Pseudonym Certificate Issuance Using Unified Butterfly Keys
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Solution Overview
Problem
V2X technologies face challenges in ensuring secure and private communication among vehicles and infrastructure, particularly in authenticating messages to prevent misbehavior while preserving user anonymity, which is crucial for safety and traffic management.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a unified butterfly key expansion process for generating pseudonym certificates using a single caterpillar key pair, combined with a pseudorandom function, to enhance security and privacy by preventing linkage of certificates to specific devices, thus reducing processing and bandwidth costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional certificate issuance processes are used in V2X communications, then security authentication can be provided, but processing costs and bandwidth consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple certificate operations (issuance, renewal, revocation) into a single unified certificate that uses one key pair. This merging eliminates the need for separate certificate management processes, reducing processing overhead and bandwidth consumption while maintaining security authentication capabilities across multiple V2X communication sessions.
Solution Approach 2:
The unified certificate issued in this patent serves multiple functions simultaneously - it provides authentication for multiple sessions, enables both issuance and revocation operations, and works across different V2X communication scenarios. This multi-functionality reduces the overall number of certificate operations needed, lowering processing costs while maintaining reliability.
2Reliability
If multiple pseudonym certificates are issued for each device, then privacy protection is improved, but certificate management complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the functionality of multiple pseudonym certificates into a single certificate that protects device identity across multiple sessions. Instead of managing separate certificates for each pseudonym, the unified certificate structure maintains privacy protection while simplifying the management overhead through a single certificate validation process.
3Reliability
If frequent certificate issuance is performed, then security is improved by reducing stale certificates, but bandwidth consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary actions by issuing a unified certificate with extended validity and multiple operational capabilities in advance. This preliminary issuance reduces the need for frequent subsequent certificate operations, thereby maintaining security through valid certificates while significantly reducing bandwidth consumption from repeated issuance and renewal operations.
Data Source
AI summary
Digital certificates are generated for devices by a Certificate Authority (CA), which communicates with devices via another entity—registration authority (RA)—so that the CA and RA cannot associate certificates with devices. Each certificate is associated with a public signature key, and with a public encryption key used by CA to encrypt the certificate to hide it from the RA. Both keys are derived by CA from a single key. For example, the signature key can be derived from the public encryption key rather than generated independently. However, high security is obtained even when the CA does not sign the encrypted certificate. Reduced bandwidth and computational costs are obtained as a result. Other embodiments are also provided.