WO2008132393A2

WO2008132393A2 - Method and system for authenticating a user

Info

Publication number: WO2008132393A2
Application number: PCT/FR2008/050500
Authority: WO
Inventors: Aimé MAYO
Original assignee: Mayo Aime
Priority date: 2007-03-23
Filing date: 2008-03-21
Publication date: 2008-11-06
Also published as: WO2008132393A3; FR2914130A1

Abstract

Method of authenticating a user on the basis of a piece of equipment (3), and a trusted third party (1) and a data medium (2) comprising a unique identifier in its memory means (20), the method comprising prior steps in which data belonging to a profile characteristic of the user are coded and recorded by servers (26) and databases (25) belonging to the trusted third party (1) so as to generate a coded profile comprising coded-profile coded data, the coded profile being associated with the unique identifier, and in that the method comprises: a step (33, 34) of transmitting the unique identifier to the trusted third party (1), a step (35) of dispatching data of the coded profile associated with the unique identifier to the piece of equipment (3), and a step (36) of authenticating the user on the basis of the coded data of the coded profile.

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR AUTHENTICATING A

USER

The present invention relates to the field of authentication, and relates to a method and a system for a user to authenticate anonymously to a company from a unique identifier.

Since the beginning of the electronic age, methods for authenticating an individual based on an identifier are used by companies for the various technical and practical advantages they confer. These methods have been adopted by banks, credit, brokerage, insurance companies, government agencies, governments, Internet service providers and telecommunications companies. The list of these companies continues to grow over time. This identifier is issued to a user by a company from which he will receive benefits, after a registration during which he has provided a set of information relating to his identity.

Such methods generate several disadvantages. Thus, the user always needs a different identifier to benefit from different companies. The management of each identifier being the responsibility of the individual, he must remember. Moreover, for the individual, this requires a coordination effort because he sometimes has to manage a large list of identifiers and maintain the information relating to his identity recorded on Internet or Intranet servers of the various companies, which leads to example the individual to always use the same identifiers to the detriment of security.

Another drawback relates to the scattering, across many networks and information systems of companies, of data corresponding to information relating to the identity of a user.

In order to overcome at least some of these disadvantages, a method based on the federation of an identity, from a unique identifier, has been integrated into authentication mechanisms. This unique identifier is associated with information relating to the identity of the user and is shared by cooperating companies together. Each of these companies can assume two types of status: identity provider or service provider after authentication based on the unique identifier. The role of the identity provider is to authenticate users who belong to one of the companies in the set. The service provider is, quite simply, an entity that provides a service for the identity provider and for the end users. Thus several different companies cooperate in the context of the authentication of an individual.

The disadvantage of such a method is that the whole identity of an individual is shared by all the companies in the set, whereas the agreement of the user is not necessarily given for his personal data are transmitted and subject to unwanted use by the user.

In addition, the prior art is known from the patent application US 2003/0172090, relating to a method which describes an identification virtual card relating to a connection identifier provided by an Internet access provider. This unique identifier is associated with a set of data relating to the identity of an individual such as, for example, his name, first name, credit card number, telephone number. This unique identifier is stored in memory means of a computer or a terminal such as a PDA or a mobile phone. Authentication of an individual is based on this unique identifier with the means of authentication of a company through an Internet browser. Once authenticated and therefore identified, the user can benefit from the services delivered by the company. Such a method poses the disadvantage for the user to always have the scattering of his personal information within the information systems of the various companies that provide him with services. Moreover, it does not allow the user to have control over his personal information that is in the possession of these companies.

The present invention therefore intends to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art by providing a method and a system from which a user can benefit anonymously benefits. Another object of the invention is to avoid the undesired use by companies of information relating to the identity of a user.

Another object of the invention is to be of easy implementation. In particular, the system according to the invention has the advantage of being able to adapt to the existing structural infrastructures.

