Patent Application
20120266220
The present invention relates generally to the use of a secure element on a portable device, and more particularly to a controlling access to one or more third-party applications via passwords stored in the secure element.
Many applications have been developed for use in association with portable communications devices. Some of these applications would benefit from robust security protocols—for example, a password manager application for storing passwords and PIN codes (generically referred to as “passwords”), or a mobile database application that stores personally identifiable information or other confidential information. In the case of a password manager, such password managers are well known to allow users to manage one or more passwords in a single location or database (referred to as a “password key ring”). Current applications provide some security, but are vulnerable to hacking or leakage of data or information. In fact, many current applications have the password functionality stored in regular memory as depicted in
Accordingly, there is a need in the industry for a more secure means to verify passwords used by third party programs. Many portable communications devices now have secure elements to provide a higher level of security to support electronic financial transactions. Usually access to these secure elements is limited to such financial applications because secure elements are designed to self-destruct if someone improperly accesses the data stored within or physically tampers with the card. Thus, by limiting the types of programs that access these secure elements, inadvertent destruction has been avoided. However, in view of the increase need for security (particularly in portable devices) there is a need for an intermediary to provide safe password storage and verification for third-party applications via a secure element to minimize the occurrence of inadvertent self-destruction of secure elements.
Accordingly, the present invention seeks to provide one or more solutions to the foregoing problems and related problems as would be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art having the present specification before them. These and other objects and advantages of the present disclosure will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the present drawings, specifications, and claims before them. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features, and advantages be included within this description, be within the scope of the disclosure, and be protected by the accompanying claims.
In one embodiment, the system for controlling access to an application on a portable communication device having a secured element and a user interface comprises memory associated with the secure element; a card management module operably associated with the portable communication device and with the secure element capable of controlling the secured element to facilitate writing to and reading from the memory; and a password management module operably associated with the card management module, the portable communication device user interface, and the application, the password management module receiving an application identifier associated with the application, a user name, and a password from the user interface, and providing an access command to the application based on whether the received user name and password match information stored in the memory.
In one embodiment, the memory associated with the secure element may be within the secure element. In another embodiment, the memory associated with the secure element is outside the secure element and an encryption key is used to encrypt contents of the memory. The encryption key may be stored within the secured element. The secure element includes a pseudo-random number generator, the graphical user interface further comprising an interface for creating passwords with portions generated by the pseudo-random number generator. The memory may be located within the portable communication device. In one embodiment, the operable connection between the card management module and the graphical user interface is a trusted connection.
For a better understanding of the present disclosure, non-limiting and non-exhaustive embodiments are described in reference to the following drawings. In the drawings, like reference numerals refer to like parts through all the various figures unless otherwise specified.
The present invention now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and which show, by way of illustration, specific exemplary embodiments by which the invention may be practiced. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Among other things, the present invention may be embodied as methods or devices. Accordingly, the present invention and its components may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense.
The present invention provides a system and method that can be utilized with a variety of different portable communication devices 50, including but not limited to PDA's, cellular phones, smart phones, laptops, tablet computers, and other mobile devices that include cellular voice and data service as well as preferable access to consumer downloadable applications. One such portable communication device could be an iPhone, Motorola RAZR or DROID; however, the present invention is preferably platform and device independent. For example, the portable communication device technology platform may be Microsoft Windows Mobile, Microsoft Windows Phone 7, Palm OS, RIM Blackberry OS, Apple OS, Android OS, Symbian, Java or any other technology platform. For purposes of this disclosure, the present invention has been generally described in accordance with features and interfaces that are optimized for a smart phone utilizing a generalized platform, although one skilled in the art would understand that all such features and interfaces may also be used and adapted for any other platform and/or device.
