Systems and methods for securing data using multi-factor or keyed dispersal

• US 8,473,756 B2
• Filed: 01/07/2009
• Issued: 06/25/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/07/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Security First Innovations, LLC
• Original Assignee: Security First Corp
• Inventors: Orsini, Rick L., O'Hare, Mark S., Bellare, Mihir, Rogaway, Phillip
• Primary Examiner(s): Zand, Kambiz
• Assistant Examiner(s): Getachew, Abiy
• Application Number:
  US12/349,897
• Publication Number:
  US 20090177894A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,630 Days
• Field of Search: 713/193, 380/30, 380/44, 380/255
• US Class Current: 713/193
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6209 to a single file or object, e.g. in a secure envelope, encrypted and accessed using a key, or with access control rules appended to the object itself
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/56 Financial cryptography, e.g. electronic payment or e-cash
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/80 Wireless network architectures or network communication protocols for wireless network security H04W12/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/062 for key distribution, e.g. centrally by trusted party cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key distribution involving a central third party H04L9/0819
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/065 for group communications cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key management involving conference or group key H04L9/0833
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0822 using key encryption key
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/085 Secret sharing or secret splitting, e.g. threshold schemes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/321 involving a third party or a trusted authority
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3226 using a predetermined code, e.g. password, passphrase or PIN network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using passwords in a packet data network H04L63/083
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3263 involving certificates, e.g. public key certificate [PKC] or attribute certificate [AC]; Public key infrastructure [PKI] arrangements network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using certificates in a packet data network H04L63/0823

Abstract

A secure data parser is provided that may be integrated into any suitable system for securely storing and communicating data. The secure data parser parses data and then splits the data into multiple portions that are stored or communicated distinctly. Encryption of the original data, the portions of data, or both may be employed for additional security. The secure data parser may be used to protect data in motion by splitting original data into portions of data, that may be communicated using multiple communications paths. A keyed information dispersal algorithm (keyed IDA) may also be used. The key for the keyed IDA may additionally be protected by an external workgroup key, resulting in a multi-factor secret sharing scheme.

Claims

1. A method for securing a data set, the method comprising:

generating, by a computer system, a session key;

encrypting, by the computer system, the data set using the session key to produce an encrypted data set;

encrypting, by the computer system, the session key with a shared workgroup key;

distributing, by the computer system, unique portions of the encrypted session key into three or more session key shares;

distributing, by the computer system, unique portions of the encrypted data set into three or more encrypted data set shares;

forming, by the computer system, three or more user shares by combining each of at least three session key shares and a respective one of at least three encrypted data set shares by interleaving each of the at least three session key shares into the respective one of the at least three encrypted data set shares, thereby causing each of the at least three session key shares to be distributed into a different one of the at least three encrypted data set shares; and

causing, by the computer system, the storage of the three or more user shares separately on at least one data depository, whereby the shared workgroup key and at least two of the three or more user shares are needed to restore the data.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of distributing unique portions of the session key and distributing unique portions of the encrypted data set is performed using robust computational secret sharing (RCSS).

3. The method of claim 1 wherein forming three or more user shares by combining each of at least three session key shares and a respective one of at least three encrypted data set shares comprises inserting each of the at least one session key share into the respective one of the at least three encrypted data set shares at a location based at least in part on the shared workgroup key.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein causing the storage of the three or more user shares separately on at least one data depository comprises causing the storage of the three or more user shares on different locations of the same data depository.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein causing the storage of the three or more user shares separately on at least one data depository comprises causing the storage of the three or more user shares on different data depositories.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein causing the storage of the three or more user shares separately on at least one data depository comprises causing the storage of the three or more user shares on different data depositories in different geographic locations.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein distributing unique portions of the encrypted data set into three or more encrypted data set shares comprises:

generating, based at least in part on the session key, random or pseudo-random numbers;

associating the random or pseudo-random numbers with the three or more encrypted data set shares;

associating the random or pseudo-random numbers with units of data from the encrypted data set; and

determining into which of the three or more encrypted data set shares to distribute each unit of data based at least in part on the association of the random or pseudo-random numbers with the three or more user shares and with the units of data.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the units of data comprise bytes of data from the data set.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the units of data comprise bits of data from the data set.

