Secure and anonymous storage and accessibility for sensitive data

• US 7,593,548 B2
• Filed: 12/15/2005
• Issued: 09/22/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Dharmarajan, Baskaran, Jacobs, Jay C.
• Primary Examiner(s): AZARIAN, SEYED H
• Application Number:
  US11/300,920
• Publication Number:
  US 20070140489A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,377 Days
• Field of Search: 382/100, 382/103, 382/112, 382/113, 382/114, 382/115, 382/116, 382/135, 382/136, 382/137, 382/138, 382/139, 382/140, 382/155, 382/162, 382181-190, 382/209, 382/232, 382/254, 382/274, 382/276, 382/285, 382/312, 382/318, 382/322, 382/305, 382/243, 705/50, 705/65, 705/44, 380/201
• US Class Current: 382/103
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/42 Anonymization, e.g. involving pseudonyms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0866 involving user or device identifiers, e.g. serial number, physical or biometrical information, DNA, hand-signature or measurable physical characteristics

Abstract

The subject disclosure pertains to secure and anonymous data storage and access. More particularly, encryption methods and mechanisms are provided in conjunction with one or more blobs, identities, and guards to implement one or more layers of indirect encryption. Generation of these components can be accomplished without including or pointing to any personally identifiable information about a user. Accordingly, a user can store sensitive data securely and anonymously on a server or like storage system. Such data can also be roamed, recovered, and synchronized securely from a plurality of computers at least because the data is centrally located.

Claims

1. A secure and anonymous data interaction system comprising the following computer executable components:

a transmission component that provides an anonymous identity and a guard to a server; and

a receiver component that receives a data blob from the server, if the provided identity and guard match an identity and guard associated with the data blob, wherein the guard is based at least in part on a data key that is used to decrypt the data blob.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a key generation component that generates a machine key.

3. The system of claim 2, the machine key is derived from machine and user globally unique identifiers and a user password.

4. The system of claim 2, further comprising a machine decryption component that decrypts a machine blob with the machine key to reveal a data key.

5. The system of claim 4, further comprising a guard generation component that generates the guard based at least in part on the data key.

6. The system of claim 5, the data key is a cryptographically safe random number.

7. The system of claim 5, further comprising an identity generation component that generates the anonymous identity from machine and user globally unique identifiers (GUIDs).

8. The system of claim 7, further comprising a data decryption component that decrypts the data blob with the data key to reveal user data.

9. The system of claim 8, further comprising an application component that automatically completes login/password fields based on the user data.

10. A method comprising:

configuring at least one processor of a server to perform the acts of;

receiving a request for a blob including an identity and guard, wherein the guard is based at least in part on a key that is employed to decrypt the blob;

locating the blob associated with the identity; and

transmitting the blob to a requesting entity if the received guard matches the guard associated with the blob.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising preventing transmission of the blob until and unless it is verified that a human being initiated the request for the blob.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising monitoring the last modified times associated with the blob to enable response to last modified queries.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising removing blobs and related structures if not interacted with for a predetermined time.

14. A method of interacting with data comprising:

configuring at least one processor of at least one client computer to perform the acts of;

transmitting a first identity and guard to a server; and

receiving a first blob if the provided identity and guard match an identity and guard associated with the first blob managed by the server, wherein the guard is based at least in part on a first key used to decrypt the first blob.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising retrieving a first key from a second blob.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

transmitting a second identity and guard to the server;

receiving the second blob if the provided second identity and guard match an identity and guard associated with the second blob managed by the server.

17. The method of claim 15, retrieving a first key comprises generating a second key and decrypting the second blob with the second key thereby revealing the first key.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising applying the first key to the first blob thereby decrypting the blob and revealing user data.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising encrypting the user data with the first key thereby generating the first blob and uploading the first blob to the server.

20. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

generating a premeditated identity and guard from a token;

transmitting the premeditated identity and guard to the server;

receiving a premeditated blob if the premeditated identity and guard match the corresponding elements associated with the premeditated blob housed by the server;

decrypting the premeditated blob with a premeditated key to reveal a first key;

providing the first key to the server to facilitate retrieval of a machine entry housing data required to generate the first identity and guard, and applying the first key to the first blob to decrypt the blob and reveal user data.