Trust Map Visualization for SSH Key Management
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Managing complex trust relationships between computer systems using Secure Shell (SSH) protocols is challenging due to the complexity of key management and security policies across multiple systems, which can lead to compliance issues and increased administrative burdens.
Innovation Solution
A system with a user interface that visualizes and manages trust relationships using icons, markers, and shading to represent entities and their relationships, allowing for easier identification and management of trust maps, key sets, and policy compliance, enabling centralized key management and discovery.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional methods are used to manage SSH trust relationships across multiple systems, then security authentication can be maintained, but administrative complexity and difficulty of management increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a centralized key management server as an intermediary that manages SSH trust relationships. This server stores public keys, generates key pairs, and handles trust relationship establishment between client systems and target systems, eliminating the need for administrators to manually manage keys across multiple systems while maintaining security authentication.
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides feedback mechanisms where the key management server communicates trust relationship status, key validity, and security policies to client systems. This automated feedback reduces administrative overhead by providing real-time information about trust relationships without requiring manual verification.
2Reliability
If manual key management is performed across multiple SSH systems, then trust relationships can be established, but time consumption and administrative burden increase
Solution Approach 1:
The key management server performs preliminary actions by pre-generating key pairs and pre-establishing trust relationships before actual SSH connections are needed. Public keys are stored in advance on the server, and trust relationships are configured beforehand, eliminating the need for time-consuming manual key exchange and verification during actual connections.
Solution Approach 2:
Client systems automatically retrieve keys and trust relationship information from the key management server without requiring administrator intervention. The system enables self-service authentication where clients can independently establish secure connections by obtaining credentials from the centralized server.
3Reliability
If comprehensive key management is implemented across multiple systems, then security policy compliance can be ensured, but system complexity and management difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The key management server provides universal functionality by serving multiple systems with a single centralized platform. It handles key generation, storage, distribution, and revocation across all client and target systems, replacing multiple separate key management processes with one multi-functional system that simplifies operations while ensuring consistent policy compliance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges分散 key management operations across multiple systems into a single centralized key management server. By combining key generation, storage, distribution, and trust relationship management into one system, it reduces operational complexity while maintaining comprehensive security policy enforcement across all SSH connections.
Data Source
AI summary
In an example embodiment, a user interface is presented for interacting with a trust map identifying trust relationships between clients/users and servers/hosts. The trust relationships are defined by public/private key pairs in Secure Shell (SSH), Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP), Transport Layer Security/Secure Sockets Layer (TLS/SSL), Secure Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME), Internet Protocol Security (IPsec), and so forth. A selected entity such as a server, client, client/server, key set, policy, and so forth is selected and displayed at the center of a hub/spoke diagram. Non-selected entities having a trust relationship with the hub entity are displayed as spokes. Similar spoke entitles may be grouped together. Trust relationships and related properties are displayed as lines between the hub and spoke entities. A user performs actions on the entities by manipulation of the hub, spoke, trust relationship and related user interface elements.