The portable communication device would likely include one or more short proximity electromagnetic communication devices, such as an NFC, RFID, or Bluetooth transceiver. It is presently preferred to use an NFC baseband that is Compliant with NFC IP 1 standards (www.nfcforum.org), which provides standard functions like peer-to-peer data exchange, reader-writer mode (i.e., harvesting of information from RFID tags), and contactless card emulation (per the NFC IP 1 and ISO 14443 standards) when paired with a secure element on the portable communication device and presented in front of a “contactless payment reader” (see below at point of sale). As would be understood in the art by those having the present specification, figures, and claims before them, the NFC IP 1 standards are simply the presently preferred example, which could be exported—in whole or in part—for use in association with any other proximity communication standard. It is further preferred that the portable communication device include an NFC/RFID antenna (conformed to NFC IP 1 and ISO 14443 standards) to enable near field communications. However, as would be understood in the art NFC/RFID communications may be accomplished albeit over even shorter ranges and potential read problems.
The portable communication device also preferably includes a mobile network interface to establish and manage wireless communications with a mobile network operator. The mobile network interface uses one or more communication protocols and technologies including, but not limited to, global system for mobile communication (GSM), 3G, 4G, code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), user datagram protocol (UDP), transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP), SMS, general packet radio service (GPRS), WAP, ultra wide band (UWB), IEEE 802.16 Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), SIP/RTP, or any of a variety of other wireless communication protocols to communicate with the mobile network of a mobile network operator. Accordingly, the mobile network interface may include as a transceiver, transceiving device, or network interface card (NIC). It is contemplated that the mobile network interface and short proximity electromagnetic communication device could share a transceiver or transceiving device, as would be understood in the art by those having the present specification, figures, and claims before them.
The portable communication device further includes a user interface that provides some means for the consumer to receive information as well as to input information or otherwise respond to the received information. As is presently understood (without intending to limit the present disclosure thereto) this user interface may include a microphone, an audio speaker, a haptic interface, a graphical display, and a keypad, keyboard, pointing device and/or touch screen. As would be understood in the art by those having the present specification, figures, and claims before them, the portable communication device may further include a location transceiver that can determine the physical coordinates of the device on the surface of the Earth typically as a function of its latitude, longitude and altitude. This location transceiver preferably uses GPS technology, so it may be referred to herein as a GPS transceiver; however, it should be understood that the location transceiver can additionally (or alternatively) employ other geo-positioning mechanisms, including, but not limited to, triangulation, assisted GPS (AGPS), E-OTD, CI, SAI, ETA, BSS or the like, to determine the physical location of the portable communication device on the surface of the Earth.
The portable communication device will also include a microprocessor and mass memory. The mass memory may include ROM, RAM as well as one or more removable memory cards. The mass memory provides storage for computer readable instructions and other data, including a basic input/output system (“BIOS”) and an operating system for controlling the operation of the portable communication device. The portable communication device will also include a device identification memory dedicated to identify the device, such as a SIM card. As is generally understood, SIM cards contain the unique serial number of the device (ESN), an internationally unique number of the mobile user (IMSI), security authentication and ciphering information, temporary information related to the local network, a list of the services the user has access to and two passwords (PIN for usual use and PUK for unlocking). As would be understood in the art by those having the present specification, figures, and claims before them, other information may be maintained in the device identification memory depending upon the type of device, its primary network type, home mobile network operator, etc.
In the present invention each portable communication device may be thought to have two subsystems: (1) a “wireless subsystem” that enables communication and other data applications as has become commonplace with users of cellular telephones today, and (2) the “secure transactional subsystem” which may also be known as the “payment subsystem”. It is contemplated that this secure transactional subsystem will preferably include a secure element, as further described below. In one embodiment of the present invention, the portable device may not need or even have a wireless subsystem. The present invention is directed to securely storing a digital password key ring in the secure element, so there may be no need for the ability to communicate with a network, only the need to communication with an end user who may input passwords, keys, secrets, and other certifying credentials and, in turn, manually retrieve those passwords, keys, secrets, and other certifying credentials. With a network connection, however, applications may prove to have trusted status, which would be highly desirable.
