Dell Products Inc.

Niharika Avasarala

Nitin Madan

Mahadev Karadigudda

Madhu Agrahara Gopalakrishna

Embodiments of a cryptographic key management system for cached data that abstracts key management details from the cache tier to the active tier and encryption process by encrypting data from the active tier using an encryption process employing an encryption key to generate an encrypted data block, and associating an encryption header with the encrypted data block, the encryption header including a key identifier as an index to the encryption key, where the encryption key is accessed through a key table maintained in the active tier. The system stores the encrypted data block in a cache tier, and decrypts the encrypted data block in the cache tier by providing the key identifier in the encryption header to the encryption process.

Dynamic cryptographic key management for cached data

Embodiments of a cryptographic key management system for cached data that efficiently re-encrypts cached data encrypted with a compromised encryption key by receiving a request to access a cached data block encrypted with an original encryption key. Upon determining that the original encryption key is compromised or destroyed, thus resulting in the requested data block being invalid, evicting the requested data block from the cache storing the cached data. The data block is re-encrypted using a new encryption key upon receipt of a new request to access the cached data. Any remaining cached data encrypted with the original encryption key is evicted from the cache through a defined cache eviction policy.

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Cupertino, CA, United States of America

Niharika Avasarala