WO2007117181A2

WO2007117181A2 - Method for protecting information resources of heterogeneous computing networks

Info

Publication number: WO2007117181A2
Application number: PCT/RU2007/000169
Authority: WO
Inventors: Valery Vadimovich Andreev
Original assignee: Joint Stock Company Ivk
Priority date: 2006-04-11
Filing date: 2007-04-10
Publication date: 2007-10-18
Also published as: WO2007117181A3; RU2306600C1

Abstract

The invention relates to computer engineering. The technical result consists in increasing the access protection to information resources of a heterogeneous computer network. The inventive method consists in setting up a system-wide software (SWS), in randomizing each message, in reconfiguring all system interfaces into mechanisms of SWS data exchange, in creating, at each computer site a protected data warehouse for storing a checksum of each configuration file, the identifier of each end program application together with the checksum thereof, confidential data and access rights of any administrator authorized to use said data, in carrying out a mandatory and discretionary access control of an administrators, in systematically checking the above mentioned checksums and the rights of administrators and in interrupting a session the case of the mismatching of at least one of said parameters.

Description

METHOD FOR PROTECTING INFORMATION RESOURCES OF AN INHOMOGENEOUS COMPUTER NETWORK

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to computer technology, and more particularly, to a method for protecting information resources of a heterogeneous computer network.

State of the art

Currently, there are many different proposals for the protection of information resources in computer networks.

So, in the patent of the Russian Federation N ° 2130643 (publ. 05/20/1999) disclosed a method of providing access to data in the database management system "Lintep-BC". In this method, in the process of processing an access request, several checks are performed to compare the user admission rank with the access rank of the requested data.

In patents of the Russian Federation ZhNb 2143728 (publ. 12/27/1999), 2163727, 2163744 and 2163745 (all publ. 02/27/2001) disclose various options for protecting a virtual channel of a corporate network built on communication channels and means of switching a public communication network. In this system, which contains firewalls, a block for forming a closed protocol, a block for authenticating a client by IP address, and a block for allowing access by the logical name of the server are introduced. There are also client and server parts of the security system. In RF patents ЖNs 2223540 (publ. 10.06.2003) and 2252449 (publ.

05/20/2005) encryption (i.e., mathematical conversion) is performed on the header or service information of the network frame before transmission. In US patent N ° 5530758 (publ. 06/25/1996) describes a method of operating a secure node in a computer network, which also has unsafe nodes. Secure nodes have a security core that provides security conditions and a trusted operating system that applies security conditions to data. To transfer data between the security core and the trusted operating system, there is a trusted interface that ensures compatibility of computer security and communication attributes.

US patent JV ° 5915087 (published on January 22, 1999) discloses a transparent, secure proxy connection for untrusted messaging protocols. This proxy connection, which is part of the firewall program, polls attempts to establish a communication session by making requests for the specified authentication procedure. The addresses of the supplicant and the address of the server where they want to send the message are extracted from the messages, and these addresses are checked according to the list of addresses. A response message is sent with the server address so that the proxy connection remains transparent.

In US patent JVb 6631416 (publ. 07.10.2003) and in US applications JVsJVo 2002/0056008 (publ. 09.05.2002), 2004/0260941 (publ. 23.12.2004) and 2005/0144474 (publ. 30.06.2005) are described various mechanisms of creating “tunnels” between computers or processors with different degrees of protection (security).

All these and many other developments solve particular problems of protecting information resources in a computer network. But now the task of unification, integration of disparate information resources, and building a single information space is very urgent. Therefore, the search unfolds around the general issues of building heterogeneous geographically distributed information systems, often having a pronounced branched structure with nodes in different regions. One of the distinguishing features of such systems is their heterogeneity. This concerns not so much the obvious functioning of system nodes on different software and hardware platforms (different operating systems (OS), different computer “iron”, different communication channels, etc.), but the simultaneous work of various applied tasks that do not have the ability to exhaustively interact with each other another, for example, due to the adaptation of the program code by different groups of programmers, different data presentation formats, different versions of the Wi-Fi (or UNIX) operating system, etc. Therefore, the obvious requirement for any the automated system (AC) should take into account the heterogeneity (heterogeneity) of AC, both hardware and software. This is also important from the point of view that a completely homogeneous AC, built on the so-called “monocultural” principles, is extremely vulnerable to cascading (avalanche) failures, for example, as a result of a “viral epidemic”.

