Service Enclave Enrollment Using Attestation and Trust Certificates
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Solution Overview
Problem
Ensuring the security and trustworthiness of microservice architectures is challenging due to the need for multiple communication channels between components, making it difficult to verify that components are operating as intended.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a system with a network of computing devices hosting service enclaves and an authority service that enrolls new enclaves by generating certificates associating their public keys with identifiers, allowing existing enclaves to trust the new ones securely through a single point of trust.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional microservice architectures are used with multiple independent components, then system scalability and modularity are improved, but security verification becomes more difficult and complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an authority service as an intermediary component that issues certificates to service enclaves. This mediator centralizes the trust verification function, allowing existing enclaves to verify new enclaves through certificate validation rather than implementing complex peer-to-peer verification mechanisms. The authority service acts as a trusted third party that simplifies the security architecture while maintaining system scalability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where service enclaves provide attestation information to the authority service, which then issues certificates back to the enclaves. This closed-loop feedback system ensures that each enclave can prove its identity and trustworthiness through cryptographic certificates, creating a transparent trust verification process that scales with the system.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple communication channels are established between microservice components, then system functionality and flexibility are improved, but trust verification burden increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by requiring service enclaves to obtain certificates from the authority service before engaging in communication. This pre-verification approach ensures that trust is established in advance through cryptographic certificate issuance, eliminating the need for complex runtime verification mechanisms and reducing the operational burden on system users.
Solution Approach 2:
The authority service serves as an intermediary that handles all trust verification operations centrally. Instead of each communication channel requiring independent verification mechanisms, the authority service issues certificates that can be validated across all communication channels, significantly simplifying the ease of operation while maintaining system flexibility.
3Productivity
If service enclaves are enrolled without centralized verification, then system scalability is improved, but security and trustworthiness deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the trust verification function into a separate authority service component, distinct from the service enclaves themselves. This segmentation allows the enrollment process to be automated and scalable, as the authority service can issue certificates to multiple enclaves independently without requiring manual verification for each one, while maintaining strong security through cryptographic proof of trust.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent establishes a feedback loop where service enclaves submit attestation information to the authority service, which verifies and responds with certificates. This automated feedback mechanism enables scalable enrollment while ensuring security, as the authority service maintains control over trust issuance through systematic verification and certificate distribution.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of operating a computer system (2) to manage a set of enrolled service enclaves (6a, 6b, 6c, 6d, 6e, 6f) includes enrolling a new service enclave (10) into the set of enrolled service enclaves. An authority service (6b), hosted on a first computing device (4b), receives an identifier (14) of a second computing device (12), which hosts the new service enclave (10). The authority service (6b) uses the identifier (14) to receive, from the second computing device (12), an attestation (16) of software code stored in the new service enclave (10). In response, the authority service (6b) generates a certificate associating the identifier (14) with a public key of the new service enclave (10) and provides the certificate to an already-enrolled service enclave (6a, 6c, 6d, 6e, 6f).