To do this, the present invention relates to a method of authenticating a user from a device and a trusted third party, this method comprises prior steps in which data belonging to a characteristic profile of a user. are encoded and recorded by servers and databases belonging to the trusted third party to generate an encoded profile comprising coded profile coded data, the coded profile being associated with the unique identifier, the method comprises the following steps:

a step of transmitting to the trusted third party the unique identifier registered in a given medium, a step of identification of the user by the trusted third party from a unique identifier,

a step of sending to the equipment the coded data of said coded profile associated with the unique identifier, and a step of authenticating the user from the coded data of the coded profile.

This method has the advantage of authenticating a user on coded data that does not allow the technical device of a company to identify the user benefiting from the service. Only the trusted third party knows the identity of the user and is able from the unique identifier to find in his databases coded data of the coded profile of the user which are archived at the level of the databases. technical device, coded data which makes it possible to authenticate the user.

According to advantageous embodiments:

the authentication step comprises a sub-step of transmitting coded data from the coded profile, from the equipment to a technical device; the identification step includes a substep of querying the databases by the servers of the trusted third party on the basis of a request comprising the unique identifier so as to obtain the coded data of said coded profile associated with the unique identifier. the data relating to the profile of the individual are updated from secure communication means between the databases of the trusted third party and the databases of the technical device.

the coded data stored in the databases of the technical device are synchronized with the encoded data of the coded profile associated with said identifier, from secure communication means between the databases of the trusted third party and the databases of the technical device. . The present invention also relates to a user authentication system comprising a trusted third party and equipment including databases storing data relating to the user's encrypted profile and a unique identifier in which the equipment comprises communications means arranged to exchange data with the trusted third party and the technical device, and reading means adapted to recover the identifier stored in the memory means of a data medium. According to advantageous embodiments:

- The data carrier is mobile and removable.

the trusted third party is connected to the technical device by secure communication means.

The invention is explained by means of the following description, given purely for explanatory purposes, of one embodiment of the invention, with reference to the appended drawings which represent respectively: FIG. invention; FIG. 2, an embodiment of the data carrier according to the invention; Figure 3, an embodiment of the invention; FIG. 4, the trusted third party according to the invention.

As represented by FIG. 1, the system comprises a data carrier 2 which is in the possession of a user, an entity subsequently designated as a trusted third party 1, a device 3 belonging to a company and a corresponding technical device 4 to the company's data management system. This company refers to a company of goods and / or services, or to a public or governmental administration or to an international organization. The data carrier 2, illustrated in FIG. 2, comprises at least one microprocessor 21, volatile and non-volatile memory means, a screen 18, a keyboard 19 and connection means 17. This data carrier 2 is mobile and / or removable. Without pretending to make an exhaustive list, it may, for example, refer to: a smart card, a magnetic card, a card comprising an RF ID transponder (acronym for radio frequency identification which is translated into French by radio-identification), a USB memory stick (acronym for Universal Serial Bus that refers to a serial interface on a computer), a FireWire memory key (serial interface on a computer), a card operating with N FC technology (acronym for Near Field Communication). translated into French by near-field communication), a two-dimensional vignette (for example a barcode, or a paper medium comprising alphanumeric data) or three-dimensional.

The equipment 3 corresponds to a terminal comprising among others at least one microprocessor 13, volatile and nonvolatile memory means 12, and communication means 9, a screen 14, and a keyboard 10. A n read / write module 1 1 is connected to this equipment 3, and relates, for example and non-exhaustively to: a smart card reader, a magnetic card reader, - an electromagnetic reader (RFI reader D, or RFI reader D / N FC), an optical reader, a camera, a reader for identifying biometric characteristics, and other types of modules able to collect visual, auditory, tactile or olfactory information relating to an individual.

The technical device 4 comprises a set of servers 5 associated with databases 6, and secure communication means enabling it to exchange data streams 15 with the equipment 3 and / or the trusted third party 1. The trusted third party 1 comprises secure communication means 7,8 for exchanging data streams with the equipment 3 and also with the technical device 4 of the company.

The exchanged data streams comprise data packets compliant with the Internet protocol (IP) and preferably with the format I Pv4 and / or I Pv6. The invention is also compatible with other communication protocols.

