System and method for protecting data in a secure system
View Patent ↗A system for protecting data in a security system generates and encodes a backup key for encoding long-lived secrets. The system generates a distribution plan for distributing cryptographic splits of the encoded backup key to selected persons based on geographic and organizational diversity. The distribution plan specifies a number M of the cryptographic splits to be generated and a number N of the cryptographic splits required to recover the backup key. The system processes utilize an init file comprising system parameters and state files each comprising parameters reflecting a state of the secure system after a transaction. Any of the state files may be used for any of the system processes. The state files and the init file are encoded by the backup key, thus protecting the long-lived secrets.
1. A processor-implemented method of protecting data in a secure system, comprising:
generating a backup key;
encrypting a plurality of long-lived secrets by the backup key;
generating an initialization file using an initialization module
utilizing the initialization file to store the encrypted plurality of long-lived secrets that are not changed recurrently;
encoding the initialization file by the backup key;
saving the encoded initialization file;
restoring the saved encoded initialization file to recover the backup key;
generating an initial state file using the initialization module;
utilizing the initial state file to record state variables that change with the transaction;
encoding the initial state file by the recovered backup key;
encrypting the encoded initialization file and the encoded initial state file with a new backup key;
loading the encrypted initialization file and a selected rollback state file;
utilizing a current state file;
saving the current state file;
restoring the encoded initial state file;
loading the restored initial state file and the selected rollback state file;
generating a distribution plan for distributing a plurality of cryptographic splits of the backup key to a plurality of clients, including:
providing geographic and organizational diversity for distribution of the cryptographic splits; and
specifying a first predetermined number, M, of the cryptographic splits to be generated and a second predetermined number, N, of the cryptographic splits required to recover the backup key;
generating the number, M, of cryptographic splits;
distributing the number, M, of cryptographic splits according to the distribution plan; and
utilizing the backup key to protect the encrypted plurality of long-lived secrets during a plurality of system processes.