Data Authentication Using Nonce and Secret Key Segmentation
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Solution Overview
Problem
There is a need to authenticate data in networks where unidirectional device communication and bandwidth/processing limitations prevent the application of techniques like digital certificate revocation, especially for ensuring the validity and timeliness of conditional access information.
Innovation Solution
The use of a changing secret value to generate a non-secret value, which is a function of a shared key and an authentication key, allows a recipient device to verify the authenticity and timeliness of the data, enabling authentication even in networks without secure reference clocks or digital certificate revocation mechanisms.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If digital certificate revocation techniques are used for data authentication, then authentication reliability is improved, but device complexity and processing requirements increase beyond what limited-resource networks can support
Solution Approach 1:
The authentication system is segmented into two distinct components: a shared secret key stored in secure element and a publicly accessible nonce. This segmentation allows the system to achieve authentication reliability without requiring complex revocation infrastructure, as the nonce can be freely updated to invalidate previous authentication instances while the secure key remains protected in simple storage.
Solution Approach 2:
A public nonce acts as an intermediary between the secure authentication key and the authentication verification process. The nonce mediates the authentication by being combined with the secret key to generate authentication codes, allowing the system to achieve certificate-like revocation capabilities through simple nonce updates without requiring full digital certificate infrastructure.
2Reliability
If traditional authentication methods are used in networks without secure reference clocks, then authentication can be performed, but timeliness verification becomes unreliable
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses the publicly accessible nonce as a self-service timing reference that does not require external clock synchronization infrastructure. Each authentication instance incorporates the current nonce value, which naturally progresses over time, allowing receiving devices to verify timeliness by checking nonce progression without requiring secure reference clocks or complex network time synchronization.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for authenticating data and timeliness are disclosed. A method for authentication can comprise processing a data block to determine a first secret element, generating a second secret element based upon the first secret element, generating a non-secret element based upon the second secret element, and comparing the non-secret element to a nonce associated with the first secret element to determine authentication.