Thread-Specific Event Visibility in Multi-Threaded Data Processing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Multi-threaded data processing apparatuses face a security vulnerability due to the potential visibility of event information across threads, which can compromise the protection of sensitive data, such as private keys or personal data, even when the information appears non-security-related.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of visibility configuration storage to associate each thread with a visibility configuration value, allowing the event handling circuitry to restrict the visibility of event information for software of other threads, ensuring that only the thread generating the event information has access, and optionally allowing trusted threads to see it, thereby maintaining data protection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If event information is made visible across multiple threads for monitoring purposes, then monitoring capability is improved, but security of sensitive data is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by making event information visibility thread-specific rather than globally uniform. Each thread is assigned a visibility configuration value that determines which threads can observe its event information, creating localized visibility zones that maintain security while enabling monitoring where appropriate.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the monolithic event information visibility into thread-specific segments controlled by visibility configuration values. This segmentation allows different threads to have different visibility permissions, separating the monitoring function from universal access and enabling selective observation that preserves security boundaries.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If visibility configuration storage is implemented to restrict event information access, then security is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The visibility configuration storage structure serves multiple functions: it stores visibility configuration values for each thread, controls event information filtering, and maintains security policies. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate security management mechanisms, offsetting the added complexity with consolidated functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses parameter changes by introducing visibility configuration values as controllable parameters that define access permissions. These parameters can be adjusted to change visibility behavior without restructuring the entire system, allowing flexible security policy management through simple parameter modification rather than complex architectural changes.
Data Source
AI summary
In an apparatus performing multi-threaded data processing event handling circuitry receives event information from the data processing circuitry indicative of an event which has occurred during the data processing operations. Visibility configuration storage holds a set of visibility configuration values, each visibility configuration value associated with a thread of the multiple threads and the event handling circuitry adapts its use of the event information to restrict visibility of the event information for software of threads other than the thread which generated the event information when a visibility configuration value for the thread which generated the event information has a predetermined value. This allows multi-threaded event monitoring to be supported, whilst protecting event information from a particular thread for which it is desired to limit its visibility to software of other threads.