Each of the portable communications devices may be connected to at least one mobile network operator. The mobile network operator generally provides physical infrastructure that supports the wireless communication services, data applications and the secure transactional subsystem via a plurality of cell towers that communicate with a plurality of portable communication devices within each cell tower's associated cell. In turn, the cell towers may be in operable communication with the logical network of the mobile network operator, POTS, and the Internet to convey the communications and data within the mobile network operator's own logical network as well as to external networks including those of other mobile network operators. The mobile network operators generally provide support for one or more communication protocols and technologies including, but not limited to, global system for mobile communication (GSM), 3G, 4G, code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), user datagram protocol (UDP), transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP), SMS, general packet radio service (GPRS), WAP, ultra wide band (UWB), IEEE 802.16 Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), SIP/RTP, or any of a variety of other wireless communication protocols to communicate with the portable communication devices.
As shown in
In one embodiment, the secure element is a separate physical memory chip, such as one similar (if not identical) to that described as part of the Global Platform 2.1.X, 2.2, or 2.2.X (www.globalplatform.org). Alternatively, or in addition, a “virtual” secure element (also referred to as a secure data store 115) may be implemented, such as that disclosed in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/279,147, which is fully incorporated into this application by reference. Preferably the secure transactional subsystem will conform, where appropriate, to an international standard, such as the standard defined in Global Platform 2.1.X or 2.2.
The invention relates to a system for more securely storing and verifying one or more passwords on a portable communication device. The system comprises a secure subsystem operably associated with the portable communication device, wherein the secure subsystem includes a secure element. The system may further include a card services module operably associated with the portable communication device and with the secure subsystem, wherein each of the one or more passwords is stored in the secure subsystem. The secure subsystem can further include a rewritable, encrypted memory having an encryption key stored in the secure element and an encryption engine operably connected to the rewritable, encrypted memory, the engine being capable of encrypting and decrypting data using the encryption key.
As illustrated in
The system may be associated with a system management back end. As shown in
The system management back end server may comprise one or more general-purpose computers that implement the procedures and functions needed to run the system back office in serial or in parallel on the same computer or across a local or wide area network distributed on a plurality of computers and may even be located “in the cloud” (preferably subject to the provision of sufficient security). The computer(s) comprising the server may be controlled by Linux, Windows®, Windows CE, Unix, or a Java® based operating system, to name a few. The system management back end server is operably associated with mass memory that stores program code and data. Data may include one or more databases, text, spreadsheet, folder, file, or the like, that may be configured to maintain and store a knowledge base, user identifiers (ESN, IMSI, PIN, telephone number, email/IM address, billing information, or the like).
The system management back end server be operably coupled to a plurality of client computers. Each client computer associated with the system management back end server has a network interface device, graphical user interface, and voice communication capabilities that match the voice channel(s) supported by the client care center server, such as VoIP. Each client computer can request status of both the cellular and secure transactional subsystems of a portable communication device. This status may include the contents of the soft memory and core performance of portable communication device, the NFC components: baseband, NFC antenna, secure element status and identification. In this regard, the client computers may be used for customer care.
As shown in
The payment libraries 110 are used by wallet 100 to manage (and perform housekeeping tasks on) the secure element 120, interface with the system management back end 300, and perform over-the-air (OTA) provisioning via data communication transceiver (including its SMS channel), on the device 50. It is contemplated that the OTA data communications will preferably be encrypted in some manner and an encryption key may be deployed in card service module 420 (see
Wallet 100 (and more particularly the card services module 420) manages the complexity involved in the storage, maintenance and use of credentials such as card, coupon, ticket, access control data from one or multiple sources or issuers in association with the secure transactional subsystem 150. The card services module 420 also preferably enforces access control to the data stored in the secure transactional subsystem 150 and controls the function(s) each application is allowed to conduct with the secure transactional subsystem 150. In one approach, card services module 420 verifies the author/issuer of each third-party application 200 in use on the portable communication device 50. This verification may be accomplished by accessing a local authorization database of permitted (i.e., trusted) applications (see
The card services module 420 verifies the trusted status of any third-party application 200 before that application is allowed access to the secure element 120 (or secure data store 115 and even preferably the meta data repository 125) on the portable communication device 50 to view, select and/or change secure data stored in the payment subsystem 150. In one approach noted above, this verification may be accomplished by accessing a local authorization database of permitted or trusted applications. In a preferred approach, the local authorization database in cooperates with a remote authorization database associated with one or more servers associated with system management back end 300.
