Patent Application
20080022091
Throughout this description, the embodiments and examples shown should be considered as exemplars, rather than limitations on the apparatus and methods disclosed or claimed.
Description of Apparatus
Referring now to
The computing devices 110, 120, 130 are representative of a class of computing devices which may be any device with a processing unit and memory that may execute instructions. Computing devices may be personal computers, server computers, computing tablets, set top boxes, video game systems, personal video recorders, telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), portable computers, laptop computers, fax machines, cell phones and special purpose devices. Computing devices have processor and memory. These computing devices may run an operating system, including, for example, variations of the Linux, Unix, MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows, Palm OS, and Apple Mac OS X operating systems.
The network 150 provides a platform for communications between the computing devices 110, 120, 130. The network 150 may be or include local-area networks (LANs), wide-area networks (WANs), metropolitan-area networks (MANs), distributed networks and other similar networks in which computing devices may be linked together. The network 130 may provide lower layer network support for computing devices to interact with one another. The network 130 may be packet-switched and may comprise a common or private bi-directional network, and may be, for example the Internet. The network 150 may be wired or wireless. In addition, the network 130 may be configured based on client-server architecture, a peer-to-peer architecture, or any other distributed computing system architecture. Further, the network 130 may be configured to comprise additional components so as to ensure a scalable solution.
The computing devices 110, 120, 130 may include respective agents 115, 125, 135. The agents 115, 125, 135 may be securely bound to their respective computing devices 110, 120, 130. Alternatively, the agents 115, 125, 135 may be portable and installable on different computing devices at a user's discretion. For example, an agent or critical components thereof may be stored on a device such as a smart card or portable flash memory device, and a user may carry the smart card or portable flash memory device for use with various computing devices.
The agents of
As used herein, an agent may be or include a software module or application which may be loaded and run on a computing device. An agent may communicate with other functional units within the corresponding computing device. An agent may also communicate with agents remote to the communications device. One function of an agent is to store certain encrypted data so as to prevent the encrypted data from being accessible (e.g., viewed) by other functional units within the computing device (e.g., applications in user space). Access may be considered restricted if the agent has exclusive access or substantially exclusive access to the tools needed to decrypt the packets, such as decryption keys and software. Access may also be considered restricted if the agent has exclusive access or substantially exclusive access to the encrypted data itself.
Encrypted data is data which has been obscured to make it unreadable and unidentifiable at some level of confidence. Data which has been encrypted can be decrypted using a corresponding method or algorithm which may correspond to the method or algorithm used to encrypt the data. This data may be or may be representative of, for example, numbers, characters, audio, images, voice and video.
The relative identity of one agent to another agent may be based on information which is unique for the relationship between the two agents. The relative identity also may be based on information which is only known to the two agents in the particular relationship. With multiple computing devices 110, 120, 130 and multiple agents 115, 125, 135, there may be multiple separate relative identities in the system 100. Thus, the first user agent has an identity relative to the second user agent and a different identity relative to the third agent. Likewise, the second user agent has an identity relative to the first user agent and a different identity relative to the third agent. Finally, the third user agent has an identity relative to the first user agent and a different identity relative to the second agent. All six of these relative identities may be distinct. In short, a relative identity uniquely identifies one particular agent's relationship to another particular agent.
Even between two agents, there may be multiple unique relative identities arising from multiple relationships between the two agents. For example, an individual may have a checking account and a savings account with the same bank. Those two accounts will have a separate account numbers. Likewise, the multiple relative identities created for two particular agents could identify the separate relationships the two agents have with each other.
Additional and fewer units, modules or other arrangement of software, hardware and data structures may be used to achieve the processes and apparatuses described herein.
Description of Processes
Referring now to
The process for establishing a communication channel between agent A and agent B is compose of two parts. The first part, from 210 to 240, establishes a relative identity relationship between agent A and agent B. A relative identity relationship means that agent A has a relative identity with respect to agent B and agent B has a relative identity with respect to agent A. Both agent A and agent B are aware of the existence of the relative identity relationship, but neither knows the relative identity of the other. The second part of the process, from 250 to 290, each agent verifies the identity of the other before opening a secure trustworthy communication channel between agent A and agent B.
Either agent A or agent B may initiate the process to establish a relative identity relationship at 210. At 220, agent A defines its relative identity with respect to agent B. The relative identity of agent A may be obtained from a third party (not shown in
Either agent A or agent B may initiate subsequent communication at 250. At 260, agent A may send first information to agent B. The first information may be derived from the relative identity of agent A in a manner that allows agent B to verify the identity of agent A without disclosing the relative identity of agent A. The first information may be derived from the relative identity of agent A and other data known to both agent A and agent B.
