Patent · US Active

Cluster key synchronization

US8824686B1 · kind B1 · utility

29Cited by
70References
10Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateApr 27, 2007
Grant dateSep 2, 2014
Priority date
Expiry dateMar 11, 2032

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L9/14
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Apparatus and method for synchronizing encryption keys among a cluster of security appliances and stand alone lifetime key management, LKM, appliances. The cluster includes security appliances where new encryption keys are generated and assigned to an SNS ID with an SNS CTR (counter). The security appliances inside a cluster have local sequence counters and share their keys. One security appliance is a coordinator with which the LKMs will synchronize. Each LKM also has a SNS ID and local sequence counter from which increasing sequence numbers are generated. In each security appliance in a cluster, the up-to-date stored sets of keys are organized with respect to SNS IDs and SNS CTRs associated with the other cluster members. The object keys are stored in the SNS space and a peer map associates a given peer with a given SNS ID, and version numbers are assigned and incremented when a key is modified.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.