Secure Enclave Attestation for Privacy-Preserving Web Service Data
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing technologies face challenges in providing a verified attestation of private data properties from web services without modifying the web services or exposing the private data, as TLS protocols do not provide sufficient artifacts for third-party verification.
Innovation Solution
A system and method utilizing a secure enclave module to retrieve and process private data, combining TLS artifacts with secure enclave-generated artifacts to create an attestation, ensuring the enclave's security and computation integrity without revealing the data, and using a verification server to validate the attestation envelope.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If TLS protocol is used to encrypt message data with symmetric key, then data confidentiality is improved, but third-party verification capability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the verification process into two independent parts: (1) TLS provides encrypted data transmission, and (2) digital signatures provide verification artifacts. The server signs the encrypted TLS traffic with its asymmetric private key, creating verification artifacts that allow third parties to verify data origin without decrypting the symmetric encrypted content. This segmentation resolves the contradiction by separating confidentiality (maintained by symmetric encryption) from verifiability (provided by asymmetric signatures).
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces digital signatures as an intermediary mechanism between TLS encryption and third-party verification. The server's asymmetric signature acts as a mediator that bridges the gap: it operates on the encrypted TLS data without requiring decryption, yet provides sufficient verification artifacts for third parties. This intermediary resolves the contradiction by enabling verification without compromising the symmetric key-based confidentiality.
2Reliability
If web service is modified to digitally sign response including private data, then verification capability is improved, but web service modification requirement worsens complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies partial action by requiring the server to sign only the TLS encrypted response data, not the entire communication protocol or internal processing logic. The server modifies its existing TLS implementation to add signature generation on the encrypted payload, which is a partial modification rather than complete protocol redesign. This resolves the contradiction by providing verification capability through minimal, targeted modifications to the web service.
3Reliability
If third party is given access to private data to generate attestation, then attestation capability is improved, but data exposure risk worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the verification capability from the private data itself. Instead of giving third parties access to private data for verification, the system extracts and provides only the necessary verification artifacts (digital signatures on encrypted data). Third parties can verify the authenticity and integrity of data properties without ever accessing the private data content. This extraction resolves the contradiction by separating verification functionality from data exposure.
4Loss of information
If secure enclave is used to process data, then data security is improved, but system complexity worsens
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a secure enclave as an intermediary processing environment between the untrusted host and the private data. The enclave provides a hardware-based trusted execution environment that isolates data processing from the untrusted host system. This intermediary resolves the contradiction by enhancing data security through hardware isolation while containing the complexity increase to a specific security module rather than the entire system.
Data Source
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AI summary
A system and method for providing verified privacy-preserving attestations of requisite properties of private data stored on a web server is disclosed. An untrusted host mediates secure communication for a secure enclave with a data owner device and the web server. A secure enclave verification server provides an attestation to the data owner device that the secure enclave module is secure and has a valid trusted computing base (TCB). The data owner module provides credentials to access the private data to the secure enclave, which retrieves the data and calculates the requisite properties. The secure enclave produces an attestation envelope, which is verified by an attestation envelope verification module. Combining the certificates and keys generated during a TLS handshake between the secure enclave and the web server enables a proof that the data coming into the enclave was from a standard (unmodified) web server API provided by the web server.