Securely providing a password using an internet of things (IoT) system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10841759-B2
Application number	US-201916591297-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 2, 2019
Priority date	Apr 27, 2017
Publication date	Nov 17, 2020
Grant date	Nov 17, 2020

Abstract

An apparatus and method are described for securely providing a User ID and/or password to an IoT device. For example, one embodiment of a method comprises: receiving at an Internet of Things (IoT) service a request from a mobile device over a first communication channel to transmit credentials for a particular online service to an IoT device, responsively encrypting the credentials to generate encrypted credentials and transmitting the encrypted credentials to the IoT device over a second communication channel, decrypting the encrypted credentials at the IoT device, and providing the credentials by the IoT device to a computer over a third communication channel, the computer causing the credentials to be provided to the online service to authenticate the user.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving at an Internet of Things (loT) service a request from a mobile device over a first communication channel to transmit credentials for a particular online service to an IoT device;
responsively encrypting the credentials to generate encrypted credentials and transmitting the encrypted credentials to the IoT device over a second communication channel;
decrypting the encrypted credentials at the IoT device; and
providing the credentials by the IoT device to a computer over a third communication channel, the computer causing the credentials to be provided to the particular online service to be authenticated.

2. The method as in claim 1 wherein the IoT device comprises a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface to be coupled to a USB port on the computer to form the third communication channel between the IoT device and the computer.

3. The method as in claim 2 wherein the mobile device comprises an app to connect to a password management service on the IoT service, wherein the app transmits the request to the password management service to send the credentials to the IoT device.

4. The method as in claim 3 wherein the particular online service is identified via a graphical user interface of the app.

5. The method as in claim 4 wherein the password management service stores a plurality of different credential combinations for a variety of different online services.

6. The method as in claim 1 wherein the IoT device establishes the second communication channel through an IoT hub, the mobile device, the computer, or via an independent Internet connection formed by the IoT device.

7. The method as in claim 1 wherein the computer executes a browser to connect to a web page of the particular online service, wherein a plugin or app executed with the browser causes the credentials to be entered in one or more fields of the web page.

8. An apparatus comprising:
an IoT device;
an Internet of Things (loT) service to receive a request from a mobile device over a first communication channel to transmit credentials for a particular online service to the IoT device;
the IoT device usable for providing the credentials to a computer, the IoT device to establish a second communication channel with the IoT service, the IoT device having been previously registered with the IoT service;
the IoT service to responsively encrypt the credentials to generate encrypted credentials and transmit the encrypted credentials to the IoT device over the second communication channel; and
wherein the IoT device is to decrypt the encrypted credentials and provide the credentials to the computer over a third communication channel, the computer causing the credentials to be provided to the particular online service to be authenticated.

9. The apparatus as in claim 8 wherein the IoT device comprises a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface to be coupled to a USB port on the computer to form the third communication channel between the IoT device and the computer.

10. The apparatus as in claim 9 wherein the mobile device comprises an app to connect to a password management service on the IoT service, therein the app transmits the request to the password management service to send the credentials to the IoT device.

11. The apparatus as in claim 10 wherein the particular online service is identified via a graphical user interface of the app.

12. The apparatus as in claim 11 wherein the password management service stores a plurality of different credential combinations for a variety of different online services.

13. The apparatus as in claim 8 wherein the IoT device establishes the second communication channel through an IoT hub, the mobile device, the computer, or via an independent Internet connection formed by the IoT device.

14. The apparatus as in claim 8 wherein the computer executes a browser to connect to a web page of the particular online service, wherein a plugin or app executed with the browser causes the credentials to be entered in one or more fields of the web page.

15. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium having program code stored thereon which, when executed by one or more machines, cause the machines to perform the operations of:
receiving at an Internet of Things (IoT) service a request from a mobile device over a first communication channel to transmit credentials for a particular online service to an IoT device;
responsively encrypting the credentials to generate encrypted credentials and transmitting the encrypted credentials to the IoT device over a second communication channel;
decrypting the encrypted credentials at the IoT device; and
providing the credentials by the IoT device to a computer over a third communication channel, the computer causing the credentials to be provided to the particular online service to be authenticated.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium as in claim 15 wherein the IoT device comprises a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface to be coupled to a USB port on the computer to form the third communication channel between the IoT device and the computer.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium as in claim 16 wherein the mobile device comprises an app to connect to a password management service on the IoT service, therein the app transmits the request to the password management service to send the credentials to the IoT device.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium as in claim 17 wherein the particular online service is identified via a graphical user interface of the app.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable medium as in claim 18 wherein the password management service stores a plurality of different credential combinations for a variety of different online services.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable medium as in claim 15 wherein the IoT device establishes the second communication channel through an IoT hub, the mobile device, the computer, or via an independent Internet connection formed by the IoT device.

Assignees

• Afero Inc

Inventors

• Bartlett Scott
• Zimmerman Scott
• Britt Joe

Classifications

• H04W12/065

  Continuous authentication · CPC title

• H04W12/0471

  Key exchange · CPC title

• H04W12/069

  using certificates or pre-shared keys · CPC title

• H04W12/068

  using credential vaults, e.g. password manager applications or one time password [OTP] applications · CPC title

• H04W12/0431

  Key distribution or pre-distribution; Key agreement · CPC title