Design and Implementation of a Secure Distributed Data Repository

This paper describes the design and implementationof an on-line, distributed data repository, known as an electronic vault (e-Vault), which stores information across a network securely so that integrity is preserved even when some of the servers malfunction. After a document has been deposited by a client, the e-Vault returns a receipt to the client which can be used to verify that the document has been properly received by all (correct) servers. The e-Vault disperses information across the servers using Rabin's Information Dispersal Algorithm (IDA). Shared distributed digital signatures are used to provide proof to the client that a document has been correctly received by all servers. Cryptographic hash functions are used to ngerprint information in order to determine if the information is later corrupted. Our e-Vault has been implemented on multiple nodes of an IBM SP2 multiprocessor. Clients communicate with the e-Vault using SSL-enabled browsers. Design extensions for conndentiality of information are also presented.