The second factor that must be taken into account is the insufficient development of the telecommunication infrastructure, when far from any system-technical solution on existing and even promising communication channels can be implemented quite quickly and not too expensive. Here it is necessary to opt for such solutions that use not only the available information resources and communication channels (for example, customer’s own closed subnets), but, first of all, the capabilities of the open Internet network, an extensive telephone network, as well as wireless communication channels, including the VHF band. An important factor here is the large territorial extent of countries such as Russia, and the varying degrees of development of individual regions of the country. An indispensable condition should also be the maximum possible preservation of the already developed potential It can be seen in both hardware and software aspects, capitalization of all previously made investments in information infrastructure.

In this regard, there are several approaches to the integration of disparate information resources, which are actively discussed and implemented in a number of structures and organizations. These approaches are associated with the consideration of two levels of integration: the system level, where a number of OSs that are not connected to each other currently work, and the execution level, where all the application software is “loaded”. Conventionally, these approaches can be depicted as a two-level integration model (see Fig. 1). Consider the first level (lower part of Fig. 1) in more detail. The undisputed leaders in this area include the OS family MS Wi-dows. The following are: UNIX-like OS Lirшх in different versions (Red-Нat, SuSE, TurboLipuh, Mapreck, Debiap and other foreign options, as well as MC BC, ASP and ALTLiuh in Russia), UNIX-systems - FreeBSD, Sup Solaris, HP -UX, IBM AIX, etc., IBM OS / 2 in various versions, an outdated but still used product, Mae OS / X, IBM AS / 400, IBM VM / ESA, etc. There are a number of well-known products, such as outdated ones, for example MS DOS and its analogue PTS DOS, as well as promising ones used in the mobile solutions sector - PaImOS, Simbiap, Wi-Dows CE, Roset PC, etc. All these OSs are conventionally named in FIG. 1 by the term “Lindows”. Note that integration at this level is associated with the organization of interaction at the OS level, which, due to their sufficient differences and organizational difficulties, is practically impracticable. Therefore, the general approach here is as follows: the gradual “extirpation” of disparate OSs by some chosen system, its comprehensive development, support and generation of new solutions on this new platform. At the same time, as a rule, they try to integrate a large number of functional tasks into a single information space on the basis of the development of interface protocols at the level of the execution environment, and carry out further development of systems based on the unification of both software and hardware. However, for the integration of thousands of tasks it is simply physically impossible to write, and then synchronize the work of more than 1,000,000 interface protocols. Therefore, without making changes to the architecture of already created systems, their integration is practically impossible.

It should be noted that the choice of this approach can only be justified if the development of a “proprietary” OS is based on a wide coverage of new technological solutions, close ties with manufacturers of computer “iron”, and widespread support in the spread of a new OS in government agencies. In principle, such a task can be “pulled” by the Lirшh community with state support, when from the wide variety of open source software it is possible to carefully select the necessary and approve as a new platform. All that remains to be solved is the problem of the so-called “inherited” software, which must be transferred, “patched” to the new platform. Thus, the number of integration tasks remains equal to the number of AC applied tasks, but the complexity of transferring all the software to the new OS increases very much. This primarily refers to the software that was created a long time ago, and interaction with the developer is difficult.

Another aspect in the integration of the “first level” is the correctness of the chosen solution. No one can be absolutely sure that this, and not any other platform, is the most promising today. In addition, the transfer of all tasks to the new platform will cause enormous difficulties, primarily in terms of human resources, hardware compatibility and time costs. This problem will be especially acute for continuously functioning ACs.

