Technology for secure partitioning and updating of a distributed digital ledger

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10540652-B2
Application number	US-201615355918-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 18, 2016
Priority date	Nov 18, 2016
Publication date	Jan 21, 2020
Grant date	Jan 21, 2020

Abstract

An automated method to verify a block record for a digital ledger involves a first validation node (FVN) which receives a block record from a second validation node (SVN). The block record comprises a digital signature for the block record. In response to receiving the block record, the FVN automatically obtains a node identifier for the SVN, based on the digital signature for the block record. The first validator node uses the node identifier for the SVN to determine whether the SVN belongs to a validation group that comprises the FVN. The FVN uses an attestation service to determine whether the node identifier for the SVN belongs to a node with a trusted processor. The FVN determines whether the digital signature for the block record was created with a private key that corresponds to the node identifier for the SVN.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A device with technology to verify a block record for a digital ledger that is distributed and partitioned, the device comprising:
at least one processor;
non-volatile storage responsive to the processor; and
instructions in the non-volatile storage which, when executed by the processor, enable the device to operate as a first validation node by performing operations comprising:
receiving a block record of a distributed digital ledger from a second validation node, wherein the block record comprises a payload of transactions, a header with a link to a previous block, and a digital signature for the block record;
in response to receiving the block record, automatically obtaining a node identifier for the second validation node, based on the digital signature for the block record;
using the node identifier for the second validation node to determine whether the second validation node belongs to a validation group that comprises the first validation node wherein the validation group comprises a plurality of validation nodes to validate a ledger slice partitioned from the distributed digital ledger;
using an attestation service of a remote attestation node to determine whether the node identifier for the second validation node belongs to a node with a trusted processor;
using the digital signature for the block record to determine whether the digital signature was created with a private key that corresponds to the node identifier for the second validation node; and
accepting the block record as valid only if the first validation node determines that (a) the second validation node belongs to a validation group that comprises the first validation node, (b) the node identifier for the second validation node belongs to a node with a trusted processor, and (c) the digital signature for the block record was created with a private key that corresponds to the node identifier for the second validation node.

2. A device according to claim 1 , wherein the operation of using the attestation service to determine whether the node identifier for the second validation node belongs to a node with a trusted processor comprises:
using the attestation service to determine whether the node identifier for the second validation node belongs to a node with a processor that has features comprising (a) support for a trusted execution environment (TEE) that prevents software outside of the TEE from accessing data in the TEE, (b) technology to generate at least one secure private key (SPK) based on a root key in the processor, and (c) technology to prevent the root key from ever being exposed outside of the processor.

3. A device according to claim 1 , wherein the operation of using the digital signature for the block record to determine whether the digital signature was created with a private key that corresponds to the node identifier for the second validation node comprises:
using the node identifier for the second validation node as a public key for the second validation node, and verifying that the digital signature for the block record was signed with a private key that corresponds to the public key for the second validation node.

4. A device according to claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:
at the first validation node, receiving a transaction record from a transaction node, wherein the transaction record comprises a digital signature for the transaction record;
in response to receiving the transaction record, automatically obtaining a node identifier for the transaction node, based on the digital signature for the transaction record; and
using the node identifier for the transaction node to determine whether the transaction node belongs to the validation group that comprises the first validation node.

5. A device according to claim 4 , wherein the operations further comprise:
in response to a determination that the transaction node belongs to the validation group that comprises the first validation node, automatically validating the transaction record; and
in response to successful validation of the transaction record, adding the transaction record to a new block record.

6. A device according to claim 5 , wherein the operations further comprise:
generating a secure private key (SPK) for the first validation node, based on a root key in the processor of the first validation node; and
in response to successful validation of the transaction record, using (a) the SPK and (b) an elliptic curve digital signature algorithm (ECDSA) to generate a digital signature for the new block.

7. A device according to claim 6 , wherein the operations further comprise:
generating a node identifier for the first validation node; and
wherein the operation of generating the SPK for the first validation node comprises generating the node identifier for the first validation node as a public key counterpart for the SPK.

8. An apparatus to support verification of a block record for a digital ledger that is distributed and partitioned, the apparatus comprising:
at least one non-transitory machine-accessible storage medium; and
instructions in the machine-accessible storage medium, wherein the instructions, when executed by a device, enable the device to operate as a first validation node by performing operations comprising:
receiving a block record of a distributed digital ledger from a second validation node, wherein the block record comprises a payload of transactions, a header with a link to a previous block, and a digital signature for the block record;
in response to receiving the block record, automatically obtaining a node identifier for the second validation node, based on the digital signature for the block record;
using the node identifier for the second validation node to determine whether the second validation node belongs to a validation group that comprises the first validation node, wherein the validation group comprises a plurality of validation nodes to validate a ledger slice partitioned from the distributed digital ledger;
using an attestation service of a remote attestation node to determine whether the node identifier for the second validation node belongs to a node with a trusted processor;
using the digital signature for the block record to determine whether the digital signature was created with a private key that corresponds to the node identifier for the second validation node; and
accepting the block record as valid only if the first validation node determines that (a) the second validation node belongs to a validation group that comprises the first validation node, (b) the node identifier for the second validation node belongs to a node with a trusted processor, and (c) the digital signature for the block record was created with a private key that corresponds to the node identifier for the second validation node.

9. An apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein the operation of using the attestation service to determine whether the node identifier for the second validation node belongs to a node with a trusted processor comprises:
using the attestation service to determine whether the node identifier for the second validation node belongs to a node with a processor that has features comprising (a) support for a trusted execution environment (TEE) that prevents software outside of the TEE from accessing data in the TEE, (b) technology to generate at least one secure private key (SPK) based on a root key in the processor, and (c) technology to prevent the root key from ever being exposed outside of the processor.

10. An apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein the operation of using the digital signature for the block record to determine whether the digital signature was crea

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Saur Karla
• Bowman Mic
• Miele Andrea
• Held James P

Classifications

• H04L9/3247

  involving digital signatures · CPC title

• H04L9/3236

  using cryptographic hash functions · CPC title

• G06Q20/3829 Primary

  involving key management · CPC title

• G06Q20/223

  based on the use of peer-to-peer networks · CPC title

• G06Q2220/00

  Business processing using cryptography · CPC title