Data integrity

🌐 This document is available in both English and Ukrainian. Use the language toggle in the top right corner to switch between versions.

1. General description

The goals of data integrity in an information security context are to prevent unauthorized changes, damage, and ensure data accuracy and reliability.

Data integrity objects are data itself, data in transit, identifiers and keys, metadata and event logs that must be protected from unauthorized access, changes and damage.

2. Classification and identification of data

Identification and classification of data on the platform is available at the link.

3. Information security measures

Assessing the degree of data integrity is an important component of information security. For different types of data, the degree of integrity may be different. For example, structured data that is usually stored in databases has a high level of integrity, since their format and location can be easily checked and controlled. However, to ensure their integrity, it is necessary to use protection against unauthorized access, which can lead to data leakage and possible abuse. In turn, unstructured data, which is usually stored in documents and images, has a lower level of integrity, since their integrity is difficult to check, track and control. To ensure their integrity, it is necessary to have access to mechanisms for obtaining a system log and audit, which may include information about changes to documents. Historical and archived documents have a high level of integrity because they are stored in an unchanged and variable-protected environment. These documents may include signatures and seals proving their authenticity.

Finally, according to data classification and security requirements, in order to achieve the required level of integrity for each type of data, an appropriate number of security controls must be integrated.

Data category Description Integrity according to class Controls in transit Controls in storage Other security controls

Authentication data

Any user data used in the authentication procedure

High

  • Encryption of the communication channel from the client to the platform.

  • Encryption of the communication channel between certain components of the registry subsystems using mTLS.

  • Encryption of the communication channel between certain components of the platform subsystems using TLS.

  • Data encryption in transit

  • Storing credentials in KeyCloak.

  • Data drive encryption.

  • Installed session protection against unauthorized access by client scripts.

  • Configured protection for sessions against CSRF attacks, which ensures that cookies are used only on the target website.

  • The management interface is further protected by the network access control.

  • Reliable authentication mechanism and role-based rights differentiation system are used.

  • Backup.

  • Logging

Service authentication data

Any data of technical users participating in the internal authentication procedure

High

  • Encryption of the communication channel between certain components of the registry subsystems using mTLS.

  • Encryption of the communication channel between certain components of the platform subsystems using TLS.

  • Data encryption in transit

  • Encryption of the secrets storage of the container orchestration subsystem.

  • Automatic rotation mechanism of cryptographic material.

  • Authentication

  • Authorization

  • Backup

  • Logging

  • Registry data

  • Business process metadata

A sample of data from the registry that is formed as a result of performing certain operations and circulates in the system. All data belonging to the user and processed by the Platform

High

  • Encryption of the communication channel from the client to the platform

  • Encryption of the communication channel between certain components of the registry subsystems using mTLS.

  • Traffic routing

  • Rate limits

  • Data encryption in transit

  • Authentication

  • Authorization

  • Logging

  • Audit

Registry technical data

Data related to the implementation, configuration and functioning of the Platform

High

  • Data drive encryption

  • Authentication

  • Authorization

  • Logging

Historical data

Data about changes in components and processes of the Platform

High

  • Read-only data

  • Authentication

  • Authorization

  • Logging

  • Audit

Platform public documentation

Documentation about the Platform which is published publicly

Average

  • -

  • Read-only data

System operability data

Monitoring, tracing and logging data

High

  • -

  • Authentication

  • Authorization

  • Logging

  • The management interface is additionally protected by the network access control

Cryptographic data

Data related to cryptographic operations

High

  • Encryption of the communication channel and reliable key exchange algorithms

  • Encryption of the communication channel between certain components of the registry subsystems using mTLS

  • Data encryption in transit

  • Encryption of the secrets storage of the container orchestration subsystem

  • Automatic rotation mechanism of cryptographic materials

  • The management interface is additionally protected by the network access control

  • Authentication

  • Authorization

  • Backup

Digital signatures

Data related to the process of signing or verifying the signature of data on the Platform

High

  • Encryption of the communication channel between the platform and external systems

  • Encryption of the communication channel between the library and HSM using the session key

  • Storage of data in hardware security modules (HSM)

  • Additional identification mechanism

  • Special authentication mechanism

  • Access restriction mechanisms

Sensitive settings

Settings that affect the Platform’s performance and may contain sensitive information

High

  • Encryption of the communication channel

  • Encryption of the registry secrets repository of the platform

  • Token-based authentication and integrated with the container orchestration subsystem

  • No access to the repository for any user of the platform

  • The mechanism of transitive keyless encryption of the platform and registry vaults is central to improve data security and reduce the risk of key compromise.

