Patent ID: 8095960
Filing Date: 2012-01-10
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A machine-implemented method to execute on a machine, comprising: receiving, by the machine, a key from a first principal to access a secret store belonging to and controlled by a second principle but the secret store is controlled and is managed by an identity management service on behalf of the second principal within a secure environment, the identity management service does not store the key and the key is used by the identity management service to both decrypt the secret store and the re -encrypt the secret store; validating, by the machine, the key; granting, by the machine, access to the secret store in response to the key being validated and in response to a contract that defines a relationship between the first and the second principals, the contract including policies: that limit operations that the first principal can make against the secret store, that are applied against specific entries within the secret store, and that define an amount of time that the first principal can access the secret store, and applying, by the identity manager, additional global policies against access to the secret store and all secret stores managed by the identity manager, and sending the second principal periodic reports detailing activities of the first principal with respect to the secret store; updating, by the machine, the secret store in response to actions of the first principal; and propagating, by the machine, changes caused by the update to one or more partitions associated with the secret store.