Access Credential Timestamp Reliability via Server Timer
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Solution Overview
Problem
Replay attacks pose a significant threat in computer networks, where unauthorized parties can capture and retransmit access credentials to gain access to restricted services, and existing solutions rely on timestamp reliability to mitigate these attacks, but this reliability can be compromised by user manipulation or lack of network connectivity.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a system where access credentials have a limited time-to-live and include a timestamp indicating their generation time, with the use of a system timer that is inaccessible to users, and synchronizing time information with an authorization network to generate reliable timestamps, ensuring accurate expiration checks without relying on user-configurable timers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If user-configurable timers are used for timestamp generation, then ease of operation is improved, but reliability deteriorates due to user manipulation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary system (the server with system timer) between the user and the timestamp generation process. The server's system timer acts as a mediator that provides timestamps without direct user access or control, thereby maintaining ease of operation for users while ensuring reliability through centralized, protected timekeeping.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the timestamp generation function from the user's local environment and relocates it to the server environment. By taking out the timer functionality from user-controlled systems and placing it in a trusted server context, the solution maintains operational simplicity for users while eliminating the reliability issue of user manipulation.
2Reliability
If network connectivity is required for time synchronization, then reliability is improved, but productivity deteriorates due to constant network dependency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs time synchronization as a preliminary action during server startup or initialization, rather than requiring continuous network connectivity during operation. The system timer is synchronized with the network time source in advance, allowing the system to maintain reliable timestamps even when network connectivity is temporarily unavailable during credential generation.
3Reliability
If access credentials have limited time-to-live, then security against replay attacks is improved, but loss of time increases due to frequent credential renewal
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements automatic credential renewal where the system automatically generates new credentials with updated timestamps before the previous ones expire. This self-service mechanism eliminates the need for manual user intervention to renew credentials, thereby maintaining strong security through time-limited credentials while minimizing the loss of time that would otherwise be spent on manual renewal processes.
Data Source
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AI summary
A process for generating an access credential by a communication device may include determining whether a communication device successfully executed a predetermined shutdown sequence when the communication device last transitioned to an inactive state, determining whether the communication device has synchronized with an authorization network subsequent to transitioning back to an active state, and generating the access credential including a timestamp. The access credential may indicate whether the access credential has reliable timestamp information. The access credential can be provided to an access device associated with an authorization network to authenticate the communication device.