Self-Managed Trust via One-Time Credentials
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing authentication techniques in information processing systems face challenges when establishing trust between entities without a shared third-party certificate authority, particularly in dynamic environments where a third-party CA must sign numerous certificates, making it impractical and increasing the attack surface during the initial trust establishment.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a protocol with an internal CA that generates one-time credentials with defined expiration periods, allowing entities to self-manage trust within a cluster, reducing the reliance on external CAs and minimizing the exposure of secure data during initial trust establishment by generating private keys locally and revoking temporary credentials post-authentication.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a third-party CA signs certificates for each system component in a dynamic environment, then trust between entities is established, but the attack surface increases and the process becomes impractical
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service by enabling entities to generate their own certificates and manage their own trust anchors without requiring a third-party CA. Each entity creates a self-signed certificate and stores it as a trust anchor, allowing autonomous trust establishment within the network without external CA intervention.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the CA function from a centralized third-party authority and distributes it to individual entities. By removing the dependency on an external CA, the system eliminates the attack surface associated with centralized CA operations while maintaining certificate-based trust relationships.
2Productivity
If a third-party CA signs numerous certificates in a dynamic cluster, then all entities can be authenticated, but the time and secure data exposure during initial trust establishment increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-configuring entities with their own trust anchors and self-signed certificates before they need to establish connections. This preliminary setup eliminates the need for time-consuming initial trust establishment procedures during actual authentication, as entities already possess the necessary trust credentials.
Solution Approach 2:
Entities perform self-service by generating and managing their own trust credentials independently. This self-contained approach eliminates the need to wait for third-party CA operations, significantly reducing the time required for initial trust establishment while maintaining secure authentication.
3Reliability
If entities use permanent credentials for authentication, then trust is established, but key reuse vulnerability increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamics by transitioning from static permanent credentials to dynamic, time-limited credentials. Certificates are issued with explicit expiration dates and can be revoked at any time, allowing the trust system to adapt and change credentials as needed while maintaining security through controlled temporary access.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs disposable, short-living credentials that are automatically expired and cannot be reused. These temporary certificates provide sufficient trust for their designated period but then become invalid, preventing key reuse attacks while maintaining adequate trust stability during their active lifetime.
Data Source
AI summary
Two-way secure channels are provided between two parties to a communication with certification being provided by one party. One method comprises providing, by a first entity that provides a certificate authority, a first signed certificate to a second entity, wherein the first signed certificate is signed by the certificate authority and wherein the second entity generates a first request to sign a second certificate generated by the second entity, wherein the first request is generated by the second entity using a first credential generated by the second entity; receiving, from the second entity, (i) the first request to sign the second certificate, and (ii) the first signed certificate; and providing, in response to the certificate authority verifying the first signed certificate, a second signed certificate, signed by the certificate authority, to the second entity; wherein one or more additional communications between the first entity and the second entity use the two-way channel.