Secure Profile System for PHI Access Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Protected health information (PHI) stored in computer systems is susceptible to exposure during system failures or crashes, violating privacy requirements, as mechanisms like memory dumps can inadvertently reveal sensitive data.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a secure profile system where the operating system or hypervisor manages access to PHI by marking data as secure and maintaining a table of authorized processes, restricting access to only permitted software entities, ensuring that only approved processes can access PHI data.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If memory dumps are used to collect data from computer memory for troubleshooting, then system reliability and troubleshooting capability are improved, but protected health information may be exposed violating privacy requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments memory into different protection levels by marking PHI with a secure flag, creating distinct accessible regions. Authorized processes can access marked PHI while unauthorized processes (including memory dump utilities) are blocked from accessing it, thus segmenting the memory space to prevent harmful exposure while maintaining troubleshooting capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary mechanism - the secure flag marking system - that mediates between memory dump operations and PHI protection. This intermediary layer allows the memory dump process to execute while the secure flag acts as a mediator to block unauthorized access to PHI, resolving the contradiction between troubleshooting and privacy protection.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If access control mechanisms are implemented to restrict PHI access, then PHI security is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service by having the operating system automatically mark PHI with secure flags and automatically enforce access restrictions based on process authorization. The system serves itself by using the secure flag mechanism to both identify PHI and control access, eliminating the need for complex external access control systems while maintaining strong security.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter of data marking by introducing a secure flag that transforms regular memory into protected memory. This parameter change (adding the secure flag) enables the system to distinguish between PHI and non-PHI without requiring complex access control infrastructure, thus improving security while minimizing complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems, methods, and computer program products to perform an operation comprising receiving, from a first process, a request to access content stored in a memory, determining that the content comprises protected information (PI), wherein the PI comprises: (i) a header portion and (ii) a data portion, wherein the header portion comprises: (i) an indication that the PI is secure data, and (ii) an indication of an owner process that created the PI data, determining, from a secure table stored in the memory and from the header portion, a set of processes permitted to access the PI, upon determining the first process is not a member of the set of processes, restricting the first process from accessing the PI, and upon determining the first process is a member of the set of processes, permitting the first process to access to the PI.