System for Preventing Single Point of Failure in Accessing Encrypted Data
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsJagadeesh Sreeram, Akhil Sivanantha, Liviu Rodean
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method, system and computer-usable medium for preventing a single point of failure in accessing encrypted data. In certain embodiments passwords of multiple system administrators are encrypted with a master key to generate encrypted master keys respectively associated with each system administrator. In certain embodiments, the passwords of the multiple system administrators are also one-way hashed to generate multiple one-way hashed passwords respectively associated with each system administrator. In certain embodiments, the user identifiers and plain text passwords may be used to decrypt the master key based on the encrypted master keys and one-way hashed passwords.
Claims20
A computer-implemented method for preventing single point of failure in accessing encrypted data, comprising:
- accessing a master key;
- encrypting the master key with a password of a first system administrator;
- generating a one-way hashed password for the first system administrator using the password of the first system administrator;
- storing the encrypted master key and one-way hashed password of the first system administrator in a database with a user identifier of the first system administrator;
- encrypting the master key with a password of a second system administrator;
- generating a one-way hashed password for the second system administrator using the password of the second system administrator;
- storing the encrypted master key and the one-way hashed password of the second system administrator in a database with the user identifier for the second system administrator;
- allowing decryption of the master key using the user identifier and password of the first system administrator based on the encrypted master key and the one-way hashed password of the first system administrator;
- and
- allowing decryption of the master key using the user identifier and password of the second system administrator based on the encrypted master key and the one-way hashed password of the second system administrator.
A system comprising:
- a processor;
- a data bus coupled to the processor;
- and
- a computer-usable medium embodying computer program code, the computer-usable medium being coupled to the data bus, the computer program code used for performing application aware rate-limiting operations and comprising instructions executable by the processor and configured for:
- accessing a master key;
- encrypting the master key with a password of a first system administrator;
- generating a one-way hashed password for the first system administrator using the password of the first system administrator;
- storing the encrypted master key and one-way hashed password of the first system administrator in a database with a user identifier of the first system administrator;
- encrypting the master key with a password of a second system administrator;
- generating a one-way hashed password for the second system administrator using the password of the second system administrator;
- storing the encrypted master key and the one-way hashed password of the second system administrator in a database with the user identifier for the second system administrator;
- allowing decryption of the master key using the user identifier and password of the first system administrator based on the encrypted master key and one-way hashed password of the first system administrator;
- and
- allowing decryption of the master key using the user identifier and password of the second system administrator based on the encrypted master key and one-way hashed password of the second system administrator.
A non-transitory, computer-readable storage medium embodying computer program code, the computer program code comprising computer executable instructions configured for:
- accessing a master key;
- encrypting the master key with a password of a first system administrator;
- generating a one-way hashed password for the first system administrator using the password of the first system administrator;
- storing the encrypted master key and one-way hashed password of the first system administrator in a database with a user identifier of the first system administrator;
- encrypting the master key with a password of a second system administrator;
- generating a one-way hashed password for the second system administrator using the password of the second system administrator;
- storing the encrypted master key and the one-way hashed password of the second system administrator in a database with the user identifier for the second system administrator;
- allowing decryption of the master key using the user identifier and password of the first system administrator based on the encrypted master key and one-way hashed password of the first system administrator, and
- allowing decryption of the master key using the user identifier and password of the second system administrator based on the encrypted master key and one-way hashed password of the second system administrator.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.