  • Mechanism for delegating the decryption of the central vault to the cloud secret management service to improve security, reduce the risk of key leakage and improve system reliability

  • Implementation of the rights differentiation based on access policies

  • Backup

4. Logging and auditing

In the Registry Platform, there are corresponding subsystems: event logging and audit event logging. It has to be noted that the platform provides only basic functionality for collecting and displaying system and audit logs. To build a full-fledged system for monitoring security events in real-time modes, the organization (platform owner) must integrate the platform with the corresponding SIEM system.

The audit event logging subsystem is a subsystem that collects, stores, and analyzes information about the actions of users who have access to data. The subsystem collects complete information about all user actions, including access, modification and deletion of data. More information about the coverage of platform components by the audit subsystem can be found at the link.

You can find out more about the format of data in the audit subsystem by following the link.

The audit subsystem provides administrators with access to data by means of the web interface of the Analytical Reporting Subsystem in the form of a set of service dashboards that are created during registry deployment. More information about the analytical reporting subsystem can be found at the link.

The platform also incorporates the event logging subsystem. It is based on the ElasticSearch, Fluentd and Kibana stack and allows you to collect, analyze and visualize security event logs on the platform. The event logging system provides access to detailed logging of security events at various levels of the core technologies. The subsystem provides enhanced security, extensive logging and log analysis capabilities, real-time problem tracking, and a convenient web-based event log management interface.

More information about the subsystem can be found at the link.

5. Measures in case of data integrity breach

5.1. Responding to data integrity incidents

Responding to data integrity incidents is a process of identifying, evaluating, and correcting data security breaches that aims to protect data integrity and prevent potential threats. This process includes identification of an incident, assessment of its consequences and restoration of the normal functioning of the system. The responsibility for building the process of responding to incidents of platform integrity and registries lies entirely with the organization (platform owner).

In general, the process consists of four main actions, namely:

  1. Detection of an incident. To do this, the platform owner must have a monitoring system that will allow timely detection of any breach of data integrity. The platform provides tools for collecting and analyzing event logs and audits.

  2. Risk assessment. As soon as an incident is identified, the platform owner has to assess the risks arising from this data integrity breach.

  3. Data recovery. The platform owner must recover corrupted data or lost data from backups.

  4. Prevent future incidents. The platform owner must make conclusions from an incident and introduce the required changes to the platform security system in order to prevent the occurrence of such incidents in the future.

5.2. Data recovery after integrity breach

Data recovery after integrity breach has to be carried out taking into account the preservation of the original quality and integrity of data. To do this, the platform provides functionality for creating backups of information that are stored in a safe and secure place.

6. Tasks and responsibilities

The responsibility for data integrity lies with the company’s management, employees, administrators of databases and other systems, as well as users who have access to data. The roles and responsibilities related to the data integrity issues may vary depending on the size and complexity of the organization, but the definition of roles and responsibilities lies entirely upon the organization (the owner of the platform).

Platform owner:

  • Provision of funding and resources to ensure data security.

Information department:

  • Development of a strategy for information protection.

  • Monitoring of the security systems and identification of issues in the operating system and software.

  • Analysis of risks associated with the level of access to information and further development of plans based on these analyses.

  • Improvement of the information storage and processing systems in accordance with the international norms and standards applicable to data security.

Platform administrators:

  • Secure setting up of the platform according to the recommendations provided.

  • Setting up of external integrations.

  • Regulated access to the platform and registries.

  • Restriction of network access to administrative interfaces.

  • Setting up information dashboards.

Regulations developers:

  • Development of registry regulations in such a manner that the integrity of data cannot be breached by unauthorized persons.

  • Responsible for the integrity of the regulations.

Information security personnel: - Training of users in the organization (platform owner) on the data security standards and information protection measures.