Everyday Objects as Cryptographic Keys
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing access control methods, such as physical authenticators, face challenges in cost and manageability for widespread distribution, and lack secure, easy-to-use alternatives to passwords for multifactor authentication.
Innovation Solution
Utilizing everyday physical objects as authenticators, converting them into digital data streams with high entropy and repeatability, and generating public/private key pairs for secure authentication, allowing for context-specific augmentation and secure key generation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If physical authenticators (security tokens, hardware tokens, USB authenticators, key fobs) are distributed to users, then security strength is improved, but cost and manageability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a digital copy or representation of a physical object (the seed object) that can be used to generate cryptographic keys. Instead of distributing physical authenticators, the system distributes digital representations that can be converted into cryptographic seeds, eliminating the need for physical device distribution while maintaining security
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical/physical authenticator system with a digital/software-based system. The conversion system transforms physical object characteristics into digital cryptographic seeds, substituting physical hardware distribution with digital data distribution, thereby reducing cost and manageability complexity
2Reliability
If physical authenticators are distributed to all users, then security is improved, but distribution cost becomes prohibitive
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses inexpensive digital representations of physical objects as cryptographic seeds. Instead of costly physical authenticators, the system uses digital data that can be freely distributed, making the authentication mechanism economically viable for widespread adoption
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates and distributes digital copies of physical object characteristics. These digital representations can be replicated and distributed at minimal cost, eliminating the prohibitive distribution costs associated with physical authenticators while maintaining security through cryptographic key generation
3Ease of operation
If physical objects are used as authenticators, then ease of use is improved, but security management becomes complex
Solution Approach 1:
The system allows users to select and use their own physical objects as authenticators. The conversion system automatically transforms the physical object characteristics into cryptographic seeds, eliminating the need for complex security management infrastructure while maintaining strong security through user-owned physical objects
Data Source
AI summary
This disclosure involves the notion of using physical objects to generate public key-based authenticators and, in particular, to use “everyday” physical objects to create a generator seed for a key generator that will use that seed to generate a key pair comprising a public key, and its associated private key. In a preferred approach, the physical object is used to create a digital representation (of the physical object) that, together with some uniqueness associated to the user, gives rise to a key generator seed value. Without knowledge of (a) the physical object itself, (b) how the physical object characteristic is converted (to a digital representation), and (c) the uniqueness value, an attacker cannot reproduce the key generator seed (or the key(s) generated from that seed).