Secret Repositioning Workflow for Secure Enterprise Credential Storage
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Enterprises face challenges in managing secrets distributed across insecure locations, leading to potential data breaches due to improper secret management.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for automated repositioning of secrets to secure locations, involving identification, evaluation of current locations, and movement of secrets to secure storage such as HSMs or secure vaults, with reconfiguration of services to use the relocated secrets.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If secrets are distributed across multiple locations in enterprise networks, then accessibility and usability of secrets are improved, but security risk increases due to potential placement in insecure locations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a centralized secret management system as an intermediary between applications and secrets. This mediator automatically discovers secrets across the network, evaluates their security posture, and manages their relocation to secure locations without requiring manual intervention or changing how applications access secrets.
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously monitors the security posture of secret storage locations and provides feedback to automatically trigger relocation when insecure conditions are detected. This closed-loop feedback mechanism ensures secrets are consistently maintained in secure locations while preserving accessibility.
2Reliability
If manual secret management is performed, then control over secret locations is maintained, but productivity decreases due to time-consuming manual processes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service automation where the secret management system autonomously performs secret discovery, evaluation, and relocation without human intervention. The system manages itself by continuously scanning networks, detecting secrets, assessing security risks, and executing relocation operations automatically.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary scanning and evaluation of secret locations before any relocation occurs. By proactively identifying secrets and assessing their security posture in advance, the system prepares and executes relocation operations efficiently when needed, avoiding reactive manual processes.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If secrets are stored in secure locations only, then security is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates due to restricted access and complex reconfiguration
Solution Approach 1:
The centralized secret management system acts as an intermediary layer that provides secure secret storage while maintaining easy access for applications. The mediator handles the complexity of secure location management, allowing applications to access secrets through standardized interfaces without needing to understand or manage the underlying security infrastructure.
Solution Approach 2:
The system automatically changes the storage location parameter of secrets from insecure to secure locations while maintaining the same access characteristics for applications. Through parameter transformation and abstraction, the system preserves ease of operation while improving security posture.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for automated repositioning of secrets to a secure location include, responsive to detection of one or more secrets and corresponding storage locations of the one or more secrets, analyzing the corresponding storage locations with respect to policy for the one or more secrets; and, responsive to any of the one or more secrets being stored in a less secure location than the policy, automatically repositioning the any of the one or more secrets to a secure location and reconfiguring any service utilizing the any of the one or more secrets to update to the secure location. The one or more secrets include any of a password, a private key, an Application Programming Interface (API) key, a Secure Shell (SSH) key, a token, a certificate, and a credential.