Figure 3 shows in more detail the possible functional architecture of the trusted third party.

It has 7.8 communication means provided for transmitting and receiving data streams 15.

The data packets belonging to the data streams 15 are then transmitted to a processing module 23. This processing module 23 comprises firewall means which, on the basis of a security policy, filters the data packets before transmitting them. to a technical platform 27. These firewall means protect the technical platform 27 from possible intrusions by applying a policy of access to localized network resources at the level of the technical platform 27. This technical platform 27 comprises servers 26, such as authentication and data management servers, and databases for data 25. These servers are connected to the databases and handle the different data in and out of the technical platform during data exchange steps 24. The filtering of the data packets carried out by the firewall means is done in particular according to the following criteria:

- the origin or destination of the packets (I P address, TCP or UDP ports, network interface, etc.),

- the options contained in the data (fragmentation, validity, etc.),

- the data itself (size, correspondence to a pattern, etc.).

This processing module 23 comprises means for routing data packets.

These routing means allow after analysis of the data packets by the firewall means to determine information included in the header of these data packets, information relating in particular to a source address and a destination address to transmit the data packet to a defined server belonging to the technical platform 27. These routing means are I Pv6 compatible and have update means able to upgrade the routing software to compatibility with future developments of this IP protocol. The databases 25 of this technical platform 27 comprise a set of digital correlation tables.

A first set of digital match tables refers to the user profile. Indeed for a user this profile corresponds to all the personal information characterizing an individual. This information is stored in these digital concordance tables, in the form of non-exhaustive data corresponding to: name, first name, - age, home address and other (secondary, etc.), home, work, mobile, marital status, information about the user's means of transportation (registration, trademark, color) , etc.), pictures (face, profile, etc.), biometric characteristics (fingerprint, retinal, etc.), electronic mail address, bank account number and bank account number, identification element of the company, service (product and / or service) subscribed with a company, a primary key, - etc.

This data is entered by the user when registering with the trusted third party. They are subsequently updated via databases belonging to the different companies from secure links. During this registration, the user enters a form in electronic or paper format by providing a set of personal information described above. In this form the user has the possibility to designate the companies with whom he is or he wants to be a customer. Upon receipt of the form, an account is created on one of the servers 26 of the technical platform 27 and a unique identifier is generated by a calculation module to be subsequently stored in memory means 20 of the data medium 2. This data carrier 2 is then transmitted to the user. With this data carrier 2, the user will be able to benefit from the services of goods and / or services available from the companies he has designated when registering with the trusted third party 1. The list of these companies can be completed later by the user from means for connecting to the trusted third party 1 for example via an Internet site, but also by other means such as paper forms. .

This data after being stored in this first set of digital match table is then encoded. This coding of the data is done in such a way that the coded data is always exploitable so that a company can interact with the user from this coded data.

For example, for a user who has a following e-mail address: user @ servermaj ldeluser.com this e-mail address encoded according to the invention corresponds for example to: αeredf45rÇŒ) serveu rmaild utiersdeconfiance .com

Thus this e-mail address is exploitable because it respects the nomenclature of an e-mail address which is to have the following characteristics: a user identifier, a mail server identifier, a separator corresponding to the "a" commercial "@" between the identifier of the user and the mail server identifier.

In the coding procedure, encryption and decryption mechanisms are implemented. These mechanisms relate for example to symmetric (or secret key) or asymmetric (or public key) cryptography techniques. In this case, the keys for encryption and decryption are distinct and can not be deduced from each other. ). Cryptographic mechanisms such as RSA

(developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Diffie-

Hellman (and variants thereof, such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Elgin Digital Signature Standard, El Gamal and Elliptic Curve Approaches), and Rabin-Williams can be used in this coding procedure, for example.

This coded data is stored in a second set of digital match tables.

Part of the coded data is transmitted to the companies designated by the user during registration. This transmitted coded data relates to data essential for the creation of a customer account at the level of the databases 6 of the technical device 4 of these companies. The user will thus be referenced in the databases 6 of these companies.

