Sensor Encryption Hardware for Secure Multi-Party Communication
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for protecting sensors and emitters, particularly in internet infrastructure, face challenges with scalability and security, as public key sizes increase significantly with the number of parties involved, making large-scale secure communication and data routing inefficient and vulnerable to malware and backdoors.
Innovation Solution
The solution involves local encryption of energy received by sensors and emitters, using dedicated hardware for encryption, and a multiparty key exchange system that decentralizes security, allowing for secure communication among multiple parties without relying on centralized authorities, thus preventing man-in-the-middle attacks and maintaining confidentiality and integrity of data.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional public key infrastructure is used for secure communication among multiple sensors and emitters, then security is improved, but public key sizes increase significantly with the number of parties, making the system inefficient and difficult to scale
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the traditional centralized public key infrastructure into distributed key generation units at each sensor and emitter. Instead of one large public key for all parties, each party generates and manages its own key pair, dividing the security burden into manageable segments that scale linearly rather than exponentially with the number of parties.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a new dimensional approach by using information-theoretic security based on secret sharing and multiparty computation, moving beyond the traditional computational security model. This allows security to be achieved through mathematical protocols rather than increasingly large key sizes, effectively adding a new dimension to the security problem solution space.
2Ease of operation
If centralized authorities are used to manage security keys, then key management is simplified, but the system becomes vulnerable to malware and backdoors in centralized infrastructure
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the trust anchor from centralized authorities and embeds it directly in each sensor and emitter through local key generation and secret sharing. By taking out the centralized key management function and distributing it to individual devices, the system eliminates the single point of failure that malware and backdoors exploit in centralized infrastructures.
Solution Approach 2:
Each sensor and emitter serves its own security needs by generating and managing its own cryptographic key pairs locally. The devices perform self-service security operations including local encryption, key exchange, and authentication without relying on external centralized authorities, making the system resilient to compromises in centralized infrastructure.
3Device complexity
If encryption is performed externally to sensors rather than inside them, then device complexity is reduced, but security is compromised as energy and data are vulnerable during transmission and processing outside the sensor
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the encryption function directly with the sensor and emitter hardware by integrating cryptographic processing units within these devices. This combination ensures that energy and data are encrypted at the source before leaving the sensor, maintaining security while accepting the necessary increase in device complexity as a trade-off for robust protection against eavesdropping and tampering.
Data Source
AI summary
This invention pertains to protecting communications between multiple sensors and emitters or securing data transmission between multiple computers or multiple vehicles. This invention provides a secure method for two or more parties to communicate privately, even when the processor has malicious malware or there is a backdoor in the main processor. In some embodiments, the energy received by the sensor is encrypted before it undergoes an analog to digital conversion. In some embodiments, the encryption occurs inside the sensor. In some embodiments, the encryption hardware is a part of the sensor and creates unpredictable energy changes that interact with the sensor. In some embodiments, there are less than 40 sensors in a communication system and in other embodiments there are more than 1 billion sensors. In some embodiments, the invention provides a method for the sensors of a network of self-driving cars to communicate securely.