Method and apparatus for deleting data upon expiration
AssigneeAlacritus, Inc.
InventorsGavin Cohen, Donald Trimmer, Rico Blaser
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for efficiently deleting data including backup or snapshots upon expiration are disclosed. The data can be deleted even without physical access to the data. A data generation unit generates a data. Each data has an expiration time and should be deleted upon expiration. An encryption unit encrypts the data, and the encrypted data is stored in data storage. A controller monitors whether there is an expired data, and if there is an expired data, the controller deletes a key necessary for decrypting the expired data.
Claims12
A method for deleting data upon expiration comprising:
- generating data;
- encrypting the data;
- storing the encrypted data in a data storage;
- and
- deleting a key necessary for decrypting the encrypted data when the encrypted data expires.
An apparatus for deleting data upon expiration comprising:
- a data generation unit for generating data;
- an encryption unit for encrypting the data;
- and
- a controller for deleting a key necessary for decrypting the encrypted data when the encrypted data expires;
- and
- a storage for storing the encrypted data.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.