Other coded data chosen by the user may be transmitted to companies upon registration or after this registration.

Companies can also request coded data corresponding to a user from the trusted third party. This request is transmitted to the user so that the user authorizes or does not authorize the transmission of this coded data.

The user and the company have access accounts with the trusted third party. They connect to these accounts from a terminal that can be mobile or fixed. This terminal may be for example a personal computer, a mobile phone, or a PDA. This terminal makes it possible to connect to a server of the technical platform 27 provided for this purpose. This server allows them to access the website of this trusted third party or access type VPN (acronym for Virtual Private Network). These accesses allow companies and users to administer their respective accounts with the trusted third party and thus to set up, for example, for the user the coded data that he wishes or does not wish to transmit to a company and for the company to formulate his requests for coded data to, for example, better understand the behavioral profile of this user and offer him services or goods adapted to his needs.

In a third set of digital correlation tables are stored data relating to different companies. These data correspond, among others, to the commercial name of the company, its corporate name, its field of activity, to a company identifier which is unique for each company, to a primary key, to identifiers and parameters necessary for a connection to their company. databases 6 for synchronization with the databases of the trusted third party 1. This synchronization is done during the steps 32,30,31 of data exchange between respectively the interface 22 with the communication means 7, these communication means 7 with the processing module 23 and this processing module 23 with the platform technical 27.

In a fourth set of digital concordance tables, included in the databases 25 of the technical platform 27, are stored for each user: the unique identifier, the company identifier, the coded data transmitted for each company, the customer number of this user at each of the designated companies, the primary keys of the first, second and third set of digital match tables. This fourth set of digital concordance tables participates in the authentication of the user.

In this fourth set of tables, the unique identifier is associated with the coded data recorded as the unique identifier in this fourth set of tables, these coded data are the same that were transmitted to the technical device 4 of the company and which are stored in the data bases 6 of this technical device 4. This coded data constitutes the coded profile of the user in his databases 6 of the technical device 4 and this fourth set of tables. The databases 6 of the technical device 4 synchronize regularly with the databases of the trusted third party 1.

The primary keys make it possible to establish correspondences between the different sets of digital concordance tables.

The data relating to the personal information of the user are archived in clear in a first set of digital tables and are archived in encrypted forms in a second set of digital tables. Advantageously, the user remains completely anonymous at the level of the company or companies he has designated, while benefiting from the or their services.

Some companies registered in the databases of the technical platform have a special status. In fact, these companies relate, for example, to hospitals, schools, military or civil administrations or to postal service companies. These are companies that use the archived data in the databases of the trusted third parties 27 as part of their operating process and who are not associated with a user in the context of a business relationship.

The communication means used in this functional architecture relate to wiring means and / or electromagnetic transmission means. Without pretending to make an exhaustive list, these cabling means correspond, for example, to optical fiber or copper cables, and the electromagnetic transmission means relate, for example, to radio links based on mobile telephone standards such as GSM (acronym Global System for Mobile Communications), UMTS (acronym for Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), EDGE (acronym for Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution) or HSDPA (acronym for High-Speed Downlink Packet Access). These means may also relate to technologies such as the WI FI defined by the I EEE 802, 1 1 standards, or the Bluetooth technologies defined by the I EEE 802.15 standards, or to the WI MAX technology (acronym for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) defined by I EEE 802.13.

One embodiment of the invention is illustrated in Figure 4 for a user using public transport as part of his travels. These means of public transport are managed by a company such as a transport company. Each point of access to public transport means is provided with a control terminal 3 making it possible to verify that the user holds the rights necessary to use these means of public transport. This terminal 3 is connected to the trusted third party 1 and the technical device 4 of this transport company by wired communication means such as optical fiber.

