Reverse Replication for Corrupted File Recovery
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Solution Overview
Problem
In computer systems with replicated storage, malware can spread quickly through synchronization networks, making it difficult to repair infected files without orphaning clean copies or deleting them accidentally, as existing malware scanners often quarantine or remove infected files without restoring clean versions.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a method for reverse replication, where a computer system detects inappropriate content in a file, coordinates with replicas to find a clean copy, and replaces the infected file with the clean version, thereby rolling back the corrupted file without breaking synchronization relationships.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If malware scanners quarantine or remove infected files, then malware spread is prevented, but clean copies of files are orphaned or deleted
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of propagating deleted files during reverse replication, the system inverts the approach by propagating only non-deleted files. When a file is marked for deletion at the initiating device, the reverse replication process intentionally skips propagating that deleted file to replicas, thereby preserving clean copies at replica devices while still removing the infected version at the source.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates and propagates clean copies of files from replica devices back to the initiating device. When malware is detected at one device, the system copies the same file from replica devices (which have clean versions) and propagates these clean copies to replace the infected versions, thus recovering lost information while maintaining malware prevention.
2Productivity
If files are synchronized across network devices, then data availability is improved, but malware can spread quickly through the network
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary malware scanning on files before they are propagated to replica devices. By scanning files at the source device before reverse replication occurs, the system prevents infected files from being copied to replicas in the first place, thereby maintaining data availability while blocking malware spread proactively.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where malware scan results from any device in the replicated storage system are communicated to all other devices. When one device detects malware in a file, this information is fed back to the system, which then prevents propagation of that infected file to other replicas and triggers recovery procedures, thus using network-wide feedback to prevent local malware spread.
3Reliability
If reverse replication is used to restore clean files, then data integrity is improved, but synchronization relationships may be broken
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies local quality by device-specific deletion flags. Each device can independently mark files for deletion based on local malware detection, and the reverse replication process respects these local deletion decisions. This allows each device to have customized file states based on its local conditions while maintaining overall system coherence, thus restoring data integrity without forcing uniform synchronization that would break relationships.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the state parameter of files during reverse replication by propagating non-deleted files and skipping deleted ones. This parameter change approach allows the system to restore clean file versions (changing the content parameter) while simultaneously managing deletion states (changing the existence parameter), thereby maintaining data integrity and preserving synchronization relationships through coordinated parameter transformations.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for reverse replication to rollback corrupted files. When a computer system detects that a copy of a file includes inappropriate content, the computer system can coordinate with other computer systems (e.g., in replicated storage system) to determine that a viable (e.g., clean) copy of the file exists. The computer system can access the viable copy and replace the copy that includes the inappropriate content with the viable copy. As such, a computer system can “reverse replicate” a file rather than break a synchronization relationship. Reverse replication can be used to rollback a copy of an infected file to another (possibly earlier) copy of the file that is not infected. Embodiments of the invention can be used to rollback data files, such as, for example, pictures, videos, documents, etc.