System and method for providing fault tolerant security among a cluster of servers
OwnerVincent Zimmer, Michael Rothman +1inventors
InventorsVincent Zimmer, Michael Rothman, Robert Swanson
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Abstract
A system and method are described for performing security operations for a cluster of servers. In one embodiment, a global secret is generated which is used to perform security operations for the cluster of servers. A plurality, n, shadows are generated based on the global secret. A subset of the plurality of shadows, m, may be used to recreate the global secret. The plurality of shadows are then distributed and stored across the plurality of servers.
Claims20
A method comprising:
- generating a global secret usable to perform security operations for a cluster of servers;
- generating n shadows based on the global secret wherein m of the n shadows may be used to recreate the global secret;
- and
- distributing and storing the n shadows across the plurality of servers.
A system comprising:
- a cluster of servers to perform data processing and data storage operations, the cluster of servers communicatively coupled over a data communications medium;
- a threshold cryptography module including shadow generation logic to generate n shadows based on a global secret, the global secret usable to perform security operations for the cluster of servers, wherein m of the n shadows may be used to recreate the global secret, the threshold cryptography module to distribute the n shadows across the plurality of servers.
A machine-readable medium having program code stored thereon which, when executed by a machine, causes the machine to perform the operations of:
- generating a global secret usable to perform security operations for a cluster of servers;
- generating n shadows based on the global secret wherein m of the n shadows may be used to recreate the global secret;
- and
- distributing and storing the n shadows across the plurality of servers.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.