Secure Device Onboarding Using Customer-Specific eSIM Verification
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing secure device onboarding processes lack security across entities, risking exposure of secrets/keys and compromising trust between enterprises and wireless devices, leading to potential unauthorized access and misconfiguration.
Innovation Solution
A security schema involving a Connectivity Management Platform (CMP) and Device Management Platform (DMP) generates customer-specific access tokens and verifies eSIM ownership to establish trust, ensuring secure device onboarding without manual intervention, using dual verification to prevent key compromise affecting multiple organizations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If automated device onboarding is implemented without security verification, then device provisioning speed is improved, but security and trust between enterprises and devices deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary security verification by generating customer-specific access tokens and verifying eSIM ownership before device onboarding occurs. This advance authentication ensures that security checks are completed beforehand, allowing fast automated provisioning while maintaining strong security guarantees through pre-established trust relationships.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary security schema involving CMP and DMP that mediates between devices and enterprises. This intermediary layer generates access tokens and verifies ownership, enabling automated onboarding while maintaining security through a trusted intermediary that prevents direct exposure of secrets/keys.
2Ease of operation
If centralized key management is used for device onboarding, then ease of operation is improved, but risk of key compromise affecting multiple organizations increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments key management by generating customer-specific access tokens for each organization rather than using a single centralized key. This segmentation isolates cryptographic materials so that compromise of one customer's credentials does not affect other organizations, while maintaining ease of operation through automated token management by the CMP.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements local quality by creating customized security credentials specific to each customer organization. Each organization receives its own access tokens and security parameters tailored to its needs, providing localized security that prevents cross-organization compromise while maintaining centralized management capabilities.
3Reliability
If manual intervention is required for device onboarding, then security control is improved, but device provisioning time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements self-service by enabling devices to automatically obtain access tokens and complete onboarding without manual intervention. The CMP and DMP handle security verification automatically through programmed protocols, maintaining strong security control while eliminating time-consuming manual steps through automated authentication and provisioning processes.
Data Source
AI summary
Presented herein are a system and secure device onboarding techniques. A Connectivity Management Platform (CMP) receives a request for an access token that includes a user identifier, a customer organization identifier, and an authorization code from a Device Management Platform (DMP), verifies the authorization code, queries an enterprise server using the user identifier and the customer organization identifier to confirm the user belongs to the customer organization, generates the access token, stores the access token in an authentication datastore, and transmits the access token to DMP. The CMP receives a provisioning request including an eSIM identifier of a device and an access token from the DMP, verifies the access token, obtains a customer organization identifier based thereon, queries an enterprise server using the eSIM identifier and the customer organization identifier to confirm the device belongs to the customer organization, and facilitates secure provisioning of the device with an eSIM profile.