Focused sanitization process for deduplicated storage systems
View Patent ↗Described is a deduplicated storage system that may perform a focused sanitization process by reducing the number of data storage containers that must be sanitized. The system leverages additional characteristics of the files that need to be sanitized such as an initial storage date (e.g. data breach date) of when a sensitive file (e.g. file to be sanitization) was actually stored on the deduplicated storage system. By maintaining a creation date of data containers, the system may limit sanitization to those containers having a creation date on or after the initial storage date of the sensitive file. Accordingly, the system is capable of performing a more focused overwriting of data thereby improving the overall efficiency of the sanitization process.
1. A computer-implemented method for sanitizing data stored in a storage system, comprising:
receiving an indication to sanitize a file from a deduplicated storage system, wherein the deduplicated storage system stores files as data segments across one or more storage containers;
deleting the file from the deduplicated storage system, wherein deleting the file from the deduplicated storage system includes unreferencing the data segments of the deleted file, wherein the unreferenced data segments are interpreted as dead segments by the storage system;
determining an initial storage date of the file, wherein the initial storage date is based on one or more attributes associated with the file;
determining a set of candidate storage containers having at least one dead segment and a creation date on or after the determined initial storage date of the file;
copying live segments of the candidate storage containers to a new set of corresponding storage containers, wherein an enumerated file index determines which segments stored in the deduplicated storage system are the live segments; and
sanitizing the candidate storage containers by overwriting physical data blocks of the live and dead segments of the candidate storage containers.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the initial storage date of the file includes:
receiving, by the deduplicated storage system, the one or more attributes associated with file;
accessing a file history of files stored to the deduplicated storage system, wherein the file history stores one or more attributes associated with each file and an initial storage date indicating a date each file was first stored to the deduplicated storage system; and
determining the initial storage date of the file based on the received one or more attributes.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the received one or more attributes includes at least a filename of the file to be sanitized.
4. The method of claim 2 , wherein determining the initial storage date of the file further includes:
providing, via a user interface to be displayed on a client device, an option to provide an input for the one or more attributes associated with the file.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
updating a bit vector to indicate the live segments, wherein each segment of the file index corresponds to a unique bit position within the bit vector.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein copying live segments of the candidate storage containers to the new set of corresponding storage containers includes:
determining a set of segments stored in each of the candidate containers;
referencing the bit vector to determine which of the set of segments are indicated as live segments; and
copying only the live segments of the candidate storage containers to the new set of corresponding storage containers.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the storage containers of the deduplicated storage system are immutable and part of a log-structured file system.
8. A system, comprising:
a memory storing instructions; and
a processor coupled to the memory to execute the instructions from the memory, the processor performing operations, comprising:
receiving an indication to sanitize a file from a deduplicated storage system, wherein the deduplicated storage system stores files as data segments across one or more storage containers;
determining an initial storage date of the file, wherein the initial storage date is based on one or more attributes associated with the file;
determining a set of candidate storage containers having at least one dead segment and a creation date on or after the determined initial storage date of the file;
copying live segments of the candidate storage containers to a new set of corresponding storage containers, wherein an enumerated file index determines which segments stored in the deduplicated storage system are the live segments; and
sanitizing the candidate storage containers by overwriting physical data blocks of the live and dead segments of the candidate storage containers.
9. The system of claim 8 , the operations further comprising:
deleting the file from the deduplicated storage system, wherein deleting the file from the deduplicated storage system includes unreferencing the data segments of the file, wherein the unreferenced data segments are interpreted as dead segments by the storage system.
10. The system of claim 9 , wherein determining the initial storage date of the file includes:
receiving, by the deduplicated storage system, the one or more attributes associated with file;
accessing a file history of files stored to the deduplicated storage system, wherein the file history stores one or more attributes associated with each file and an initial storage date indicating a date each file was first stored to the deduplicated storage system; and
determining the initial storage date of the file based on the received one or more attributes.
11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the received one or more attributes includes at least a filename of the file.
12. The system of claim 10 , wherein determining the initial storage date of the file further includes:
providing, via a user interface to be displayed on a client device, an option to provide an input for the one or more attributes associated with the file to be sanitized.
13. The system of claim 9 , further comprising:
updating a bit vector to indicate the live segments, wherein each segment of the file index corresponds to a unique bit position within the bit vector.
14. The system of claim 13 , wherein copying live segments of the candidate storage containers to the new set of corresponding storage containers includes:
determining a set of segments stored in each of the candidate containers;
referencing the bit vector to determine which of the set of segments are indicated as live segments; and
copying only the live segments of the candidate storage containers to the new set of corresponding storage containers.
15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations, comprising:
deleting a file from a deduplicated storage system, the deduplicated storage system stores files as data segments across one or more storage containers, wherein deleting the file from the deduplicated storage system includes unreferencing the data segments of the file, wherein the unreferenced data segments are interpreted as dead segments by the storage system;
receiving an indication to sanitize the file from a deduplicated storage system;
determining an initial storage date of the file, wherein the initial storage date is based on one or more attributes associated with the file;
determining a set of candidate storage containers having at least one dead segment and a creation date on or after the determined initial storage date of the file;
copying live segments of the candidate storage containers to a new set of corresponding storage containers, wherein an enumerated file index determines which segments stored in the deduplicated storage system are the live segments; and
sanitizing the candidate storage containers by overwriting physical data blocks of the live and dead segments of the candidate storage containers.
16. The medium of claim 15 , wherein determining the initial storage date of the file includes:
receiving, by the deduplicated storage system, the one or more attributes associated with file;
accessing a file history of files stored to the deduplicated storage system, wherein the file history stores one or more attributes associated with each file and an initial storage date indicating a date each file was first stored to the deduplicated storage system; and
determining the initial storage date of the file based on the received one or more attributes.
17. The medium of claim 16 , wherein the received one or more attributes includes at least a filename of the file.
18. The medium of claim 16 , wherein determining the initial storage date of the file further includes:
providing, via a user interface to be displayed on a client device, an option to provide an input for the one or more attributes associated with the file to be sanitized.
19. The medium of claim 15 , further comprising:
updating a bit vector to indicate the live segments, wherein each segment of the file index corresponds to a unique bit position within the bit vector.
20. The medium of claim 19 , wherein copying live segments of the candidate storage containers to the new set of corresponding storage containers includes:
determining a set of segments stored in each of the candidate containers;
referencing the bit vector to determine which of the set of segments are indicated as live segments; and
copying only the live segments of the candidate storage containers to the new set of corresponding storage containers.