The “Issuer Registry” database is a database of approved Issuers. The Issuer ID is unique for each type of credential. In other words, if a bank has multiple types of credentials (e.g. debit cards, credit cards, affinity cards, etc.) each credential type would have its own Issuer ID (e.g. I-BofA-II). In a preferred approach, the Issuer ID as between multiple types of credentials would have some common elements, so as to indicated that the credentials are at least related (e.g. I-BofA-I). In this way applications from same issuer can share data with the other application of the same “extended” issuer. In a preferred approach, card services module 420 can be simplified by requiring even the wallet user interface 410 (which “ships with the system”) to have an Issuer ID (and as well as an Application ID and Compile token).
The “Application Registry” is a database of applications (mostly third-party) that have pre-approved by an operating system provider. Like the User A/C Registry, the “Application Registry” and “Issuer Registry” database are maintained on the server side (or otherwise in the cloud) in operable association with the wallet 100. As would be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art having the present specification before them, the various registries may be implemented in separate databases or one unified database. At initiation of a wallet 100 and preferably at substantially regular time-intervals thereafter (e.g., daily), the data stored in the Application Registry of wallet is distributed to devices with the wallet to be stored locally.
As shown in
When the user seeks to qualify a third-party application with the card services module 420 on a device 50, the Compile ID (a digital token) and Application ID (a digital identifier) associated with the third-party application may be matched against the Compile ID and Application ID pairs stored in the Card Services Registry stored on the device 50 (see
After the application has been loaded into the Card Services Registry (and the secret token embedded in the application), the third-party may launch and may prompt the user to opt-in to provide access to the issuer-specific credential needed for the validated (or trusted) application. In each subsequent launch of the third-party trusted application, the embedded Secret Token and/or Application ID are compared to the data in the Card Services Registry on the device. If there is match, the application is trusted and can access the payment subsystem 150 via card service module 420. In this manner, it can be seen that applications 200 or wallet user interface 410 may also be removed from the Card Services Registry and thus would be disabled from accessing the payment subsystem and possibly the application, altogether.
Card services module 420 also preferably uses the trusted application verification step to determine the appropriate level of subsystem access allowed for each application 200. For example, in one embodiment, one application 200a may be authorized to access and display all of the data contained in the payment subsystem 150, where another third-party application 200x may be only authorized to access and display a subset of the data contained in the payment subsystem 150. In yet another embodiment, an application may be permitted only to send a payment or transaction requests to wallet 100, but may not itself be permitted to access any of the data contained in the payment subsystem 150. In one approach, assignment of permissions to the application can be thought of as follows:
These permission can be used to form 4 hexadecimal number in the order shown above from most to least significant figure. As shown in the example Card Services Registry of
When an application 200 needs to interact with the secure transactional subsystem 150, it does so by passing a digital identifier (such as its Issuer ID or App ID), a digital token (i.e., Compile ID or Secret Token ID), the desired action, and any associated arguments needed for the action to the card services module 420. Card services module 420 verifies the digital identifier-digital token pair matches trusted application data in the secure data table (
The password management system 350 (in conjunction with the card services module 420) stores and maintains one or more passwords in the secure transactional subsystem 150 (i.e. secure element 120 or secure data store 115) and further validates access attempts to applications based on a comparison of the securely stored password with a presently entered string. In particular, the password management system 350 provides only a “yes/no” response, which determines, in turn, whether access to the respective third party application 200 is provided to the user. Any number of third party applications 200 may be supported by the password management application subject primarily to the space limitations of the secure transactional subsystem 150. Because the password management application is relatively simple, it should be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the pertinent functionality of the password management and the card services module 420 may be incorporated completely into the password management system 350 to provide a thinner approach to the present invention.
The password management system 350 provides an interface through which a user may register, provision, access and/or use the information securely stored in the secure transactional subsystem 150 in association with the card services module 420 relating to the user's credentials.
