User Device Secret Utilization via Trusted External Source
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Solution Overview
Problem
Digital devices, lacking inherent features for true randomness, struggle to generate secrets for secure digital communications, making it difficult to trust the randomness and potentially vulnerable to manipulation or prediction by malicious parties.
Innovation Solution
A user device receives a secret from a trusted external source, using it as a cryptographic seed to generate keys for secure communications, with cryptographic verification and storage, and discarding keys after immediate use to ensure security and integrity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If digital devices generate secrets using inherent features or algorithms, then secret generation capability is provided, but reliability of randomness is compromised due to deterministic operation and potential manipulation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a trusted external source as an intermediary that generates secrets outside the user device and transmits them securely. This mediator resolves the contradiction by providing high-reliability randomness from a trusted environment while enabling secret generation capability in devices that lack inherent trustworthy randomness sources.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs secret generation in advance within a trusted environment before the user device needs it. The secret is generated preliminarily with verified randomness, then transmitted and stored in the user device, eliminating the need for the device to generate secrets locally and ensuring reliability from the outset.
2Ease of operation
If user devices rely on manufacturer-assured randomness standards, then ease of operation is improved, but security is compromised due to potential backdoors and unverifiable trust
Solution Approach 1:
The trusted external source acts as an intermediary that provides verifiable randomness, breaking the chain of unverified trust. Instead of relying on manufacturer assurances, the user device receives secrets from a trusted mediator that can be independently verified, maintaining ease of operation while improving security.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements cryptographic verification mechanisms that provide feedback on the integrity and authenticity of received secrets. This verification feedback allows the user device to confirm the trustworthiness of the secret source, enabling secure operation without blind reliance on manufacturer claims.
3Adaptability or versatility
If secrets are transmitted through communication channels, then secret distribution is enabled, but vulnerability to man-in-the-middle attacks increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent establishes secure communication channels and authentication mechanisms before transmitting secrets. By performing preliminary security setup including channel verification and authentication, the system enables secret distribution while pre-mitigating man-in-the-middle attack vectors.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements cryptographic verification and authentication feedback mechanisms during secret transmission. These mechanisms provide real-time verification that the communication channel is secure and authenticated, allowing the system to detect and reject compromised channels, thus enabling distribution while reducing vulnerability to attacks.
Data Source
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AI summary
A user device may utilize a secret in cryptographically protected communications and/or cryptographic authentication of data. A communications part is configured to forward a secret received from a trusted external source to a key generator. The key generator is configured to use said secret as a cryptographic seed to generate one or more keys and to store said one or more keys in a key storage. A communications encrypter and decrypter part is configured to retrieve said one or more keys from said key storage and to use said one or more keys to cryptographically protect communications performed through said communications part.