Secure Control Plane Isolation for Private Data Processing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cloud computing environments face challenges in securing sensitive data and ensuring privacy, particularly when multiple parties collaborate without trust, as they struggle to protect data from extraction and tampering, and verify proprietary business logic adherence to security policies.
Innovation Solution
A secure control plane (SCP) provides an isolated execution environment with encrypted data traversal, split key generation within the data plane (DP), and attestation to verify business logic, ensuring only the DP can decrypt sensitive data, while maintaining privacy and security guarantees.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If data is encrypted during transmission and storage in cloud environments, then security and privacy are improved, but data accessibility and processing efficiency deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments cryptographic operations by separating key management from data processing. The secure control plane handles key generation, storage, and management, while the data plane handles data processing. This segmentation allows encrypted data to be processed efficiently without compromising security, as decryption keys never leave the secure control plane.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary secure control plane that acts as a mediator between the encrypted data in the data plane and the decryption keys. This intermediary manages the cryptographic operations and key distribution, enabling secure access to encrypted data without requiring the data to be decrypted for processing, thus maintaining both security and efficiency.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple parties collaborate to process sensitive data, then computational capability and functionality are improved, but security risks and trust requirements worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments trust by dividing cryptographic key management across multiple independent parties. Each party holds a portion of the master key or cryptographic credentials in the secure control plane, requiring collaboration to access encrypted data. This segmentation enables multiple parties to process sensitive data together while preventing any single party from compromising the entire system.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent adds a dimensional layer of security by separating the control plane from the data plane. The control plane operates in a secure, isolated environment with strict access controls, while the data plane handles processing. This dimensional separation allows collaborative processing in the data plane while maintaining centralized security oversight in the control plane, enabling multi-party collaboration without proportionally increasing security risks.
3Loss of information
If proprietary business logic is deployed without publication, then commercial confidentiality is improved, but verification of security policy adherence worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary attestation mechanism that verifies security policy adherence without exposing proprietary logic. The secure control plane generates cryptographic attestations that prove the deployed logic matches the published specification and adheres to security policies. These attestations can be verified by external parties without revealing the actual proprietary business logic, thus maintaining confidentiality while enabling verification.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates cryptographic copies or representations of the business logic in the form of attestation tokens and verification artifacts. These copies contain sufficient information for security verification but do not reveal the actual proprietary logic. External parties can verify security policy adherence by examining these cryptographic copies rather than the original proprietary code.
Data Source
AI summary
The techniques disclosed herein provide a secure control plane (SCP), which in turn provides an isolated secure execution environment for a data plane (DP). Any arbitrary business logic can execute within the DP, and all sensitive data traversing the SCP and entering the DP is encrypted. Split keys generated outside the DP are assembled within, and only within, the DP, where they are used to decrypt sensitive data, enabling the business logic to perform computations using the sensitive data within the secure execution environment. The DP also provides attestation for the business logic executing within the DP, enabling outside parties to verify that the deployed business logic matches published logic. In the event of proprietary logic that is not published, techniques are also disclosed herein that enable verification that proprietary business logic deployed on the DP adheres to security policies.