Public Key Verification Without Private Key Exposure
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing technologies face challenges in verifying the correctness of public keys in asymmetric cryptographic key pairs without compromising the secrecy of the private keys, especially in scenarios involving updates and peer-to-peer communications, where external systems need to validate key pairs without accessing sensitive information.
Innovation Solution
The technique generates new key pairs by applying operations such as summation or multiplication to existing key pairs, allowing external systems to verify the correctness of new public keys independently using intermediate keys, without exposing the private keys or secrets, thus maintaining secrecy while ensuring key pair validity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If existing key pairs are used for verification, then verification can be performed, but the usage of existing key pairs increases reducing security
Solution Approach 1:
The verification process is segmented into two independent paths: the computing device generates a new key pair from the existing key pair and intermediate key, while the external system independently verifies the new public key using only the existing public key and intermediate key. This segmentation allows verification without exposing or reusing the existing private key, maintaining secrecy while enabling validation.
Solution Approach 2:
The intermediate key is generated in advance as a verification artifact that enables external systems to validate the new key pair without accessing the existing private key. This preliminary action creates a verification mechanism that preserves the secrecy of the existing key pair while allowing independent verification of the new key pair's correctness.
2Loss of information
If new key pairs are generated without verification, then secrecy is maintained, but correctness of public keys cannot be ensured
Solution Approach 1:
The intermediate key serves as a mediator that bridges the gap between maintaining secrecy and ensuring correctness. It is derived from the existing private key and other inputs, enabling the computing device to generate a new key pair that can be independently verified by external systems using only public information (existing public key and intermediate key), thus ensuring correctness without compromising secrecy.
3Productivity
If existing key pairs are reused for multiple verifications, then verification efficiency improves, but security is compromised due to increased exposure
Solution Approach 1:
The invention discards the existing key pair after it has served its purpose of enabling new key pair generation and verification. The new key pair replaces the old one, and the existing private key is no longer used for verification operations. This discarding mechanism reduces continuous exposure risk while the intermediate key enables efficient verification of the new key pair without requiring the old private key.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems, apparatuses, and methods to verify or validate a public key. For example, a computing device computes an intermediate key from inputs known to both the computing device and a remote device, and combines the intermediate key and a first private key via an operation (e.g., summation or multiplication) to generate a second private key. A second public key computed for the second private key by the computing device can be transmitted to the remote device for verification or validation without the remote device having data to identify the private keys. For example, the remote device can separately compute the intermediate key from the inputs and then combine the intermediate key with a first public key of the first private key (e.g., via summation or multiplication) to generate a version of the second public key for comparison with the second public key received from the computing device.