Globally Unique Key Pairing for Secure Identity Verification
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cyber-security measures are inadequate in preventing cyber-attacks, particularly in the Internet of Everything (IoE), where billions of entities are connected with substandard protocols, leading to potential data breaches and security vulnerabilities.
Innovation Solution
Assigning globally-unique random numbers (RNs) to each entity using a quantum random number generator (QRNG) and a one-time pad symmetric key system, ensuring secure communication through physically-implemented machine-readable formats like QR codes and NFC tags, and authenticating users with biometrics to prevent unauthorized access.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional cyber-security measures are used, then device complexity is reduced, but security reliability is insufficient against cyber-attacks
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-generating and storing pairs of globally-unique random values in a secure database before they are needed for authentication. When an entity needs authentication, the system has already prepared the corresponding random values, eliminating the need for complex real-time key generation during security transactions.
Solution Approach 2:
Each entity is assigned a unique identifier and can independently generate cryptographic keys using the random values from the database without requiring complex centralized key management infrastructure. The entity itself performs the key generation and security operations, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining high security reliability.
2Reliability
If globally-unique random values are assigned to all entities, then identification uniqueness is improved, but data storage requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts only the essential identifying information (globally-unique random values) from complex entity data and stores only these critical values in the database. The full entity profiles and additional attributes are not stored centrally, reducing data storage requirements while maintaining unique identification capability for security purposes.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses disposable, single-use random values for authentication purposes. Each random value pair is designed to be used once for a specific authentication transaction, then discarded. This approach allows the system to handle many entities with unique identifiers without requiring long-term storage of extensive entity data, as each authentication credential is ephemeral and single-purpose.
3Reliability
If quantum random number generation is implemented, then key security strength is improved, but implementation complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces an intermediary component (the secure database service) that handles the quantum random number generation and storage. Individual entities and applications do not need to implement complex quantum random number generation themselves; instead, they interact with the intermediary service that provides pre-generated random values through simple API calls, reducing implementation complexity while maintaining quantum-level security strength.
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments described herein are configured for the provision of secure keys and the applications enabled thereby. For instance, an application may read in a first globally-unique value of a pair of globally-unique values from a physically-implemented machine-readable format. The application provides the first globally-unique value, along with a globally-unique identifier of the application, to a database. The database determines a globally-unique value associated with the first globally-unique value, designates the associated globally-unique value as a secure key, and associates the secure key with the application using the application's globally-unique identifier. The application then instructs a user to read in the second globally-unique value from a physically-implemented machine-readable format, which should match the globally-unique value determined by the database of the pair, and designates the second globally-unique value as the secure key.