TEE Browsing Data Aggregation with Telemetry Server Encryption
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for tracking internet browsing data face security and privacy risks due to the handling of raw data, which can be mitigated by using aggregated data, but risks persist when raw data is processed for aggregation.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a system with telemetry servers between browsers and trusted execution environments (TEEs) that encrypt data with asymmetric encryption, using a key pair generated by the TEE-server, and aggregating data within a secure environment to minimize privacy risks.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If raw browsing data is collected and processed to generate aggregated data, then economic value from browsing data can be obtained, but security risks and privacy risks increase
Solution Approach 1:
A telemetry server is introduced as an intermediary component between browsers and the trusted execution environment. The telemetry server collects raw browsing data from browsers, encrypts it using public keys, and forwards it to the TEE server. This intermediary layer allows the system to process raw data without exposing it to untrusted environments, thereby maintaining security while enabling data collection for economic analysis.
Solution Approach 2:
The system architecture is segmented into distinct functional components: browsers for data collection, telemetry servers for encryption and forwarding, and TEE servers for secure processing. This segmentation ensures that raw data never resides in untrusted environments, separating the data collection function from the secure processing function to mitigate security and privacy risks.
2Reliability
If TEE-servers are used to securely process browsing data, then security and privacy are improved, but system complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The telemetry server acts as a mediator that handles the complexity of key management and data encryption/decryption operations. By offloading these complex cryptographic operations to the telemetry server, the TEE server's role is simplified to primarily performing secure aggregation and processing, thereby reducing the overall system complexity while maintaining security through the coordinated work of both components.
3Reliability
If telemetry servers are placed between browsers and TEE-servers, then security is improved by firewalling off TEE-servers, but the client device cannot attest the TEE-server
Solution Approach 1:
The attestation function is extracted from the client device and relocated to the telemetry server. Since the telemetry server is positioned between the client and TEE server, it can perform attestation of the TEE server on behalf of the client. This extraction allows the system to maintain security through firewalling while preserving attestation capability through the intermediary's role.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach reduces security and privacy risks by ensuring that raw data is never decrypted outside the TEE, allowing for secure data aggregation and analysis while maintaining privacy, and enabling efficient load balancing and cost-effective scaling.
Implementation Method 1
the server application generates at least one key pair for asymmetric encryption, that each key pair comprises a public key and a private key
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
AI summary
The invention relates to a method for processing browsing data in a server application (5a, b). The method is characterized in that the server application (5a, b) is running in a trusted execution environment (6a, b) on a TEE-server (1a, b), that the server application (5a, b) generates at least one key pair (9a, b) for asymmetric encryption, that each key pair (9a, b) comprises a public key (10a, b) and a private key (11a, b), that the server application (5a-b) transmits the at least one public key (10a, b) to a telemetry application (7a-c) on a telemetry server (3a-c), that the server application (5a, b) receives a plurality of encrypted browsing information data sets (12a-d), which encrypted browsing information data sets (12a-d) comprise internet domain visit statistics (13a-d) for a respective browser (8a-d) of a plurality of browsers (8a-d) running on a respective client device (2a-d) for a plurality of internet domains, that each encrypted browsing information data set (12a-d) is asymmetrically encrypted with a respective public key (10a, b) of the at least one key pair (9a, b), that the server application (5a, b) decrypts each encrypted browsing information data set (12a-d) with a respective private key (11a, b) of the at least one key pair (9a, b), that the server application (5a, b) aggregates data from the decrypted browsing information data sets (12a-d) and that the server application (5a, b) transmits the aggregated data (14a, b) to a data warehouse server (4). The invention also relates to a method for providing browsing data from a browser, to a computer program product, to a method for providing browsing data to a data warehouse server, to a server, to a client and to a system for providing browsing data to a warehouse server.