System access using a mobile device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020052905-A1
Application number	US-201816490418-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 1, 2018
Priority date	Mar 1, 2017
Publication date	Feb 13, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed relating to electronic security, e.g., for authenticating a mobile electronic device to allow access to system functionality (e.g., physical access to the system, starting an engine/motor, etc.). In some embodiments, a system and mobile device exchange public keys of public key pairs during a pairing process. In some embodiments, an asymmetric transaction process includes generating a shared secret using a key derivation function over a key established using a secure key exchange (e.g., elliptic curve Diffie-Hellman), and verifying a signature of the system before transmitting any information identifying the mobile device. In various embodiments, disclosed techniques may increase transaction security and privacy of identifying information.

First claim

1 . An apparatus, comprising:
one or more processing elements configured to: generate a first ephemeral key pair that includes a first public key and a first private key; determine a second public key generated by a system, wherein the second public key is included in a second ephemeral key pair; generate a first shared secret using a key exchange function that uses the first private key and the second public key as inputs; generate a derived shared secret using a key derivation function that uses at least the following inputs: the first shared secret, the first public key, and a public key of the system previously established during a pairing session between the apparatus and the system; generate a signature by signing transaction information with a private key of the apparatus established during the pairing session; encrypt the signature and information identifying the apparatus based on the derived shared secret; verify a signed certificate received from the system using the public key of the system, wherein the certificate is signed with a corresponding private key of the system established during the pairing session; and in response to verification of the signed certificate, transmit the encrypted signature and information to the system.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is configured not to send information identifying the apparatus to the system until after verification of the signed certificate.

3 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the key exchange function is an elliptic curve Diffie Hellman (DH) function.

4 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein, to share access to one or more functions of the system with another device, the apparatus is configured to:
receive a certificate signing request from the other device; verify the received certificate using a root certificate of a an authorized entity associated with the other device; authenticate a user of the apparatus; sign the certificate using the private key of the apparatus established during the pairing session with the system; and transmit the signed certificate to the other device.

5 . The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the certificate signing request and the signed certificate are transmitted via a direct wireless connection without using a wide area network.

6 . The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the apparatus is configured to encrypt a security token for the system and transmit the encrypted security token to the other device.

7 . The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the apparatus is configured to encrypt the security token using a public key from the other device and store the security token in a mailbox location associated with the public key.

8 . The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein, in response to revocation of the sharing access by a user, the apparatus is configured to send a revocation message; and
confirm revocation of the sharing access based on a revocation receipt from a secure circuit of the other device.

9 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein, during a pairing process, the apparatus is configured to generate a certificate that embeds configuration information for a digital key data structure and sign the certificate using a private key of a secure circuit of the apparatus, thereby attesting creation of the digital key data structure according to the configuration information.

10 . An apparatus, comprising:
one or more processing elements configured to:
generate a signature by signing transaction information with a private key of the apparatus established during a pairing session with a mobile device;
transmit the signature to the mobile device;
receive an encrypted signature from the mobile device in a response to the transmitted signature;
generate a first ephemeral key pair that includes a first public key and a first private key;
determine a second public key generated by the mobile device, wherein the second public key is included in a second ephemeral key pair;
generate a first shared secret using a key exchange function that uses the first private key and the second public key as inputs;
generate a derived shared secret using a key derivation function that uses at least the following inputs: the first shared secret, the first public key, and a public key of the apparatus previously established during the pairing session;
decrypt the signature using the derived shared secret;
verify the signature using a public key of the mobile device established during the pairing session; and
authorize one or more actions based on the verification.

11 . The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the apparatus is configured to:
receive a certificate from another device signed using a private key of the mobile device established during a pairing session during an asymmetric authentication procedure; and authorize one or more actions based on verifying the certificate.

12 . The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the apparatus is configured to access an encrypted security token stored in a mailbox to determine whether to authorize one or more actions based on verifying the security token.

13 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that are executable by a computing device to perform operations comprising:
generating a first ephemeral key pair that includes a first public key and a first private key; determining a second public key generated by a system, wherein the second public key is included in a second ephemeral key pair; generating a first shared secret using a key exchange function that uses the first private key and the second public key as inputs; generating a derived shared secret using a key derivation function that uses at least the following inputs: the first shared secret, the first public key, and a public key of the system previously established during a pairing paring session between the apparatus and the system; generating a signature by signing transaction information with a private key of the apparatus established during the pairing session; encrypting the signature and information identifying the apparatus based on the derived shared secret; verifying a signed certificate received from the system using the public key of the system, wherein the certificate is signed with a corresponding private key of the system; and in response to verification of the signed certificate, transmitting the encrypted signature and information to the system.

14 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise:
sharing access to one or more functions of the system with another device, including:
receiving a certificate signing request from the other device;
verifying the received certificate using a root certificate of an authorized entity associated with the other device;
authenticating a user of the apparatus;
signing the certificate using the private key of the apparatus established during the pairing session with the system; and
transmitting the signed certificate to the other device.

15 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the certificate signing request and the signed certificate are transmitted via a direct wireless connection without using a wide area network.

16 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the operations further comprise:
encrypting an security token for the system and transmit the security token to the other device.

17 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise:
in response to revocation of the sharing a

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Mathias Arun G
• Galdo Florian
• Lerch Matthias
• Abdulrahiman Najeeb M
• Tackin Onur E
• Sierra Yannick

Classifications

• H04L2209/72

  Signcrypting, i.e. digital signing and encrypting simultaneously · CPC title

• H04L9/3247

  involving digital signatures · CPC title

• H04L9/3263 Primary

  involving certificates, e.g. public key certificate [PKC] or attribute certificate [AC]; Public key infrastructure [PKI] arrangements (network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using certificates in a packet data network H04L63/0823) · CPC title

• H04L9/006

  involving public key infrastructure [PKI] trust models (network architecture or network communication protocol for supporting authentication of entities using certificates in a packet data network H04L63/0823) · CPC title

• H04L9/0841 Primary

  involving Diffie-Hellman or related key agreement protocols · CPC title