Secure bootstrap for a blockchain network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10965472-B2
Application number	US-201816179102-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 2, 2018
Priority date	Nov 2, 2018
Publication date	Mar 30, 2021
Grant date	Mar 30, 2021

Abstract

In some examples, a first computing device of a first entity receives a first digital certificate from a certificate authority computing device and generates a first self-signed certificate associated with the first digital certificate. The first computing device may store the first self-signed certificate associated with the first digital certificate in a repository associated with a repository computing device. Further, the first computing device may receive a notification indicating an update by a computing device of a second entity to contents of the repository. The first computing device receives a copy of the contents of the repository including at least a second digital certificate and a second self-signed certificate associated with the second entity. The first computing device may verify the contents of the repository and generate a genesis block of a blockchain based on a result of the verifying.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a first computing device of a first entity able to communicate with a second computing device, a certificate authority (CA) service computing device, and a repository service computing device over one or more networks, the first computing device including one or more processors configured by executable instructions to perform operations comprising:
receiving, from the CA service computing device, a first digital certificate;
generating a first self-signed certificate associated with the first digital certificate based on a same public key as the first digital certificate;
storing the first digital certificate and the first self-signed certificate in a repository associated with the repository service computing device;
receiving a notification indicating an update by a third computing device of a second entity to contents of the repository associated with the repository service computing device;
receiving a copy of the contents of the repository associated with the repository service computing device, the received contents including at least a second digital certificate and a second self-signed certificate provided by the second entity;
verifying the contents of the repository; and
generating a first genesis block of a blockchain based on a result of the verifying of the contents of the repository, wherein the second computing device interacts with the blockchain based on the generated first genesis block.

2. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein:
the repository associated with the repository service computing device includes first requirement information of the first entity, the first digital certificate, the first self-signed certificate, the second digital certificate, the second self-signed certificate, and second requirement information provided by the second entity; and
the operation of verifying the contents of the repository includes at least one of:
verifying that the first requirement information is the same as the second requirement information, or
verifying the second digital certificate is valid.

3. The system as recited in claim 2 , wherein the first requirement information includes at least one of:
a name of the blockchain network, a name of the first entity, a domain name of the first entity, a name of the second entity, a domain name of the second entity, or a smart contract hash value.

4. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein:
the third computing device of the second entity receives an update notification from the repository service computing device indicating that the contents of the repository associated with the repository service computing device have been updated; and
in response to receiving the update notification, the third computing device sends the second digital certificate and the second self-signed certificate for being included in the contents in the repository associated with the repository service computing device.

5. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein:
the blockchain includes the generated first genesis block as a first block in the blockchain;
the blockchain is a permissioned blockchain; and
the first entity and the second entity are participants of a blockchain network that manages the permissioned blockchain.

6. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein:
the repository associated with the repository service computing device includes a first smart contract hash value provided by the first computing device and a second smart contract hash value provided by the third computing device of the second entity; and
verifying the contents of the repository by the first computing device includes verifying that the first smart contract hash value is the same as the second smart contract hash value.

7. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein:
the first computing device receives a second genesis block from the third computing device of the second entity;
the first computing device verifies that a hash value of the first genesis block and a hash value of the second genesis block are the same; and
the blockchain is implemented based at least partially upon verifying that the hash value of the first genesis block and the hash value of the second genesis block are the same.

8. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the repository service computing device includes a web-based storage as the repository, that receives data from each of the first computing device and the third computing device.

9. The system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the repository service computing device provides access to a permissionless blockchain as the repository.

10. A method comprising:
receiving, by a first computing device of a first entity, a first digital certificate from a certificate authority service computing device;
generating, by the first computing device, a first self-signed certificate associated with the first digital certificate;
sending, by the first computing device, the first digital certificate and the first self-signed certificate for storage in a repository associated with a repository service computing device;
receiving, by the first computing device, a notification indicating an update by a computing device of a second entity to contents of the repository associated with the repository service computing device;
receiving, by the first computing device, the contents of the repository associated with the repository service computing device, the received contents including at least a second digital certificate and a second self-signed certificate associated with the second entity;
verifying, by the first computing device, the contents of the repository; and
generating, by the first computing device, a first genesis block of a blockchain based on a result of the verifying of the contents of the repository.

11. The method as recited in claim 10 , wherein:
the repository associated with the repository service computing device includes first requirement information of the first entity, the first digital certificate, the first self-signed certificate, the second digital certificate, the second self-signed certificate, and second requirement information provided by the second entity; and
verifying the contents of the repository includes at least one of:
verifying that the first requirement information is the same as the second requirement information, or
verifying the second digital certificate is valid.

12. The method as recited in claim 11 , wherein the first requirement information includes at least one of:
a name of the blockchain network, a name of the first entity, a domain name of the first entity, a name of the second entity, a domain name of the second entity, or a smart contract hash value.

13. The method as recited in claim 10 , wherein:
the computing device of the second entity receives an update notification from the repository service computing device indicating that the contents of the repository associated with the repository service computing device have been updated; and
in response to receiving the update notification, the computing device of the second entity sends the second digital certificate and the second self-signed certificate for being included in the contents in the repository associated with the repository service computing device.

14. The method as recited in claim 10 , wherein:
the blockchain includes the first genesis block as a first block in the blockchain;
the blockchain is a permissioned blockchain; and
the first entity and the second entity are participants of a blockchain network that manages the permissioned blockchain.

15. The method as

Assignees

• Hitachi Ltd

Inventors

• Nishijima Nao

Classifications

• H04L9/50

  using hash chains, e.g. blockchains or hash trees · CPC title

• H04L9/3236

  using cryptographic hash functions · CPC title

• H04L2209/64

  Self-signed certificates · CPC title

• H04L9/3239 Primary

  involving non-keyed hash functions, e.g. modification detection codes [MDCs], MD5, SHA or RIPEMD · CPC title

• H04L9/3268 Primary

  using certificate validation, registration, distribution or revocation, e.g. certificate revocation list [CRL] · CPC title