Policy-based key recovery
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- obtaining a key recovery policy for a protected key, the key recovery policy specifying a set of possible combinations of multiple leaf agents that can assist in recovering the protected key;
generating, based on the key recovery policy, multiple key shares of the protected key;
associating ones of the multiple key shares with ones of the multiple leaf agents based at least in part on the key recovery policy;
encrypting each of the multiple shares of the key with a public key of a public/private key pair of the leaf agent with which the key share is associated; and
sending the encrypted key shares to a service for storage.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A device establishes a key recovery policy and generates a key that is protected based on the key recovery policy. The key recovery policy indicates which combinations of other entities can recover the protected key. The device generates different shares of the protected key, each share being a value that, in combination with the other share(s), allows the protected key to be recovered. Each share is associated with a particular leaf agent, the device encrypts each share with the public key of the leaf agent associated with the share and provides the encrypted share to a service. When recovery of the protected key is desired, a recovering authority can generate the protected key only if the recovering authority receives decrypted shares from a sufficient one or combination of leaf agents as indicated by the recovery policy.
-
Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A method comprising:
-
obtaining a key recovery policy for a protected key, the key recovery policy specifying a set of possible combinations of multiple leaf agents that can assist in recovering the protected key; generating, based on the key recovery policy, multiple key shares of the protected key; associating ones of the multiple key shares with ones of the multiple leaf agents based at least in part on the key recovery policy; encrypting each of the multiple shares of the key with a public key of a public/private key pair of the leaf agent with which the key share is associated; and sending the encrypted key shares to a service for storage. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
-
-
10. A method comprising:
-
obtaining a key recovery policy for a protected key, the key recovery policy specifying a set of possible combinations of multiple leaf agents that can assist in recovering the protected key; attempting to obtain decrypted key shares from leaf agents in one or more of the set of possible combinations of leaf agents; and in response to obtaining decrypted key shares from leaf agents in one or more of the set of possible combinations of leaf agents, using the decrypted key shares to recover the protected key. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
-
-
15. A device comprising:
-
a processor; and a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon multiple instructions that, responsive to execution by the processor, cause the processor to; obtain a key recovery policy for a protected key of the device, the key recovery policy specifying a set of combinations of multiple leaf agents that can assist in recovering the protected key; generate, based on the key recovery policy, multiple key shares of the protected key; associate ones of the multiple key shares with ones of the multiple leaf agents based at least in part on the key recovery policy; encrypt each of the multiple shares of the key with a public key of a public/private key pair of the leaf agent with which the key share is associated; and send the encrypted key shares to a service for storage. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
Specification