Consider the integration of the second level (the upper part in Fig. 1). To organize the flow of data in the execution environment, it is necessary to Drill into it interface devices (software or hardware interaction interfaces, interfaces, etc.) of each application with each. This task not only moves to the organizational level, but also increases quantitatively quadratically (with the possible complexity of creating these devices or software modules). The biggest problem here lies not in the generation of a single medium of exchange, but in the integration of information security systems (SZI) of these heterogeneous systems. And although the previous task, although utopian, is in principle solvable, then the integration of SZI is practically unsolvable due to the specific nature of such solutions. In this case, the creation of a single secure information space also remains problematic.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Thus, there is a need to protect information resources in a heterogeneous computer network without costly replacing the software and hardware components of the latter. The solution to this problem is provided by means of a three-level model for organizing the computing process in AC with the introduction of the so-called functioning environment in the form of system-wide (otherwise, system-forming) software (OSPO), the basis of which is the “intermediate layer” software.

To solve this problem, a method is proposed for protecting the information resources of a heterogeneous computer network, which includes at least two computing units connected by a communication network, at least one of which is equipped with an operating system that is different from the others, namely: a) install for each computing installation, system-wide software to obtain a single secure backbone of information exchange between all computing installations; b) randomize according to in accordance with a predetermined algorithm, the body of each message to be exchanged along a single secure trunk to protect the contents of this message from unauthorized access; c) reconfigure in each operating system all system interfaces for data exchange to the corresponding data exchange mechanisms of system-wide software; d) create at each computing installation a secure data warehouse, called a personal safe, in which the body of each placed document is randomized according to the same algorithm as the message body; e) store in the secure storage of each computing installation the checksum of each configuration file of each operating system after switching the system interfaces; f) store in the secure data warehouse of each computing installation the identifier of each final software application operating in the context of system-wide software, together with its checksum, as well as confidential data and authority of any official authorized to work with protected information resources of the computer network , in the form of an access profile of this person; g) provide mandatory and discretionary control of the access of each of the officials to the data of his secure data warehouse; h) systematically check the checksums of each of the operating systems and each of the final software applications during their initialization and operation on the corresponding computing installation and stop the operation of this computing installation or software application if at least one of these checksums does not match the corresponding checksum stored in the repository of system-wide software; i) systematically check the credentials of each official authorized to work with the information resources of the computer network, and stop the work session of a particular official in case of mismatch of at least one parameter from the corresponding access profile stored in the secure storage of the computing installation.

A feature of the method of the present invention is that it: k) form a system-wide software by adding each of the operating systems with a basic set of transport protocols designed for node addressing and packet routing, as well as a set of application-level data exchange formats; k) form a single protected information space of the computer network by setting up the access subsystem, and this access subsystem is implemented due to the fact that the powers of officials allowed to work with the computer network are delimited by system-wide software by indicating in this access subsystem the specific allowed and prohibited actions for each official; l) provide a uniform representation of the powers of officials authorized to work with protected information resources of a computer network.

Another feature of the method of the present invention is that m) reconfiguring the interfaces of each operating system for exchanging data with other computing facilities is accomplished by redirecting information flows between the computing facilities through the corresponding proxy connections available in the system-wide software tools; n) the reconfiguration of the interfaces of each operating system for the exchange of data between the final software applications in this operating system is carried out by redirecting information flows between the software applications through the appropriate inter-task-interaction mechanisms available in the system-wide software tools. Brief Description of the Drawings

The invention is illustrated by the following drawings:

FIG. 1 shows a conditional two-level integration model;

FIG. 2 shows a conditional model of three-level integration; FIG. 3 represents integration technology in the method of the present invention;

FIG. 4 shows an example of industrial system integration using the method of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As shown in FIG. 2, the introduction of a secure transport medium as a result of implementing the method of the present invention requires only one installation task at the first (lower in Fig. 2) level and all n registration tasks at the second (upper in Fig. 2) level, i.e. immeasurably less in comparison with similar levels in FIG. one.

The proposed method of protecting information resources is intended to be implemented in a heterogeneous computer network, which includes at least two computing devices connected by a communication network, and at least one of these computing devices has an operating system (OS) that differs from the OS of others computing installations of this computing network. A method of protecting information resources in such a heterogeneous computer network is carried out by performing the following actions (steps).

