Key Distribution Service for IoT Certificate Lifecycle Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current cybersecurity solutions for IoT, IIoT, and OT environments face challenges in secure device authentication and key management due to dependencies on PKI systems, high costs, scalability issues, and complexity, particularly in managing symmetric pre-shared keys and certificate lifecycles on resource-constrained devices without digital certificates or asymmetric keypairs.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for secure key distribution and management using a permissioned key distribution service that generates, distributes, and manages symmetric pre-shared keys at scale, enabling secure communications without PKI-based digital certificates or asymmetric keypairs, utilizing DNS domain validation and a KDS proxy for automated and scalable key lifecycle management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If PKI-based digital certificates and asymmetric keypairs are used for device authentication, then security is improved, but device complexity and cost increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the complex asymmetric keypair generation and management functions from resource-constrained IoT/IIoT/OT devices and relocates them to a centralized Key Distribution Service (KDS). Devices only retain lightweight symmetric pre-shared keys, eliminating the need for local private key storage and asymmetric cryptography operations on constrained devices.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a Key Distribution Service (KDS) as an intermediary between device manufacturers and device operators. The KDS manages the complete key and certificate lifecycle including generation, distribution, renewal, and revocation, eliminating the need for devices to autonomously manage complex cryptographic materials.
2Reliability
If commercial certificate authorities issue short-lived certificates, then security is improved, but recurring costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service key lifecycle management where the Key Distribution Service automatically handles certificate generation, renewal, and revocation without requiring external commercial certificate authorities. The system performs periodic key rotation and automatic certificate renewal based on configured policies, eliminating recurring CA fees.
3Reliability
If manual key management modes are used for heterogeneous devices, then security is improved, but operational complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal Key Distribution Service that handles diverse key management operations (generation, distribution, renewal, revocation) across heterogeneous device types through a single standardized interface. The system supports multiple device manufacturers, operators, and key types through unified policies and procedures.
4Reliability
If certificate chain verification is performed on resource-constrained devices, then security is improved, but computational load increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts computationally intensive certificate chain verification operations from resource-constrained devices and relocates them to the Key Distribution Service. Constrained devices only perform lightweight symmetric key-based authentication, while the KDS handles all asymmetric cryptography and certificate validation.
5Reliability
If pre-shared keys are distributed to multiple devices, then secure communication is enabled, but key distribution complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a Key Distribution Service as an intermediary that automatically generates, manages, and distributes pre-shared keys to multiple devices based on group memberships and access policies. The system handles key rotation and revocation centrally, eliminating the need for manual key distribution to each device.
Data Source
AI summary
The method provides for dynamic retrieval of certificates, with remote, secure, and scalable lifecycle management. It enables importing, creating, renewing, rekeying, and retrieving leaf certificates and associated private keys, assigning to registered devices, and acquiring by applications executing on registered devices with device two-factor authentication. It is an agentless method to achieve device protection, application security, and data protection with data authenticity and confidentiality in intra-device, inter-device, device-to-edge, and device-to-cloud secure communications. It helps Transport Layer Security and Internet Key Exchange enabled applications retrieve leaf certificates and the associated private key, and verify certificates, programmatically for certificate-based authentication during protocol handshake, with policy-based authorization of trusted applications. It enables applications and command line utilities retrieve and use leaf certificates for mutual authentication, data signing with digital signatures, and key unwrapping. It further enables dynamic retrieval of trusted intermediate and root certificates.