10. An apparatus for securing a data set, the apparatus comprising:

at least one data depository; and

a computer system configured to;

generate a session key;

encrypt the data set using the session key to produce an encrypted data set;

encrypt the session key using a shared workgroup key;

distribute unique portions of the encrypted session key into three or more session key shares;

distribute unique portions of the encrypted data set into three or more encrypted data set shares;

form three or more user shares by combining each of at least three session key shares and a respective one of at least three encrypted data set share by interleaving each of the at least three session key shares into the respective one of the at least three encrypted data set shares, thereby causing each of the at least three session key shares to be distributed into a different one of the at least three encrypted data set shares; and

store the three or more user shares separately on the at least one data depository, whereby the shared workgroup key and at least two of the three or more user shares are needed to restore the data set.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the computer system is configured to use robust computational secret sharing (RCSS) to distribute at least one of the unique portions of the session key and the unique portions of the encrypted data set.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the computer system is further configured to form three or more user shares by inserting each of the at least one session key share into the respective one of the at least three encrypted data set shares at a location based at least in part on the shared workgroup key.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the computer system is configured to store the three or more user shares separately on different locations of the same data depository.

14. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the computer system is configured to store the three or more user shares separately on different data depositories.

15. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the computer system is configured to store the three or more user shares separately on different data depositories in different geographic locations.

16. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the computer system is configured to distribute unique portions of the encrypted data set into two or more encrypted data set shares by:

generating, based at least in part on the session key, random or pseudo-random numbers;

associating the random or pseudo-random numbers with the three or more encrypted data set shares;

associating the random or pseudo-random numbers with units of data from the encrypted data set; and

determining into which of the two or more encrypted data set shares to distribute each unit of data based at least in part on the association of the random or pseudo-random numbers with the three or more user shares and with the units of data.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the units of data comprise bytes of data from the data set.

18. A machine-readable non-transitory medium comprising machine program logic recorded thereon which, when executed by a processor, cause a computing system to carry out the steps of:

generating a session key;

encrypting the data set using the session key to produce an encrypted data set;

encrypting the session key with a shared workgroup key;

distributing unique portions of the encrypted session key into three or more session key shares;

distributing unique portions of the encrypted data set into three or more encrypted data set shares;

forming three or more user shares by combining each of at least three session key shares and a respective one of at least three encrypted data set shares by interleaving each of the at least three session key shares into the respective one of the at least three encrypted data set shares, thereby causing each of the at least three session key shares to be distributed into a different one of the at least three encrypted data set shares; and

causing the storage of the three or more user shares separately on at least one data depository, whereby the shared workgroup key and at least two of the three or more user shares are needed to restore the data set.

19. A method for securing a data set, the method comprising:

generating, by a computer system, a session key;

encrypting, by the computer system, the data set using the session key to produce an encrypted data set;

encrypting, by the computer system, the session key with a shared workgroup key;

distributing, by the computer system, unique portions of the encrypted session key into two or more session key shares;

distributing, by the computer system, unique portions of the encrypted data set into two or more encrypted data set shares;

forming, by the computer system, two or more user shares by combining each of at least two session key shares and a respective one of at least two encrypted data set shares by interleaving each of the at least two session key shares into the respective one of the at least two encrypted data set shares, thereby causing each of the at least two session key shares to be distributed into a different one of the at least two encrypted data set shares; and

causing, by the computer system, the storage of the two or more user shares separately on at least one data depository, whereby the data set is restorable from the shared workgroup key and a minimum number of the two or more user shares.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the shared workgroup key is stored separately from the two or more user shares.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising causing the storage of the shared workgroup key on the same data depository on which at least one of the two or more user shares is stored, wherein the shared workgroup key is stored at a different location from the location at which the at least one of the two or more user shares is stored.

22. The method of claim 20, further comprising causing the storage of the shared workgroup key on a different data depository from the at least one data depository on which the two or more user shares are stored.

23. The method of claim 20 wherein the shared workgroup key is stored in a hardware-based key.

24. The method of claim 19 wherein at least one of distributing unique portions of the session key and distributing unique portions of the encrypted data set is performed using robust computational secret sharing (RCSS).

25. The method of claim 19 wherein forming two or more user shares by combining each of at least two session key shares and a respective one of at least two encrypted data set shares comprises inserting each of the at least one session key share into the respective one of the at least two encrypted data set shares at a location based at least in part on the shared workgroup key.

26. The method of claim 19 wherein causing the storage of the two or more user shares separately on at least one data depository comprises causing the storage of the two or more user shares on different locations of the same data depository.

