Split Tokenization for Secure Secret Recovery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional secure computer systems that rely on tokenization servers are vulnerable to compromise, allowing adversaries to access secrets if they gain access to the key used for generating tokens or if the server is compromised.
Innovation Solution
The technique involves splitting a secret into shares and distributing each share to separate token servers, where each server generates a token that is sent to an application server, which can recover the secret by combining the shares, thereby reducing the likelihood of successful adversary access and enhancing security through proactive updates.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a single tokenization server stores secrets and generates tokens, then the system is simple to operate and manage, but the system becomes vulnerable to compromise allowing adversaries to access all secrets if they gain access to the server or key
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the secret into multiple secret shares and distributes them across multiple token servers. Each token server stores only a portion of the secret, so that compromise of a single server does not expose the complete secret. The application server combines multiple tokens from different token servers to recover the original secret when needed.
2Reliability
If secrets are split among multiple token servers, then security is improved by reducing adversary access probability, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The application server acts as an intermediary that manages the complexity of interacting with multiple token servers. It handles token generation requests by forwarding them to appropriate token servers and combines the resulting tokens to recover secrets. This intermediary approach allows the system to benefit from distributed security while maintaining operational simplicity at the application level.
Data Source
AI summary
An improved technique involves providing protection of secrets by splitting the secret into secret shares and providing tokens for each secret share. Along these lines, a terminal splits a secret such as a credit card number into shares. The terminal then transmits each share to a separate and distinct token server. Each token server, upon receiving a secret share, generates a corresponding token and sends that token to an application server. In some cases, when a user at the application server requires access to the secret, the application server sends each token to the token server form which the token was generated. The token servers each send, in return, a secret share to the application server. The application server combines the secret shares to recover the secret.