Selective Cache Line Encryption by Access Frequency
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing computing architectures face challenges in balancing data security and performance due to the time-consuming nature of encryption and decryption operations, particularly in cache systems where maintaining data in encrypted form introduces latency and degrades processing efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A flexible memory encryption system that selectively encrypts or decrypts cached data based on access frequency and usage patterns, allowing some data to remain unencrypted for low-latency operations while maintaining security through controlled encryption of frequently accessed data.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If data is encrypted in cache memory, then data security is improved, but access latency increases and processing efficiency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by differentiating encryption treatment across different cache lines based on their access patterns. Frequently accessed cache lines are kept unencrypted while less frequently accessed lines are encrypted, creating localized security zones within the cache memory that optimize both security and performance for different data regions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamic encryption management where the encryption state of cache lines is not fixed but changes based on runtime access patterns. The system dynamically transitions cache lines between encrypted and unencrypted states according to their usage frequency, allowing the security level to adapt dynamically to performance requirements.
2Reliability
If all cache data is encrypted, then security is improved, but processing speed and system performance deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by differentiating encryption treatment across different cache lines based on their access patterns. Frequently accessed cache lines are kept unencrypted while less frequently accessed lines are encrypted, creating localized security zones within the cache memory that optimize both security and performance for different data regions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements partial encryption rather than encrypting all cache data. By selectively encrypting only a portion of cache lines (those with lower access frequency), the system achieves sufficient security coverage while avoiding the performance penalty of encrypting every cache access, thus applying partial action to balance security and productivity.
Data Source
AI summary
A cache memory can maintain multiple cache lines and each cache line can include a data field, an encryption status attribute, and an encryption key attribute. The encryption status attribute can indicate whether the data field in the corresponding cache line includes encrypted or unencrypted data and the encryption key attribute can include an encryption key identifier for the corresponding cache line. In an example, a cryptographic controller can access keys from a key table to selectively encrypt or unencrypt cache data. Infrequently accessed cache data can be maintained as encrypted data, and more frequently accessed cache data can be maintained as unencrypted data. In some examples, different cache lines in the same cache memory can be maintained as encrypted or unencrypted data, and different cache lines can use respective different encryption keys.