First, for each computing installation in a heterogeneous computing network, system-wide software (OSPO) is installed to obtain a single secure backbone of information exchange between all computing installations of a given computing network. An example of such an OSPS is information IBK Jupiter software and computing complex, developed by the rights holder for this application. The main functional capabilities of this complex are described in the Open Systems journal

The aforementioned system-wide software is formed, in particular, by adding each of the operating systems in the computing facilities constituting a heterogeneous computer network with a basic set of transport protocols designed for addressing nodes in this heterogeneous computer network and routing packets between these nodes. In addition, each of the source operating systems is supplemented (built-in) by a set of application-level data exchange formats. For example, the XML format is chosen as the exchange format between heterogeneous platforms. As a data exchange mechanism in the form of a file, the exchange of .tхt (.xml) files is selected, which are constantly stored in a certain coordinated directory (s) of the file systems of the source OS. As an interaction between clients and DBMS servers, a php script processing mechanism is selected on a specially allocated information object stored in a secure storage for each OS. Next, they form a single protected information space of a heterogeneous computer network by setting up an access subsystem for all computing facilities involved in a single computing process by installing OSPO tools on them, and for all officials of the automation object authorized to work in an automated system (AC) . The access subsystem is associated with the security server of the automation object, which is called the Main Machine (GM) of this object. This access subsystem is implemented due to the fact that the powers of officials admitted to work with a heterogeneous computer network are differentiated by the system-wide software by indicating in this access subsystem specific permitted and prohibited actions for each official in relation to a specific protected network resource (document, file, message, etc.). Each protected information resource is associated with a signature stamp (label) of confidentiality set by the owner of this resource on it. In total there are four confidentiality stamps in accordance with the current legislation of the Russian Federation (Law on State Secrets). This ensures a uniform representation of the authority of all officials authorized to work with the protected information resources of a heterogeneous computer network. Otherwise, there are insoluble contradictions between the various access subsystems of the source OS (or DBMS), when it is necessary to integrate, for example, five types of privacy with seven types of users. And although, as we see, the separation of powers is an organizational measure, the configuration of the access subsystem in the OSPO in accordance with this distinction provides automatic access for officials or refuses to allow officials access to certain information resources, regardless of which OS is used on a specific node of a heterogeneous computer network.

For inter-machine communication, standard transport protocols (TCP and UDP) are used, provided by the source OS through the settings of each computing installation. These settings include not only changing the corresponding software, but also matching signal levels, synchronization and using a certain order of signal exchange when establishing communication between computing settings (the so-called ISO transport model for each protocol). For the interaction between computing non-standard transport protocols (the so-called channel-forming tasks) can also be used by tanings.

Further, in each computing installation of a heterogeneous computing network, the body of each message to be exchanged on a single secure trunk is randomized in accordance with a predetermined algorithm to protect the contents of this message from unauthorized access. Such an algorithm can be either any well-known encryption algorithm (DES, RSA, etc.), or specially designed for this randomization. Such an algorithm may be permanent or replaceable. The specified randomization can be carried out both by hardware methods (for example, using a register with switchable feedbacks - see, for example, USSR author's certificate JVi- 1249512, published 07.08.1986), so using the appropriate programs compiled according to the selected algorithm to relevant programming language.

In each operating system (on each computing installation of a heterogeneous computing network), all system interfaces for data exchange are reconfigured to the corresponding data exchange mechanisms of the installed system-wide software. Note that such a reconfiguration of the exchange interfaces is much simpler than reinstalling the entire OS on each computing installation. The OSPO data exchange mechanisms mentioned above are, for example, the creation of exchange files in the agreed catalogs of the source OS (such as "incoming / outgoing"). To work out the interaction of “thin” DBMS clients with servers, it is necessary to reconfigure the external addresses of the DBMS servers to their own, local addresses with further redirecting (proxing) the request with working out the php script to extract the data and present it in a consistent format. The indicated reconfiguration of the interfaces of each operating system for data exchange with other computing facilities in a heterogeneous computing environment is carried out by redirecting information flows between computing facilities through the corresponding proxy connections available in the OSPO tools. Such proxy connections can be performed in the same way as described in the aforementioned US patent N2 5898784. In this way, a proxy DBMS client is controlled to be launched, because it is impossible to interact with the DBMS server without starting OSPO tools. As a proxy server, the so-called LAN segment gateway is usually involved in the general AC computing process.

