My Solution for Design a Secure Identity Management System

by nectar4678

System requirements


Functional Requirements

These include the capabilities that the system must have to meet the needs outlined in your problem statement. Here are some preliminary functional requirements based on the description you provided:

  • User Authentication: The system should support multiple authentication mechanisms including password-based, multi-factor authentication (MFA), and biometrics.
  • Single Sign-On (SSO): Users should be able to authenticate once and gain access to multiple applications without re-authenticating.
  • Identity Lifecycle Management: Provide capabilities for creating, managing, and deactivating user identities.
  • Access Control: Ability to define and enforce policies for who can access what resources within the organization.
  • Identity Federation: Support for identity federation to allow for secure sharing of identities across trusted applications and organizations.

Non-Functional Requirements

These requirements define the system attributes such as performance, security, and scalability:

  • Security: High level of security for data at rest and in transit, compliance with standards such as GDPR and HIPAA.
  • Scalability: Ability to handle a large number of requests and scale as the number of users grows.
  • Reliability: High availability and disaster recovery capabilities.
  • Usability: Easy to use interfaces for both administrators and end users.
  • Maintainability: Code and system architecture designed for ease of maintenance and support.


Capacity estimation

Updated Capacity Assumptions:

  • Total Users: 1,000,000 users
  • Peak Concurrent Users: 10% of total users (100,000 concurrent users)
  • Authentication Requests: 5 requests per user per day
  • Data Size per User: 500 KB (including profile data and logs)
  • Annual Growth Rate: 20% increase in users and data volume

Updated Capacity Calculations:

  • Daily Authentication Requests: 1,000,000 users × 5 requests = 5,000,000 requests/day
  • Data Storage Initial Requirement: 1,000,000 users × 500 KB = 500 GB
  • Traffic Estimations: Ability to handle 100,000 concurrent users, particularly during peak times.


API design

1. User Authentication API

Endpoint: /api/authenticate

Method: POST

Description: Authenticate a user using their credentials and provide an access token for subsequent requests.

Request: {   "username": "[email protected]",   "password": "userpassword123",   "mfa_code": "123456" } Response: {   "status": "success",   "token": "eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9...",   "expires_in": 3600 }


2. User Registration API

Endpoint: /api/register

Method: POST

Description: Register a new user in the system with initial identity data.

Request: {   "username": "[email protected]",   "password": "newpassword123",   "email": "[email protected]",   "phone": "1234567890" } Response: {   "status": "success",   "message": "User registered successfully." }


3. Access Control API

Endpoint: /api/access-control

Method: POST

Description: Manage access rights for users or groups within the system.

Request: {   "user_id": "1001",   "resource": "file_server_1",   "action": "grant",   "permissions": "read, write" } Response: {   "status": "success",   "message": "Permissions updated successfully." }


4. Identity Federation API

Endpoint: /api/federate

Method: POST

Description: Exchange identity information securely between federated partners.

Request: {   "federation_token": "abc123",   "partner_id": "partner_001" } Response: {   "status": "success",   "partner_user_id": "2001",   "expires_at": "2024-05-12T12:00:00Z" }


Database design


Moving forward with the database design for the Secure Identity Management System, we need to define a data model that supports the functionalities such as user authentication, access control, and identity federation efficiently. Here’s an outline for the Entity-Relationship (ER) diagram using a relational database model:



High-level design

System Components

  1. Authentication Service: Manages user logins, session tokens, and multi-factor authentication.
  2. User Management Service: Handles user registration, profile management, and user data updates.
  3. Access Control Service: Manages permissions and access controls based on user roles and policies.
  4. Identity Federation Service: Responsible for managing identity information sharing between federated systems.
  5. API Gateway: Central access point for routing API calls to the appropriate services, and for handling load balancing and security (like SSL termination).
  6. Database: Stores user data, authentication logs, permissions, and federated partner information.
  7. Logging and Monitoring Service: Monitors services and logs important system events for security and auditing purposes.



Description of Component Interactions:

  • Client: Initiates requests to the system via web or mobile interfaces.
  • API Gateway: Serves as the entry point for all incoming API requests, providing a single interface for clients. It routes requests to appropriate services based on the API endpoint and method.
  • Authentication Service: Handles authentication requests, issues tokens, manages session lifecycles, and facilitates MFA.
  • User Management Service: Manages operations related to user profiles, such as creation, updates, and deletion.
  • Access Control Service: Determines user permissions for various resources and enforces access control policies.
  • Identity Federation Service: Manages secure sharing of user identities across different systems, utilizing federation protocols like SAML or OAuth.
  • Database: Central storage for all user-related data, session information, permissions, and federated identity tokens.
  • Logging and Monitoring Service: Tracks system operations and performance, ensuring high availability and security compliance.


Request flows


1. User Authentication Flow

This flow describes how a user is authenticated and receives an authentication token.


2. User Registration Flow

This flow outlines how a new user is registered in the system.


3. Access Control Management Flow

This flow shows how access permissions are managed for users.


Detailed component design

1. Authentication Service

Key Functionalities:

  • User Authentication: Handles login requests and verifies user credentials.
  • Token Management: Issues and validates authentication tokens.
  • Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Manages additional security layers for user authentication.

Implementation Details:

  • Algorithms:
  • Password verification using bcrypt to hash and check passwords securely.
  • Token generation using JSON Web Tokens (JWT) for creating signed tokens.
  • Data Structures:
  • Hash tables for caching active sessions and tokens for quick look-up.
  • Scalability:
  • Stateless design allows for horizontal scaling. Authentication requests can be distributed across multiple instances without session state conflicts.
  • Use of a load balancer to distribute requests evenly across servers.


2. User Management Service

Key Functionalities:

  • User Registration: Manages the creation of new user accounts.
  • Profile Management: Allows users to update their profiles.
  • User Data Handling: Stores and retrieves user-specific data.

Implementation Details:

  • Algorithms:
  • Use of CRUD operations interfaced through an ORM for database interactions.
  • Data Structures:
  • User objects mapped directly from database tables for easy manipulation and access.
  • Scalability:
  • Can be scaled vertically by increasing the database capabilities and horizontally by adding more service instances.


3. Access Control Service

Key Functionalities:

  • Permission Management: Handles the creation and management of permissions.
  • Access Decision: Determines if a user has the necessary permissions to perform a requested action.

Implementation Details:

  • Algorithms:
  • Decision-making based on ACLs (Access Control Lists) or RBAC (Role-Based Access Control) systems.
  • Data Structures:
  • Trees or graphs to represent hierarchical roles and permissions.
  • Scalability:
  • Access decision-making is stateless and can be scaled horizontally. Caching frequent access decisions can reduce database load.


Failure scenarios/bottlenecks


Security Breaches:

  • Scenario: Exposure to security vulnerabilities in software or improper configuration can lead to unauthorized access.
  • Mitigation: Regular security audits, updates, and patches. Implement advanced monitoring tools to detect unusual activities promptly.

Token Theft:

  • Scenario: Theft of authentication tokens can allow attackers to impersonate legitimate users.
  • Mitigation: Use HTTPS to secure communications, implement token expiration and rotation policies, and employ anomaly detection to identify abnormal behaviors indicative of stolen tokens.


Future Improvements

Zero Trust Architecture:

  • Adopt a zero trust security model where no entity is trusted by default from inside or outside the network, and verification is required from everyone trying to gain access to resources.

Blockchain for Identity Federation:

  • Explore the use of blockchain technology to create a decentralized and tamper-proof system for managing identities across different organizations.