Similarly, at 265, agent B sends second information to agent A. The second information may be derived from the relative identity of agent B in a manner that allows agent A to verify the identity of agent B without disclosing the relative identity of agent B. The second information may be derived from the relative identity of agent B and other data known to both agent A and agent B.
The first and second information may be derived in numerous ways including using various algorithms well-known in the art of cryptography. For example, the first and second information can be generated by using one-way hash functions, modulus functions, cyclic arithmetic operations, and various other algorithms.
It should be recognized that the first and second information of this example may be distinct from each other. Additionally, both the first and second information are derived, in part, from the relative identities of agents A and B and are thus unique to the relationship between these two agents. While both the first and second information are derived, in part, from the relative identities of the agents A and B, respectively, the relative identities cannot be determined from the first and second information.
At 270, agent A uses the second information received from agent B to verify the identity of agent B. Similarly, at 275, agent B uses the first information received from agent A to verify the identity of agent A. A secure trustworthy communications channel is opened between agents A and B at 280 only if both agent A and B successfully verify the identity of the other agent. The process from 250 to 290 may be repeated for every communication session between agent A and agent B, or may be repeated only if secure trustworthy communications are desired between agents A and B.
Communications between agents A and B, including communications required to verify their relative identities, may be encrypted using an encryption key. The encryption key may optionally be a unique key which may be defined at 230.
The communication channel that is established at 280 may be described as a secure communication channel because the identity information of either agent cannot be stolen. The identity information of an agent cannot be stolen because the identity information is not transmitted, provided or released from the agent over the network. As such, the identity of the agent is protected and is not compromised. As a result, fraudulent transactions based on using an agent's identity information are prevented since an agent's identity information cannot be obtained by an unauthorized entity.
The communication channel that is established at 280 may also be trustworthy. A trustworthy communication channel is a channel which is established between authorized entities. The communication channel of 280 is trustworthy since each agent has verified the identity of the other agent. The trust that is established and verified between the agents is based on the first and second information exchanged between the agents which, in turn, is derived from the relative identity of each agent.
At 310, the agent A and agent B may be first authenticated to their respective computing devices. The agents may be authenticated to their respective computing devices in a number of ways, which may be the same or different for agent A and agent B. For example, when the local agent is under a user's control, the local agent may be authenticated using absolute identity information of the user. This could be, for example, a login ID and a password, and/or biometrics.
An agent may be authenticated to the computing device through relative identity. One technique for authenticating a user-controlled agent is to provide the computing device with an embedded master agent whose sole role is to interact with other agents installed in the computing device. Thus, for example, a user-controlled agent may authenticate itself to the embedded master agent based upon a relative identity between the user-controlled agent and the embedded master agent.
Either agent A or agent B may open a communication channel to the other agent at 320. At 330, a third party agent may optionally verify the identity of agent A and agent B and provide assurances to each agent of the identity of the other. The third party agent may be a specialized agent dedicated to verifying the identities of other agents on the network, or may be any agent that has established relative identity relationships with both agent A and agent B. The supervision of the third party agent is optional, and agent A and agent B may proceed to establish a relative identity relationship without third-party participation.
The process of
An agent's absolute key may not be transmitted or revealed to any other agent on the network. Not transmitting or revealing an agent's absolute key ensures that an agent's identity information cannot be stolen from transmission through the network since the identity information is not transmitted or revealed on the network. Since an agent has a unique absolute key for each relationship and the absolute keys are never transmitted or disclosed to other agents, each absolute key along with the partial relative key is equivalent to the relative identity of the agent for a specific relationship.
At 340 and 345, agents A and B exchange their respective partial relative keys. At 350, agent A forms a first intermediate key derived from agent A's absolute key and a function of the partial relative keys of both agent A and agent B. As previously described, the first intermediate key may be derived in numerous ways including using any of various algorithms or functions such as one-way hash functions, modulus functions, cyclic arithmetic operations, and various other algorithms. Similarly, at step 355, agent B forms a second intermediate key derived from its absolute key and a function of the partial relative keys of both agents. The first and second intermediate keys can be defined as follows:
It should be recognized that the first and second intermediate keys of this example are distinct from each other. Additionally, both the first and second intermediate keys are derived, in part, from the partial relative keys of the local and remote agents and are thus unique to the relationship between these two agents. While both the first and second intermediate keys are derived, in part, from the absolute key of the agent that calculated the intermediate key, the absolute keys cannot be determined from the intermediate keys.
