proxy server as an intermediary layer between the client device and the resource server. This proxy handles additional security measures (such as multi-factor authentication, device authorization, and key management) without requiring modifications to the resource server configuration. The resource server simply verifies signatures from the proxy, maintaining simplicity while enhancing security through the intermediary's capabilities.
3Ease of operation
If cryptographic keys are centralized on a single server, then key management becomes easier, but the risk of single point of failure increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the key management functionality across multiple components: the proxy server holds proxied keys for multiple clients, while each client device maintains its own authentication state. The system can distribute proxy server instances across multiple physical or virtual machines, allowing key management to be centralized in logic while physically distributed for fault tolerance. This segmentation resolves the contradiction by enabling easy management through centralized logic while maintaining availability through distribution.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques for transparently adding one or more security controls to a challenge-response-based protocol are provided. In one technique, a client device sends a request for a resource to a resource server. The client device receives a challenge as part of a challenge-response handshake and forwards, to a proxy server, the challenge as part of a cryptographic request that includes a key identifier and certain data. In response, the proxy server initiates one or more security controls and sends the key identifier and the certain data to a cryptographic device that generates output based on the certain data. The proxy server receives the output from the cryptographic device. The proxy server determines whether at least one of the security controls resulted in a success. The proxy server sends the output to the client device only in response to determining that at least one of the security controls resulted in a success.