Virtualization Layer for Cross-Domain Security Isolation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current security solutions for information systems face challenges in effectively separating and protecting sensitive information across different security levels due to physical hardware limitations and high costs associated with hardware-based red-black architectures, which lack flexibility and are difficult to update.
Innovation Solution
A compartmentalized architecture utilizing a virtualization layer between physical hardware and operating systems to create secure, independent software compartments that control and filter data flows, ensuring only authorized exchanges between domains of varying sensitivity levels, implemented with a security module for encryption, filtering, and access control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If hardware-based red-black architectures are used to separate sensitive information, then security isolation is improved, but device complexity and production cost increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces hardware-based security isolation mechanisms with a software-based virtualization layer. The virtualization layer implements security policies and data flow control through software, eliminating the need for complex hardware separation while maintaining security isolation. This substitution of mechanical/hardware systems with software-based solutions directly addresses the contradiction by reducing device complexity while preserving security reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The virtualization layer serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides security isolation, controls data flows between security domains, manages resource allocation, and enforces security policies. This multi-functionality consolidates what would otherwise require separate hardware components into a single software layer, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining comprehensive security isolation.
2Reliability
If hardware-based red-black architectures are used to separate sensitive information, then security isolation is improved, but production cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces expensive hardware-based security isolation with a software-based virtualization layer that can be deployed on standard hardware platforms. This substitution eliminates the need for costly specialized hardware development, manufacturing, and certification processes, significantly reducing production costs while maintaining security isolation through software-enforced boundaries and policies.
Solution Approach 2:
The virtualization layer creates virtual copies of hardware resources and security boundaries that can be replicated and distributed across multiple physical platforms. This allows the same security isolation mechanisms to be deployed on commodity hardware rather than requiring expensive custom-built hardware systems, reducing manufacturing costs while preserving security properties.
3Reliability
If hardware-based architectures are used for security separation, then security isolation is improved, but adaptability and ease of update decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The virtualization layer is implemented as dynamic software that can be updated, reconfigured, and adapted without changing the underlying hardware architecture. Security policies, data flow rules, and isolation mechanisms can be modified through software updates, providing adaptability and flexibility that hardware-based systems cannot achieve. This dynamic nature allows the system to respond to new security requirements and threats while maintaining isolation guarantees.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the security functionality into a separate virtualization layer that is independent of both the hardware and the applications. This segmentation allows the security layer to be updated and modified independently without affecting hardware or application components, providing adaptability while maintaining security isolation. The modular architecture enables independent development and deployment of security updates.
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention relates to a security apparatus that is positioned between at least one domain having a reliability or sensitivity level A and at least one domain having a reliability or sensitivity level B, given that level A is different from level B, characterized in that the apparatus comprises at least the following elements: a virtualization software layer V that is implemented on the physical layer H and placed between said physical layer H and at least one assembly formed from at least three different compartmentalized blocks BLA, BLB, and MDS having different sensitivity levels, said compartmentalized blocks resting on the physical layer H and the virtualization layer, and said blocks being formed of at least one of the elements in the following list: a network block A, BLA comprising the set of network functions that makes it possible to process data from security level A; a network block B, BLB comprising the set of network functions that makes it possible to process data from security level B; a security module block MDS that is placed between at least one BLA block and at least one BLB block, said security module being suitable for monitoring the data exchanges between said blocks BLA and BLB, said security module comprising all of the security, filtering, or cryptographic function conversions.