Secure storage and accelerated transmission of information over communication networks

• US 8,700,890 B2
• Filed: 05/28/2010
• Issued: 04/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BitSpray Corporation
• Original Assignee: BitSpray Corporation
• Inventors: Martin, Donald E., Watkins, Christopher D., Runkis, Walter H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hoffman, Brandon
• Assistant Examiner(s): Anderson, Michael D
• Application Number:
  US12/790,495
• Publication Number:
  US 20100306524A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,418 Days
• Field of Search: 713/150, 714/38, 380/37, 341/51
• US Class Current: 713/150
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/80 in storage media based on magnetic or optical technology, e.g. disks with sectors preventing unauthorised reproduction or copying of disc-type recordable media G11B20/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/30 Compression, e.g. Merkle-Damgard construction
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/56 Financial cryptography, e.g. electronic payment or e-cash
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0471 applying encryption by an intermediary, e.g. receiving clear information at the intermediary and encrypting the received information at the intermediary before forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/065 Encryption by serially and continuously modifying data stream elements, e.g. stream cipher systems, RC4, SEAL or A5/3
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0894 Escrow, recovery or storing of secret information, e.g. secret key escrow or cryptographic key storage

Abstract

A system and method for securely storing and transmitting digital information includes a computing device connected to at least one of a network device or a storage device or both. The system and method also includes a communication network connected to the at least one of a network device or the at least one of a storage device, or both. The system and method may include the computing device being configured to receive and receiving at least a portion of one or more first bit streams from an input device, being configured to parse and parsing the at least a portion of the one or more bit streams to form one or more first datasets, being configured to compress and compressing the one or more first datasets to form one or more second datasets, being configured to encrypt and cryptographically modifying the one or more second data sets to form one or more third datasets, being configured to assemble and assembling the one or more third datasets to form at least one second bit stream; and being configured to disperse and dispersing the at least one second bit stream into multiple portions in such a manner that any minimum number of the total number of dispersed portions contains a complete second bit stream, and being configured to output and outputting the total number of dispersed portions to one or more of local and remote data storage devices.

Claims

1. A system for securely storing and transmitting digital information including:

a computing device connected to at least one of a network device or a storage device or both; and

a communication network connected to the at least one of a network device or the at least one of a storage device, or both;

wherein the computing device is configured to;

parse at least a portion of one or more bit streams to form a plurality of first datasets;

disperse the plurality of first datasets into multiple data blocks to form t volumes as part of a plurality second bit streams such that in number of volumes contain a complete data set, wherein m<

t; and

output the t volumes either across a plurality of transmission paths or to a plurality of distributed storage locations, such that no complete dataset is stored at a single storage location or travels over a single transmission path.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is configured to disperse the t volumes to at least one of a wired network, a wireless network, a wired network node, or a wireless network node, or any combination thereof.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein a transmission over one or more wired or wireless nodes occurs over at least one of a plurality of fiber optic strands, a plurality of lambdas within at least one fiber optic strand, a plurality of frequencies in at least one wireless access point, a plurality of electric power lines equipped with BPL (Broadband over powerline) transmission equipment, a plurality of frequencies in one or more BPL access points, or any combination thereof.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the formation of the plurality of second bit streams and the plurality of first datasets includes modifying original information in the one or more first bit streams and the plurality of first datasets such that the modified information includes characteristics different than those of the original information such that the integrity of the original information remains uncompromised.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is configured to disperse the t volumes in a pseudorandom manner.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of distributed storage locations includes a plurality of local storage locations, a plurality of remote storage locations, or any combination thereof.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is further configured to select the plurality of distributed data storage locations in a random or pseudorandom manner.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is further configured to select the distributed data storage locations according to at least one of storage space allocation considerations, traffic flow considerations, network congestion considerations, network routing considerations, file characteristics considerations, packet type considerations, communication protocol considerations, network management considerations, or any combination thereof.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein information transmitted and/or stored includes multimedia information.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein information transmitted and/or stored includes either:

(a) instructional programs and materials, distance learning study courses, and educational curricula;

(b) medical records and archives, prescriptions and prescription records, research data, and/or diagnostic images and information;

(c) data for financial transaction processing activities, financial transaction processing records, financial accounts, and financial archives;

(d) data for bidirectional audio and/or visual communications between globally distributed users and devices;

or

(e) data for bidirectional communications, control, and monitoring of remote devices and software;

or any combination of (a), (b), (c), (d), or (e).

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is configured to cryptographically modify the volumes after the formation of the t volumes.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is configured to randomize an assignment of storage locations for the t volumes such that no individual volume of the t volumes is stored at a storage location from where it originates.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is configured to relocate the t volumes amongst a plurality of storage locations at randomly or deterministically determined intervals.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is further configured to compress and/or cryptographically modify the plurality of first data sets before dispersing the plurality of first data sets.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the computing device is further configured to:

overwrite one or more memory locations holding the at least a portion of one or more first bit streams with a random or non-random data pattern after the parsing;

overwrite one or more memory locations holding the plurality of first datasets with a random or non-random data pattern after the compressing and/or

cryptographic modifying.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the computing device is configured to compress the plurality of first data sets using a LZ177, PAQ8PX, and/or LZMA(1) algorithm.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is further configured to assign each of the plurality of first datasets a filename derived by randomly generating alphanumeric strings.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is further configured to cryptographically modify each of the t volumes separately.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the computing device is further configured to assign a different key to each of the cryptographically modified t volumes.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the computing device is configured to cryptographically modify each of the t volumes separately using at least two different encryption algorithms so that at least two of the t volumes are cryptographically modified using different encryption algorithms.