27. The method of claim 19 wherein causing the storage of the two or more user shares separately on at least one data depository comprises causing the storage of the two or more user shares on different data depositories.

28. The method of claim 19 wherein causing the storage of the two or more user shares separately on at least one data depository comprises causing the storage of the two or more user shares on different data depositories in different geographic locations.

29. The method of claim 19 wherein distributing unique portions of the encrypted data set into two or more encrypted data set shares comprises:

generating, based at least in part on the session key, random or pseudo-random numbers;

associating the random or pseudo-random numbers with the two or more encrypted data set shares;

associating the random or pseudo-random numbers with units of data from the encrypted data set; and

determining into which of the two or more encrypted data set shares to distribute each unit of data based at least in part on the association of the random or pseudo-random numbers with the two or more user shares and with the units of data.

30. The method of claim 29 wherein the units of data comprise bytes of data from the data set.

31. The method of claim 29 wherein the units of data comprise bits of data from the data set.

32. An apparatus for securing a data set, the apparatus comprising:

at least one data depository; and

a computer system configured to;

generate a session key;

encrypt the data set using the session key to produce an encrypted data set;

encrypt the session key using a shared workgroup key;

distribute unique portions of the encrypted session key into two or more session key shares;

distribute unique portions of the encrypted data set into two or more encrypted data set shares;

form two or more user shares by combining each of at least two session key shares and a respective one of at least two encrypted data set shares by interleaving each of the at least two session key shares into the respective one of the at least two encrypted data set shares, thereby causing each of the at least two session key shares to be distributed into a different one of the at least two encrypted data set shares; and

store the two or more user shares separately on at least one data depository, the data set is restorable from the shared workgroup key and a minimum number of the two or more user shares.

33. The apparatus of claim 32 wherein the shared workgroup key is stored separately from the two or more user shares.

34. The apparatus of claim 33 wherein the computer system is configured to store the shared workgroup key on the same data depository on which at least one of the two or more user shares is stored and at a different location from the location at which the at least one of the two or more user shares is stored.

35. The apparatus of claim 33 wherein the computer system is configured to store the shared workgroup key on a different data depository from the at least one data depository on which the two or more user shares are stored.

36. The apparatus of claim 33 wherein the shared workgroup key is stored in a hardware-based key.

37. The apparatus of claim 32 wherein the computer system is configured to use robust computational secret sharing (RCSS) to distribute at least one of the unique portions of the session key and the unique portions of the encrypted data set.

38. The apparatus of claim 32 wherein the computer system is configured to form two or more user shares by inserting each of the at least one session key share into the respective one of the at least two encrypted data set shares at a location based at least in part on the shared workgroup key.

39. The apparatus of claim 32 wherein the computer system is configured to store the two or more user shares separately on different locations of the same data depository.

40. The apparatus of claim 32 wherein the computer system is configured to store the two or more user shares separately on different data depositories.

41. The apparatus of claim 32 wherein the computer system is configured to store the two or more user shares separately on different data depositories in different geographic locations.

42. The apparatus of claim 32 wherein the computer system is configured to distribute unique portions of the encrypted data set into two or more encrypted data set shares by:

generating, based at least in part on the session key, random or pseudo-random numbers;

associating the random or pseudo-random numbers with the two or more encrypted data set shares;

associating the random or pseudo-random numbers with units of data from the encrypted data set; and

determining into which of the two or more encrypted data set shares to distribute each unit of data based at least in part on the association of the random or pseudo-random numbers with the two or more user shares and with the units of data.

43. The apparatus of claim 42 wherein the units of data comprise bytes of data from the data set.

44. A machine-readable non-transitory medium comprising machine program logic recorded thereon which, when executed by a processor, cause a computing system to carry out the steps of:

generating a session key;

encrypting the data set using the session key to produce an encrypted data set;

encrypting the session key with a shared workgroup key;

distributing unique portions of the encrypted session key into two or more session key shares;

distributing unique portions of the encrypted data set into two or more encrypted data set shares;

forming two or more user shares by combining each of at least two session key shares and a respective one of at least two encrypted data set shares by interleaving each of the at least two session key shares into the respective one of the at least two encrypted data set shares, thereby causing each of the at least two session key shares to be distributed into a different one of the at least two encrypted data set shares; and

causing the storage of the two or more user shares separately on at least one data depository, whereby the data set is restorable from the shared workgroup key and a minimum number of the two or more user shares.