Reconfiguration of the interfaces of each operating system for the exchange of data between the final software applications in this operating system, i.e. on this computing installation, without access to a heterogeneous computer network, they are carried out by redirecting information flows between software applications through the appropriate mechanisms for inter-tasking interaction available in OSPO tools. Such mechanisms are similar to those described in the aforementioned US application N ° 2004/0260941. Then, on each computing installation in a heterogeneous computer network, a secure data warehouse, called a personal safe, is created. The body of each document placed in this personal safe is randomized according to the same algorithm as the body of the message to be exchanged, as described above. In addition, the checksum of each configuration file of each OS after switching system interfaces of this OS is stored in a secure storage (i.e. personal safe) of each computing installation in a heterogeneous computer network. In other words, after reconfiguring a particular OS in a particular computing installation in the personal safe of this computing installation records the checksum of not only the files of the new (reconfigured) OC ₅ configuration but also the executable modules of the OSPO itself and software applications.

In addition, the identifier of each final software application operating in the context of the OSPS, together with its checksum, as well as confidential data and the authority of any official authorized to work with protected information are stored in a secure data warehouse of each computing installation in a heterogeneous computer network. resources of a heterogeneous computer network, in the form of an access profile of this person. Thus, in the personal safe of a particular computing installation, all the information is recorded, with which you can subsequently check the integrity of the OSPO and the STR, conduct version control (including the OS). To access information resources, they provide mandatory and discretionary control of access for each of the mentioned officials not only to the data of its secure data warehouse, but also to AC resources (files, folders, communication channels, etc.). In other words, they provide identification and authentication of each user, for example, by assigning each official an identification number for mandatory access control and a personal code (password) for controlling discretionary access. This control can be carried out similarly to how it is done in the above patent of the Russian Federation

During the initialization of each of the final software applications and when they work on the corresponding computing installation in a heterogeneous computing network, the checksums of each operating system, application are systematically checked and the operation of this computing installation or its software application is stopped conditions when at least one of these verifiable checksums does not match with the corresponding checksum stored in a secure storage on each computing installation.

During the operation of a heterogeneous computer network, the authority of each official authorized to work with the information resources of this computer network is systematically checked and the session of a specific official is stopped if at least one parameter from the corresponding access profile is stored in the secure storage of the computing installation. In FIG. 3 illustrates the integration technology of various

SZI AC, and in FIG. 4 the same technology is shown for the case of integration of industrial systems. The main idea is to introduce some arbiter who will deal with the comparison of vultures and profiles of officials. This arbitrator works in the legal field of the Russian Federation in accordance with the law and the usual ranking for us. In this and in the following drawings, the abbreviations COM and OBI mean, respectively, the communication subsystem and the information security subsystem. In FIG. 4, the following notation is also introduced: MS SQL Server, Oracle and Ippormix - the names of foreign-made database management systems (DBMS), ADO (ActiveX Data Оbjests) and ODBS (Орп ДатаВасе Сепеспивиту) - universal interfaces for connecting to СУБУ Markup Lapguage) is a universal extensible markup language for hypertext data.

