Information Security Proxy Service for Credential Decryption
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Solution Overview
Problem
The secure handling of plaintext username and password credentials for third-party services within integrating services is resource-intensive and prone to security breaches due to the need for significant effort and resources to prevent unauthorized exposure.
Innovation Solution
An information security proxy service intercepts and decrypts encrypted credentials, routing them securely to third-party services, thereby reducing the risk of exposure and resource requirements for secure handling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If plaintext username and password credentials are handled directly within integrating services, then authentication functionality is maintained, but security risk and resource consumption increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the sensitive credential handling function from the integrating service and places it in a dedicated proxy service. The proxy service receives encrypted credentials, decrypts them using stored cryptographic keys, and forwards them to third-party services. This separation removes the burden of secure credential management from the integrating service, reducing its resource consumption and security risk exposure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a proxy service as an intermediary between the integrating service and third-party services. This intermediary handles the decryption and forwarding of credentials, allowing the integrating service to work with encrypted data only. The proxy service acts as a buffer that protects the integrating service from direct exposure to sensitive plaintext credentials.
2Ease of operation
If plaintext credentials are stored and processed within integrating services, then authentication is enabled, but the risk of unauthorized exposure increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the authentication system into distinct components: the integrating service that handles business logic, the proxy service that handles credential decryption, and third-party services that validate credentials. Each component has a specific responsibility, and sensitive credentials are only present in the proxy service temporarily during decryption operations, minimizing the attack surface.
Solution Approach 2:
The proxy service serves as an intermediary that protects the integrating service from direct contact with plaintext credentials. It receives encrypted credentials from the integrating service, decrypts them using securely stored cryptographic keys, and forwards the plaintext only to the necessary third-party services. This intermediary architecture ensures that the integrating service never handles plaintext credentials, reducing security breach risk.
3Reliability
If significant resources are allocated for secure handling of plaintext credentials, then security is maintained, but system efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the resource-intensive secure credential handling operations from the integrating service and concentrates them in a specialized proxy service. The proxy service is optimized for decryption operations and can efficiently manage cryptographic keys. This allows the integrating service to focus on business logic with minimal security overhead, improving overall system efficiency while maintaining security through the proxy's specialized capabilities.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for providing data such as credentials to a third-party service while protecting the data from exposure to intermediate services. The system receives a first request containing encrypted data, generates a second request by replacing the encrypted data from the first request with unencrypted data, and transmits the second request to the third-party service.