21. The system of claim 1, wherein at least two of the first datasets are dispersed in different volumes.

22. The system of claim 1 wherein the computing device prioritizes the transmission of the volumes by first transmitting to local storage devices before transmitting the volumes to remote storage locations.

23. The system of claim 1 wherein the computing device prioritizes the retrieval of the volumes by first retrieving the volumes that are locally stored before retrieving volumes that are remotely stored.

24. The system of claim 1 wherein the computing device prioritizes the transmission of the volumes by first transmitting to storage devices to which transit times are shorter before transmitting the volumes to storage locations to which transit times are longer.

25. The system of claim 1 wherein the computing device prioritizes the retrieval of the volumes by first retrieving the volumes that are retrieved more quickly before retrieving volumes that are retrieved less quickly.

26. The system of claim 1 wherein the plurality of first datasets are not uniform in size.

27. The system of claim 1 wherein the volumes are not uniform in size.

28. A method for securely storing and transmitting digital information including:

receiving, from an input device, at least a portion of one or more first bit streams;

parsing, with a parsing module of a computing device, the at least a portion of the one or more bit streams to form a plurality of first datasets;

dispersing, using a dispersal module, the plurality of first datasets into multiple data blocks to form “

t”

volumes as part of a plurality of second bit streams such that “

m”

number of volumes contain a complete data set, wherein m<

t; and

outputting, using the dispersal module, the t volumes either across a plurality of transmission paths or to a plurality of distributed storage locations, such that no complete dataset is stored at a single storage location or travels over a single transmission path.

29. The method of claim 28, further including dispersing the t volumes to at least one of a wired network, a wireless network, a wired network node, or a wireless network node, or any combination thereof.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein the forming the plurality of second bit streams and the plurality of first datasets includes modifying original information in the plurality of first bit streams and the plurality of first datasets such that the modified information includes characteristics different than those of the original information such that an integrity of the original information remains uncompromised.

31. The method of claim 28, wherein the dispersing of the t volumes occurs in a pseudorandom manner.

32. The method of claim 28, wherein the plurality of distributed storage locations includes a plurality of local storage locations, a plurality of remote storage locations, or any combination thereof.

33. The method of claim 28, further including selecting, using a selection module, the distributed data storage locations according to at least one of storage space allocation considerations, traffic flow considerations, network congestion considerations, network routing considerations, file characteristics considerations, packet type considerations, communication protocol considerations, network management considerations, or any combination thereof.

34. The method of claim 28, further comprising:

compressing, with a compressing module of the computing device, the plurality of first datasets before dispersing the plurality of first data sets; and

/or

cryptographically modifying, with an encryption module of the computing device, the plurality of first datasets before dispersing the plurality of first data sets.

35. The method of claim 34 whereby the compressing, cryptographically modifying, outputting, and dispersing routines are accomplished by a single routine or module.

36. The method of claim 34 further including:

overwriting one or more memory locations holding the at least a portion of one or more first bit streams with a random or non-random data pattern, after the parsing;

overwriting one or more memory locations holding the plurality of first datasets with a random or on-random data pattern after the compressing and/or the cryptographic modifying.

37. The method of claim 34, wherein the cryptographic modifying occurs after the disassembling of the plurality of first datasets into multiple data blocks to form “

t”

volumes.

38. The method of claim 34, wherein the compressing comprises using a LZ77, PAQ8PX, and/or LZMA(1) algorithm.

39. The method of claim 28, wherein forming each of the plurality of first datasets comprises assigning a filename derived by randomly generating alphanumeric strings to each of the plurality of first datasets.

40. The method of claim 28, further comprising:

cryptographically modifying, with an encryption module of the computing device, each of the t volumes separately.

41. The method of claim 40, further comprising:

assigning, with the encryption module of the computing device, a different key to each of the cryptographically modified t volumes.

42. The method of claim 40, wherein cryptographically modifying each of the t volumes separately comprises using at least two different encryption algorithms so that at least two of the t volumes are cryptographically modified using different encryption algorithms.

43. The method of claim 28, wherein at least two of the first datasets are dispersed in different volumes.

44. The method of claim 28 wherein the dispersal module prioritizes the transmission of the volumes by first transmitting to local storage devices before transmitting the volumes to remote storage locations.

45. The method of claim 28 further comprising retrieving the volumes that are locally stored before retrieving volumes that are remotely stored.

46. The method of claim 28 wherein the dispersal module prioritizes the transmission of the volumes by first transmitting to storage devices to which transit times are shorter before transmitting the volumes to storage locations to which transit times are longer.

47. The method of claim 28 further comprising retrieving the volumes that are retrieved more quickly before retrieving volumes that are retrieved less quickly.

48. The method of claim 28 wherein the plurality of first datasets are not uniform in size.

49. The method of claim 28 wherein the volumes are not uniform in size.