Secure format-preserving encryption of data fields

• US 9,858,436 B2
• Filed: 09/03/2015
• Issued: 01/02/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/2015
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Arnold, Todd W., Dayka, John C., Hart, Steven R., Jackson, Geoffrey G., Powers, Eysha S., Sweeny, James W.
• Primary Examiner(s): SHAW, PETER C
• Application Number:
  US14/844,048
• Publication Number:
  US 20160224802A1
• Time in Patent Office: 852 Days
• Field of Search: 713189
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6227 where protection concerns the structure of data, e.g. records, types, queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes

Abstract

In one embodiment, a computer-implemented method includes extracting first key derivation data from a first row of data to be stored in a database, where the database includes two or more rows of data. A first encryption subkey is generated, by a computer processor, by combining the first key derivation data with a static key. One or more sensitive fields in each row of the two or more rows of the database are encrypted using a unique corresponding encryption subkey for the row, and the first encryption subkey is unique to the first row among the two or more rows of the database. The one or more sensitive fields in the first row of data are encrypted with format-preserving encryption using the first encryption subkey. The first row of data, including the encrypted one or more sensitive fields, are stored in the database.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

extracting first key derivation data from one or more fields in a first row of data to be stored in a database, wherein the database comprises two or more rows of data;

generating, by a computer processor, a first encryption subkey by combining the first key derivation data with a static key;

encrypting one or more sensitive fields in the first row of data with format-preserving encryption using the first encryption subkey, wherein the one or more fields in the first row of data that are used for the first key derivation data remain unencrypted;

storing the first row of data, comprising the encrypted one or more sensitive fields, in the database, wherein the first encryption subkey is not stored in the database;

wherein one or more sensitive fields in each of the two or more rows of the database are encrypted using a respective unique encryption subkey for the row, and wherein the respective unique encryption subkey for each row is based on the static key and on a respective key derivation data for the row, wherein the respective key derivation data comprises a combination of a primary key of the row and a modification time of the row and wherein the primary key and modification time are unencrypted;

detecting a modification to the one or more fields of the first row used for the first key derivation data; and

re-encrypting the one or more sensitive fields of the first row, based on modified key derivation data in the one or more fields of the row used for the first key derivation data, responsive to the modification of the one or more fields used for the first key derivation data.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

reading the first row of data from the database;

extracting the first key derivation data from the first row of data;

determining the first encryption subkey by combining the first key derivation data with the static key; and

decrypting the encrypted one or more sensitive fields in the first row of data using the first encryption subkey.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the first encryption subkey by combining the first key derivation data with the static key comprises encrypting the first key derivation data with the static key.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first row of data excludes the static key and comprises the first key derivation data.