The user to access the means of transport uses a SmartCard 2 which has been provided to him by the trusted third party 1. This SmartCard 1 includes an eeprom memory 20 in which is registered a unique identifier. The user comes to the control terminal 3 and inserts in the card reader 1 1 of this terminal 3 the SmartCard 2. During a transmission step 16, the reading means of this reader 1 1 recover this identifier uniq ue. The control terminal 3 generates a data packet comprising this unique identifier and inserts into this packet a company identifier which relates to the transport company. In a transmission step 34, the terminal 3 sends this data packet to the trusted third party 1. This packet is then received by the connection interface 22 and is transmitted during a step 29 to the processing module 23 which analyzes this data packet and notably validates its integrity in order to comply with the security policy applied by the means of firewall. This data packet is sent to one of the authentication servers 26 of the technical platform 27 from the routing means of this processing module 23. The authentication server will identify the user and the transport company on the basis of respectively of the unique identifier and the company identifier. The authentication server will then transmit a request comprising as an attribute these two identifiers to the databases 25 of this technical platform 27. In response to this request, these databases 25 will transmit the user's profile relating to the donations. code that has been transmitted to the databases 6 of the technical device 4 of this transport company. This coded data includes the essential coded data and coded data that has been transmitted with the user's approval.

It can be noted that the coded data transmitted to the company just before the authentication are taken into account. From this coded data, in a step 35, the authentication server generates data packets which are then transmitted to the control terminal via the processing module 23 and the communication means 8 in optical fiber. Once these packets have been received, the control terminal 3 through its processing module integrates into one of these data packets an identifier making it possible to identify the control terminal 3 in the control terminal network available to the transport company. In a step 36, these data are then transmitted to the authentication server of the transport company sending a request comprising the identifier of the control terminal 3 and the data coded to the database 6 of the technical device 4 of the transport company. The authentication server of this company then identifies the source control terminal 3 of the request and verifies that each of the coded data received corresponds to those stored in its database 6. Thus a second verification of the identity of the user is realized, and reinforces the security of the authentication procedure.

In response to this request, during a step 37, the server sends to the control terminal access authorization, for this user, by means of common transport.

Thus, the transport company provides a service on a regular basis to a user referenced in his database, but whose identity he does not know. The user therefore uses his means of public transport anonymously for the transport company. Only the trusted third party 1 makes it possible to identify this user and thus for example to know his movements by having access to the databases of the technical device of this company.

According to the same process, the data carrier 2 of this user, and in particular the SmartCard 2, allows him to benefit from the services, anonymously, of other designated companies. It is a means of unique authentication.

The coded data present in the database 6 of this transport company can be used as uncoded data. The transport company can for example use the name, surname and coded address of the user that it owns in the databases 6 of the technical device 4. For example for the transmission of an invoice to the user, the company affix on the envelope a label containing the coded coordinates of the user. A postal service company in charge of the processing and distribution of mail includes a mail sorting device comprising a terminal 3 associated with reading means 11 such as a character recognition scanner capable of transforming the digitized information on the mail. the envelope in digital data. From this digital data, a processing module, included in the terminal, generates data packets which are then modified by integrations in one of the packets of a company identifier of this postal service company. These data packets are then transmitted, during a step 16, to one of the servers of the technical platform 27 of the trusted third party 1. The server determines the identity of the company as a postal company. This type of company is referenced at the level of the databases 25 of the trusted third party 1 as having a status different from the conventional societies, because this type of company intervenes in procedures of exchange of information between a user, which is unknown to him , and another company. The server queries the databases of the technical platform 27 based on the encoded data and transmits the response to the processing module of the postal service company. This response refers to data in clear corresponding to the encoded data. These data in clear are therefore the coordinates of the user. These data in clear are printed on a label which is then affixed to the envelope. This envelope continues its journey in the distribution circuit until it is sent to the user. The shipping company may also send commercial promotions to the user from that user's encrypted e-mail address. The e-mail sent on the basis of the encrypted e-mail address is received by an e-mail processing server of the technical platform 27 of the trusted third party 1. This server retrieves the encrypted email address from this email. A calculation module included in the server decrypts this encrypted e-mail address. The result of this decryption is then integrated into a request as an attribute of this request. This request is then sent to the databases 25 of this technical platform 27 in order to retrieve the e-mail address in clear. The coded email address is then replaced in the email by the clear address. The email is then sent. Thus the user will receive the commercial offer that is intended for him.

