SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SECURE CRYPTOGRAPHIC DATA TRANSPORT AND STORAGE

摘要

A method and apparatus for secured storage and communication of data using in situ cryptographic key generation facilities (214) whereby data to be stored in a data storage system (e.g., a Storage Area Network) can be encrypted using encryption keys that are generated by locally deployed cryptographic key generators, which generate encryption keys based upon setup configurations (202) that include time or event memory data (201). The setup configurations (202) used to generate encryption keys can also be associated with the encrypted data by a data marker and stored such that, upon decryption of the same data at a later time period, the data marker may retrieve the stored setup configuration (202), which is then used to configure a locally deployed cryptographic key generator for purposes of generating the appropriate decryption keys to decrypt the data, whereby the cryptographic key generator used for generating encryption keys need not be the same cryptographic key generator used for generating decryption keys.