Thus, in the method of the present invention, the OSPO solves the following problems:

- Creation of a system-wide functioning environment with the provision of standard services for data exchange and operational management of the computing process in local and global networks of AC objects; - ensuring interaction and control of the computational process (solving functional problems) and routing flows in AC using a single unified interface (am);

- ensuring the interaction of an arbitrary number of objects of a geographically distributed heterogeneous (heterogeneous) information system based on the application of relevant methods of resource allocation and access, a modern information protection and coding system, providing the user with the maximum number of necessary web services for organizing management of both external and internal information space, using various mechanisms and arbitrary communication channels (digital, analog);

- ensuring information security within a heterogeneous distributed AC network with the ability to create a single consistent AC security policy with the organization of secure access of AC objects to communication channels, including open ones;

- organization of access to the unified information space AC on the basis of job profiles and authority, implementation of measures (including organizational ones) to close data transmission channels, as well as possible information leakage channels; - transfer of confidentiality labels within a secure superimposed AC network implemented by OSPO;

- storage of the general information of the system based on the construction of a single “data showcase” of data, i.e. distributed datastore storage, which is an ordered registry of hypertext links to distributed AC resources, equipped with an interface for presentation, search and working with OBI.

It should be specially noted that, although some of the steps of the method of the present invention are organizational in nature, such operations as installing on each computing unit are generally system software, reconfiguring interfaces and creating personal safes are actions on material objects using material means. Those. The claimed method cannot be considered a program as such. In addition, its implementation provides increased protection of information resources in a heterogeneous computer network, which is certainly a technical result. And since in the current level of technology no sources have been identified describing such a method, and no sources have been identified that together could constitute such a method, the present invention satisfies the conditions of novelty and inventive step.

In the present description, the present invention is disclosed by way of examples of its possible implementation. However, these examples are illustrative only and not limiting, and the scope of this invention is determined by the attached claims taking into account any possible equivalents.

Claims

Claim

1. A method of protecting the information resources of a heterogeneous computer network, which includes at least two computing installations connected by a communication network, at least one of which is equipped with a different operating system than the others, which consists in the following: a) a system-wide installation is established on each computing installation software for obtaining a single secure backbone of information exchange between all computing installations; b) randomize, in accordance with a predetermined algorithm, the body of each message to be exchanged on a single secure trunk to protect the contents of this message from unauthorized access; c) reconfigure in each operating system all system interfaces for data exchange with the corresponding data exchange mechanisms of the aforementioned system-wide software; d) create at each mentioned computing installation a secure data warehouse, called a personal safe, in which the body of each placed document is randomized according to the same algorithm as the message body; e) save in said secure storage of each said computing installation a checksum of each configuration file of each operating system after said switching of system interfaces; f) the identifier of each final software application operating in the context of the aforementioned is stored in said secure data warehouse of each said computing installation system-wide software, together with its checksum, as well as confidential data and authority of any official authorized to work with the protected information resources of the said computer network, in the form of this person's access profile; g) provide mandatory and discretionary control of the access of each of the mentioned officials to the data of his secure data warehouse; h) systematically check the checksums of each of the mentioned operating systems and each of the mentioned final software applications during their initialization and work on the corresponding computing installation and stop the work of this computing installation or the mentioned software application if at least one of these checksums does not match the corresponding checksum stored in said system-wide software repository; i) systematically check the credentials of each official authorized to work with the information resources of the said computer network and stop the session of a particular official if at least one parameter from the corresponding access profile stored in the secure storage of the said computing installation does not match.

2. The method according to claim 1, in which: k) form the aforementioned system-wide software by adding each of the mentioned operating systems with a basic set of transport protocols designed for node addressing and packet routing, as well as a set of application-level data exchange formats; k) form a single protected information space of the mentioned computer network by setting up the access subsystem, and this access subsystem is implemented due to the fact that the powers of officials allowed to work with the computer network are demarcated by system-wide software by indicating in this access subsystem the specific allowed and prohibited actions for each official; l) provide a uniform representation of the powers of officials authorized to work with the protected information resources of the mentioned computer network.

3. The method according to claim 1, in which: m) said reconfiguration of the interfaces of each operating system for exchanging data with other computing installations is carried out by redirecting information flows between computing installations through the corresponding proxy connections available in the means of the aforementioned system-wide software; n) the aforementioned reconfiguration of the interfaces of each operating system for the exchange of data between final software applications in this operating system is carried out by redirecting information flows between software applications through the appropriate mechanisms of inter-task interaction available in the tools of the aforementioned system-wide software.