Resilient Secret Sharing Cloud Architecture for Data Vault
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Solution Overview
Problem
Cloud computing poses data security and reliability issues due to weak encryption methods, lack of proper access control, and risks associated with trusted administrator access, Advanced Persistent Threats, and the loss of private keys, leading to potential data loss and privacy breaches.
Innovation Solution
A method and system for securely storing data using secret sharing methods that split data into multiple shares, with a threshold number of shares required for recovery, allowing for keyless encryption and distribution across multiple cloud service providers, ensuring data security, resilience, and privacy through self-destructive data systems and break-glass recovery mechanisms.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If secret sharing methods are used to split data into multiple shares, then data security is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by dividing data into multiple secret shares using secret sharing schemes (e.g., Shamir's PSS, Krawczyk's CSS, or Rabin's IDA). Each share is stored separately in the cloud, and a threshold number of shares is required to reconstruct the original data. This segmentation approach enhances security because no single share contains the complete information, yet increases system complexity due to the need to manage multiple shares and their distribution across different cloud service providers.
2Reliability
If data is distributed across multiple cloud service providers, then resilience against cloud outages is improved, but data access complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent distributes secret shares across multiple independent cloud service providers to achieve resilience against cloud outages and service provider failures. This segmentation allows the system to tolerate the loss or unavailability of individual cloud providers while maintaining data accessibility through alternative shares. However, this distribution increases data access complexity as the system must coordinate retrieval from multiple cloud providers and manage the aggregation of shares.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a trusted third party or intermediary component that facilitates data reconstruction by coordinating the collection of sufficient shares from multiple cloud service providers and performing the secret sharing reconstruction algorithm. This intermediary simplifies the access process for end users while managing the underlying complexity of multi-cloud coordination and share aggregation.
3Reliability
If threshold-based secret sharing is implemented, then unauthorized access prevention is improved, but data recovery time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by pre-distributing secret shares to multiple cloud service providers before any data access or recovery scenario occurs. This advance preparation ensures that when data recovery is needed, the system can immediately begin collecting shares from the pre-positioned cloud providers without delay. The threshold mechanism is pre-configured, and the infrastructure is pre-established, reducing the actual recovery time while maintaining strong unauthorized access prevention through the threshold requirement.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of securely storing data including providing, within a secure data storage system, a plurality of secret sharing methods for selection and identifying a striping policy for storage of the data, in accordance with input preferences. The data can be split into N secret shares according to a secret sharing method, the selection being determined by the striping policy, wherein a threshold number, T, of such shares is sufficient to recover the data, where T is less than N, generating metadata associated with the data, the metadata identifying the selected secret sharing method and storing the metadata within the secure data storage system and writing the secret shares to storage that includes storage outside the secure data storage system, such that, when at least T shares are retrieved, the metadata can be recalled to identify the selected secret sharing method for recovery of the data.