Verification Code Routing for Distributed Data Center Security
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing security measures fail to effectively mitigate parallel attacks on multiple data centers, allowing malicious users to exceed verification attempt thresholds due to delayed updates in verification attempt counters, leading to potential unauthorized access.
Innovation Solution
Encoding the data store identification within the verification code ensures that submitted codes are routed to the correct data store for verification, synchronizing the verification attempt counter enforcement, thereby preventing parallel attacks across multiple data centers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If verification codes are stored across multiple data centers for resiliency, then service availability is improved, but security against parallel attacks deteriorates due to delayed counter updates
Solution Approach 1:
The verification code is segmented to include an encoded data store identifier, allowing each data center to independently verify codes without requiring real-time coordination. This segmentation enables local verification while maintaining distributed storage for resiliency.
Solution Approach 2:
The data store identifier is pre-encoded into the verification code before it is sent to the user. When verification is needed, the code already contains the routing information, eliminating the need for real-time coordination between data centers and preventing parallel attack exploitation.
2Measurement precision
If verification attempt counters are updated in real-time across distributed data centers, then attack detection accuracy is improved, but system complexity and latency increase
Solution Approach 1:
The data store identifier is extracted and embedded directly into the verification code itself. This eliminates the need for separate counter synchronization mechanisms across data centers, as each code inherently contains its own routing information for accurate attempt tracking.
Solution Approach 2:
The verification code is self-contained with encoded routing information, allowing it to automatically route to the correct data store without external coordination. This self-service mechanism simplifies the system by eliminating complex inter-data center communication protocols.
3Stability of the object's composition
If replication techniques are used to maintain verification codes across data centers, then data consistency is improved, but processing overhead and client latency increase
Solution Approach 1:
The data store identifier is pre-encoded into the verification code during code generation. This preliminary action ensures that when the code is verified, it can be immediately routed to the correct data center without requiring real-time replication or consistency checks, thereby eliminating client latency.
Solution Approach 2:
Each verification code is tailored with specific routing information for its intended data store. This local quality approach allows each data center to independently handle its portion of verification codes without requiring global coordination, reducing processing overhead and latency.
Data Source
AI summary
One or more computing devices, systems, and/or methods for verifying a user of a service are provided. That is, the service (e.g., a social network, an email service, a website, etc.) may attempt to verify that a user is an owner of an account with the service by sending a verification code to a device registered by the user with the service, such as through a text message. Because the service may be hosted across multiple data centers for resiliency against failure, the verification code and a verification attempt counter may be stored within a particular data store. An identification of the data store may be encoded into the verification code. In this way, the verification code may be sent to the device, such that when the user submits the verification code back to the service, the verification code is routed to the correct data store for verification.