Web Service Encryption via Digital Certificate Embedding
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current solutions for secure file transfer over the Internet, such as Secure FTP and SSL/SSH, are costly, require matching encryption infrastructure on both ends, and expose user IDs and passwords, making them vulnerable to unauthorized access and hacks.
Innovation Solution
A pay-per-use web service that uses a Certificate Authority to authenticate partners, generates a secret key, encrypts content, and embeds it within a digital certificate, allowing secure encryption and decryption without requiring matching products on both ends, and incorporates SSL and SOAP for secure communication.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If Secure FTP, SSL, or SSH is used for secure file transfer, then security is improved, but cost increases and compatibility requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a web service as an intermediary that handles all encryption and decryption operations. The sender's application encrypts files using public keys obtained from the web service, and the recipient's application decrypts files using private keys from the web service. This mediator eliminates the need for direct secure channel setup between parties and removes infrastructure compatibility requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the complex encryption infrastructure requirements from the file transfer process itself. By separating key management and cryptographic operations into a dedicated web service, the patent removes the burden of maintaining SSL/TLS certificates, secure channel negotiations, and matching encryption protocols from the endpoints.
2Reliability
If encryption infrastructure is deployed on both sender and receiver ends, then security is improved, but cost and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The web service automatically handles key generation, distribution, and management without requiring manual configuration on client systems. The sender's application simply requests public keys from the web service, and the recipient's application automatically receives private keys through the same service, eliminating the need for manual infrastructure deployment and reducing implementation costs.
Solution Approach 2:
The web service provides multiple functions including key generation, key distribution, file encryption, and file decryption through a single unified interface. This multi-functional approach consolidates what would otherwise require separate infrastructure components at each endpoint into a single centralized service, reducing overall system cost and complexity.
3Ease of operation
If FTP is used for file transfer, then ease of operation is improved, but security deteriorates due to clear text credentials
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical credential verification system of traditional FTP (where usernames and passwords are transmitted in clear text) with a cryptographic key-based authentication system. Instead of relying on network-layer security protocols, the patent uses application-layer encryption where files are encrypted with recipient-specific private keys, making credential transmission unnecessary and eliminating the security vulnerability.
Data Source
AI summary
A method, system, and computer program product for providing security for files transferred across a network, such as the Internet is provided. In one embodiment, a web service receives a request for content from a partner. The web service contacts a certificate authority to authenticate the partner and retrieves the requested content. The web service then generates a secret key and encrypts the content with the secret key to produce encrypted content. The secret key and the encrypted content are then embedded within a digital certificate issued by the certificate authority by using the public key of a public/private key pair issued by the certificate authority. The digital certificate is then transmitted to the partner where the partner decrypts the digital certificate to obtain the secret key and then uses the secret key to decrypt the encrypted content. A similar process may be used for the partner to send content to the web service.