The user can at any time disable this coded email address so as not to receive, for example, any promotional message from a company. It can disable any coded data transmitted to a company that does not relate to an essential data such as, for example, the coded name or the coded first name.

The transport company may contact the user by telephone and from a coded telephone number of the user. The telephone means, such as a conventional telephony device, used by the transport company connects to a server of the technical platform after dialing a telephone number provided by the trusted third party 1. Once logged in the user's coded phone number is entered from the keypad of this telephony device. This telephony device sends this coded telephone number to the server of the technical platform 27. The server processes the coded telephone number, queries the databases of data and retrieve the user's clear phone number. From the clear telephone number, the server connects the transport company to the user.

The company therefore has the opportunity to interact with the essential data of the user's profile. The same is true with coded data made available to the company after approval by the user, for example an e-mail address.

Companies with special status can control certain services provided by other companies according to the legislation. For example, schools with access to a trusted third party 1 may suspend the use of mobile phones in their premises from the data relating to the different telephone operators corresponding to the users registered in the databases of the trusted third party. 1. The use of mobile phones may be suspended for students and permitted for teachers and management.

The trusted third party 1 has privileged access to the databases of the companies designated by these different users. It can thus update the data relating to the profile of the user. Thus, the trusted third party includes in his databases a set of complete information relating to an individual, for example data relating to the geographical location of a user at a time t if one of the companies of this user is a mobile phone operator and / or a vehicle theft protection company which on the basis of a GPS / GSM transponder device is able to locate the position of his vehicle. The invention can be a powerful tool for an independent administrative authority responsible for the protection of personal data and the protection of privacy. The invention is described in the foregoing by way of example. It is understood that the skilled person is able to realize different variants of the invention without departing from the scope of the patent.

Claims

REVEN DICATIONS

1. Method for authenticating a user from a device (3), and a trusted third party (1) and a data carrier (2) comprising a unique identifier in its memory means (20) characterized in that said method comprises prior steps in which data belonging to a characteristic profile of said user are encoded and stored by servers (26) and databases (25) belonging to said trusted third party (1) so generating an encoded profile comprising coded profile coded data, said coded profile being associated with said unique identifier, and in that said method comprises: a step (33, 34) of transmission to said trusted third party

(1) said unique identifier stored in said memory means (20) of said data medium (2),

a step of identifying said user by said trusted third party (1) from said unique identifier; a step (35) of sending said equipment (3) said data of said coded profile associated with said unique identifier, and

a step (36) of authentication of said user from said coded data of said coded profile.

2. Method according to claim 1, wherein said authentication step comprises a sub-step of transmitting said equipment (3) to a technical device (4) of said coded data of said coded profile.

A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said identifying step comprises a substep of querying the databases (25) by said servers (26) of said trusted third party (1) based on a request comprising said unique identifier so as to obtain said coded data of said coded profile associated with said unique identifier.

A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said data relating to said individual's profile is updated from a secure connection between said databases (25) of said trusted third party (1) and said databases (6) of the technical device (4).

5. Method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said coded data stored in the databases of said technical device are synchronized with said coded data of said coded profile associated with said identifier from secure connection between said databases of said third party. trusted (1) and said databases (6) of said technical device (4).

6. A user authentication system for implementing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 5 comprising a trusted third party (1) and a device (3) comprising databases (25) storing data. data relating to the profile of a user characterized in that said equipment (3) comprises communication means (10) arranged to exchange data with said trusted third party (1) and a technical device (4), and reading means (1 1) capable of recovering the identifier stored in memory means (20) of a data medium (2).

7. System according to the preceding claim, wherein said data carrier (2) is movable and removable.

8. System according to one of claims 6 to 7, wherein said trusted third party (1) is connected to said technical device by communication means (7).