The registration and storage of user name and password information for each application (e.g., application 200c) in communication with secure transactional subsystem 150 is provided to the password manager application which manages the storage of such information in the secure memory. Password manager application may include or otherwise communicate with a base memory location module that provides the password manager application with a base memory address location corresponding to the application address for secure storage of the user name and password pair information. Password manager application writes the user name and password information to secure memory and, in particular, to the base memory location associated with the application address. With reference to
To ensure that the correct user name and password are stored in secure memory, password manager provides the user name and password, as entered by the user, to the comparator module and issues a read request to the base memory location address where the user name and password were stored. In response to the read request, the stored user name and password are provided to the comparator module where the stored user name and password are compared to the originally-provided user name and password. The comparator module then performs a compare operation comparing the provided user name and password to the stored user name and password.
If the comparison module determines that credentials match, then comparator module issues a “yes” response to the password manager application and/or to the card services module and access control as is described herein and illustrated in
Subsequent to the storage of a user name and password pair within secure memory, when a user attempts to access an application such as application 200c that requires a user to check in with credentials, the user's user name and password (as entered by the user) and the application address associated with the application are provided to the password manager application. Password manager application provides the provided user name and password to the comparator module. Password manager identifies the base memory location associated with the provided application address using the base memory location module and issues a read request to secure memory to read the user name and password stored in secure memory at the base memory location associated with the provided application address. In response to the read request, the stored user name and password stored at the base memory location are provided to the comparator module.
Comparator module then performs a compare operation comparing the provided user name and password to the stored user name and password. If the comparison determines that the user has provided the correct credentials, then the comparator module issues a “yes” response to the card services module 420 and to access control as is described herein and illustrated in
In one potential embodiment shown in
In one embodiment, once the user selects “Tap to Generate,” a request to generate a random (or pseudo-random) password is sent to a random/pseudo-random PIN generator. Preferably, such random/pseudo-random PIN generator is local to the device (preferably to the secure element 120), and is the same generator used to generate the Compile token, as discussed further below. Once generated, the PIN is then sent back to the password manager application for use in generating the password as requested by the user.
In an embodiment where the password manager application is configured as one of the third-party applications it would have to be registered in order to access the wallet 100 (or more particularly card services module 420). Because the password manager application is not an issuer, does not manipulate true NFC credentials and should not be allowed access to other credentials it should be given permission level 11100, which can be thought to expand to 0001 0001 0001 0000 0000. In other words, the password manager application would be allowed to read, write, and delete its own “credentials” but not activate/deactivate or download credentials.
The foregoing description and drawings merely explain and illustrate the invention and the invention is not limited thereto. While the specification is described in relation to certain implementation or embodiments, many details are set forth for the purpose of illustration. Thus, the foregoing merely illustrates the principles of the invention. For example, the invention may have other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristic. The described arrangements are illustrative and not restrictive. To those skilled in the art, the invention is susceptible to additional implementations or embodiments and certain of these details described in this application may be varied considerably without departing from the basic principles of the invention. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise various arrangements which, although not explicitly described or shown herein, embody the principles of the invention and, thus, within its scope and spirit.
This application claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/279,184, filed on Oct. 21, 2011, entitled “System and Method for Providing Secure Data Communication Functionality to a Variety of Applications on a Portable Communication Device,” which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/414,847, filed on Nov. 17, 2010, entitled “System and Method for Providing Secure Data Communication Functionality to a Variety of Applications on a Portable Communication Device.” This application also claims priority from U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/279,147, filed on Oct. 21, 2011, entitled “System and Method for Providing a Virtual Secure Element on a Portable Communication Device,” which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/414,845, filed on Nov. 17, 2010, entitled “System and Method for Providing a Virtual Secure Element on a Portable Communication Device.”
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61414847 | Nov 2010 | US | |
| 61414845 | Nov 2010 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 13279184 | Oct 2011 | US |
| Child | 13447489 | US | |
| Parent | 13279147 | Oct 2011 | US |
| Child | 13279184 | US |