At step 360, agent A may form an encryption key KAB by combining agent A's absolute key with the second intermediate key received from agent B. The combination of agent A's absolute key with the second intermediate key may be done using the same function or algorithm used to form the intermediate keys. Similarly, at step 365, agent B may form an encryption key KBA by combining agent B's absolute key with the first intermediate key received from agent A. The combination of agent B's absolute key with the first intermediate key may be done using the same function or algorithm used to form the intermediate keys.
The function used to form the intermediate keys and the encryption keys may be an associative function, in which case the following relationship will hold:
K
AB
=f[a,f(b,q(c,d))]=f[b,f(a,q(c,d))]=K
BA.
Thus both agent A and agent B may be in possession of an encryption key that may be used to encrypt subsequent communications between the agents. Moreover, since the encryption key can only be created through the use of the secret keys of both agents, the key cannot be recreated by either agent alone, or by any other party, even if the other party intercepts the partial relative keys and the intermediate keys during transmission between agent A and agent B. After the encryption key is formed, agents A and B may each discard the partial relative key and the intermediate key received from the other agent.
Agent A and agent B may then use the encryption key and their respective absolute and partial relative keys to authenticate one another at the start of subsequent communications. As shown in
Either agent A or agent B may open a communication channel at 420. At 430 and 435, agent A and agent B exchange their respective partial relative keys. At 440 and 445, agent A forms and sends the first intermediate key, and agent B forms and sends the second intermediate key. The function or algorithm used to form the first and second intermediate keys may be the same as those employed when establishing the relative identity relationship between agent A and agent B (at 350 and 355 of
At 460, agent A may compare the recreated encryption key from 450 with the known value of the encryption key. An exact match between the recreated and known encryption keys validates the identity of agent B to agent A. Similarly agent B may validate the identity of agent A at 465. A secure trustworthy communication channel may be opened between agent A and agent B at 470 only if both agents have successfully validated the identity of the other agent.
It must be noted that an impostor (e.g. Phisher) attempting to act as agent B must possess agent B's absolute and partial relative keys, as well as have knowledge of the functions or algorithms used to form the intermediate key and encryption key. In the optional situation where the communications between agent A and agent B are encrypted using the encryption key, the imposter would have to know the encryption key as well. Since the encryption key and the absolute key are never disclosed outside of the agent or transmitted over the network, the use of relative identity provides substantial protection against phishers and other impostors.
Steps described above may be performed consecutively or in parallel. Additional and fewer steps may be used to achieve the functionality described above. Furthermore, the process may be performed concurrently for multiple communication channels amongst numerous computing devices and agents.
Closing Comments
The foregoing is merely illustrative and not limiting, having been presented by way of example only. Although examples have been shown and described, it will be apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art that changes, modifications, and/or alterations may be made.
Although many of the examples presented herein involve specific combinations of method acts or system elements, it should be understood that those acts and those elements may be combined in other ways to accomplish the same objectives. With regard to flowcharts, additional and fewer steps may be taken, and the steps as shown may be combined or further refined to achieve the methods described herein. Acts, elements and features discussed only in connection with one embodiment are not intended to be excluded from a similar role in other embodiments.
For any means-plus-function limitations recited in the claims, the means are not intended to be limited to the means disclosed herein for performing the recited function, but are intended to cover in scope any means, known now or later developed, for performing the recited function.
As used herein, “plurality” means two or more.
As used herein, a “set” of items may include one or more of such items.
As used herein, whether in the written description or the claims, the terms “comprising”, “including”, “carrying”, “having”, “containing”, “involving”, and the like are to be understood to be open-ended, i.e., to mean including but not limited to. Only the transitional phrases “consisting of” and “consisting essentially of”, respectively, are closed or semi-closed transitional phrases with respect to claims.
Use of ordinal terms such as “first”, “second”, “third”, etc., in the claims to modify a claim element does not by itself connote any priority, precedence, or order of one claim element over another or the temporal order in which acts of a method are performed, but are used merely as labels to distinguish one claim element having a certain name from another element having a same name (but for use of the ordinal term) to distinguish the claim elements.
As used herein, “and/or” means that the listed items are alternatives, but the alternatives also include any combination of the listed items.
This patent claims priority from and incorporates by reference Application No. 60/807,804 filed Jul. 19, 2006.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60807804 | Jul 2006 | US |
