Certificate information verification system
View Patent ↗The invention discloses a system and apparatus for detecting problematic certificate action requests and digital certificates. Ideally, the invention will be used to detect a certificate request that will result in security problems and detect issued certificates that lack essential information. The invention uses a proxy system that intercepts certificate requests and transmitted certificates. The proxy system runs a series of checks on the intercepted request and/or certificate. The checks vary depending on the certificate contents, requester, and system providing the request or certificate.
1. A method for checking a certificate request to verify a certificate's contents comprising:
receiving a request for a certificate action transmitted to a certificate services system;
choosing a verification package to determine if there are problems with the certificate's contents;
actively performing at least one check on the certificate to determine whether the certificate is problematic, including verifying whether the certificate contents comply with requirements in the verification package;
in response to the results of actively performing at least one check on the certificate, taking an action, including acting as a firewall to ensure the request or certificate is operated in accordance with the verification package, denying the request because of problematic certificate information, and/or notifying stakeholders responsible for evaluating certificate problems;
creating a notification of the result of the content check that is separate from the requested certificate action; and
storing the results of the verification in an auditing system that stores the results and provides notification of the verification status to a third-party requester.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the certificate action requested, before actively performing at least one check and taking an action, is to generate a new certificate.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein choosing the verification package is based on information provided by a requester in the certificate request, and the at least one check is selected from the verification package.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising passing the verification package to a verification controller to perform the at least one check on the request.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the action to be taken in response to the verification results of the at least one check is determined based on one or more authorization decision points.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein if the verification is successful, the one or more authorization decision points permit the request to proceed to the certificate services system where the request is fulfilled.
7. The method of claim 5 , wherein if the verification fails, the one or more authorization decision points determine the appropriate action to take based on the risk associated with the failed check.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising notifying a system administrator of a failed certificate verification.
9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing notification of actions taken during the checking on the certificate's contents.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein performing at least one check comprises checking a certificate key size for the requested certificate.
11. A system for checking a certificate request to verify a certificate's contents comprising:
a proxy system configured to receive a request for a certificate action transmitted to a certificate services system and further configured to choose a verification package to determine if there are problems with a certificate's contents;
a workflow engine configured to actively perform at least one check on the certificate to determine whether the certificate is problematic, including verifying whether the certificate contents comply with requirements in the verification package;
a server configured to, in response to the results of the at least one check performed by the workflow engine, take an action, including acting as a firewall to ensure the request or certificate is operated in accordance with the verification package, denying the request because of problematic certificate information, and/or notifying stakeholders responsible for evaluating certificate problems;
a computer notification system configured to create a notification of the result of the content check that is separate from the requested certificate action; and
a computer storage system configured to store the results of the verification and provide notification of the verification status to a third-party requester.
12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the certificate action requested, before initiating the workflow engine and server, is to generate a new certificate.
13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the verification package is chosen based on information provided by the requester in the certificate request, and the at least one check is selected from the verification package.
14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the workflow engine is further configured to pass the verification package to a verification controller in the proxy system to perform the at least one check on the request.
15. The system of claim 11 , wherein one or more authorization decision points located on the proxy system determine the action to be taken in response to the verification results of the at least one check.
16. The system of claim 11 , wherein if the verification is successful, the one or more authorization decision points permit the request to proceed to the certificate services system where the request is fulfilled.
17. The system of claim 11 , wherein if the verification fails, the one or more authorization decision points determine the appropriate action to take based on the risk associated with the failed check.
18. The system of claim 11 , further configured to notify a system administrator of a failed certificate verification.
19. The system of claim 11 , further comprising an auditing system configured to provide notification of actions taken during the checking on the certificate's contents.
20. The system of claim 11 , where performing at least one check comprises checking a certificate key size for the requested certificate.