EA042414B1 - SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTHENTICATION OF SECURITY CERTIFICATES - Google Patents

Description

Field of invention

The present invention relates generally to a system and method for authenticating security certificates.

Prerequisites for the creation of the invention

It is desirable to provide strong authentication of certain documents, objects, or transactions in order to determine if the document or object is fraudulent or has been tampered with in an attempt to change the credentials of the document, object, or transaction.

Examples of documents and objects that would benefit from secure authentication include identification documents such as: birth certificates, school record(s), marriage certificates, employment documents, income tax documents, documents of ownership business, passport or other travel documents, entry visas and other passport-related entry and exit stamps, death certificates and/or any other evidence of validity or certification such as stocks, bonds, international bank checks, etc. Other examples of documents and items that would benefit from secure authentication include works of art, artifacts, manufactured items, memorabilia and/or bills of lading. Examples of transactions that would benefit from secure authentication include card transactions, banknotes, and/or digital transactions.

These documents, objects or transactions may be the target of falsification. In particular, the security certificates used to display the credentials of these documents or objects can be spoofed in an attempt to convince a third party that the spoof is genuine.

Therefore, there is a need for a new and improved system that would allow the authenticity of such documents or objects to be easily and securely authenticated.

The essence of the invention

Accordingly, in preferred embodiments of the present invention, an authentication system and method is provided that enables easy and secure authentication of security certificates.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a security certificate containing data that has been encrypted with a private encryption key, the data being decryptable with a public decryption key associated with the private encryption key to authenticate the security certificate.

The encrypted data may be stored as a visual image. The visual image can be a QR code, a barcode, or a grayscale image. Storing encrypted data as a visual image provides visual inspection of the authorized representative to determine if the security certificate is clearly forged, which increases the likelihood of detecting forgery or falsification. It should be noted that visible means in all lighting conditions and not necessarily in visible lighting conditions.

Alternatively, the encrypted data may be stored in digital form, such as on a microprocessor LSI, an RFID IC, or a magnetic track. Storing encrypted data in digital form increases the life of the security certificate and also reduces the physical space required to store the data in the security certificate.

The encrypted data may include dynamic data. Dynamic data, as used herein, means data that can be changed and/or updated, for example, through user input. Dynamic data may be stored in the form of a stamp, code, or other visual representation. Alternatively, dynamic data may be stored in digital form. Dynamic data can be updated or changed on a central server. In other words, dynamic data associated with a visual image (or dynamic data in digital form) may be stored on a central server, and the dynamic data may be updated and/or changed at any time. Updating and/or changing dynamic data may be subject to authorization. Examples of dynamic data include exit and visa re-stamps.

In addition or alternatively, the encrypted data may include static data. As used herein, static data refers to data that does not change and/or is not updated. As described above with respect to dynamic data, static data may be stored in a visual image or in digital form. Examples of static data include pictures and statistical fingerprints. Other examples of static data include other types of biometric data such as iris or facial data.

The security certificate may contain additional data that has been encrypted with the public encryption key, wherein the data is decryptable with the private decryption key associated with the public encryption key. Using a public encryption key to encrypt data allows additional data to be stored in a security certificate along with data encrypted with a private encryption key. Some or all of the additional data may be encrypted for privacy using a public encryption key.

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Different public encryption keys can be used to encrypt different pieces of additional data. Using different public encryption keys to encrypt and authenticate different parts of the additional data allows different parties to access different parts of the additional data. In particular, different parties may be allowed access to different private decryption keys associated with different public encryption keys used to encrypt different parts of the encrypted additional data. Which private decryption keys are available to a party may depend, for example, on that party's authorization level. For example, additional data may be related to whether a person overstayed a visa in a particular country or not. The visibility/availability of data regarding whether or not a person has overstayed their visa may be limited, for example, by travel enforcement authorities in some specific authorized countries. Alternatively or in addition, additional data may be related, for example, to eligibility for benefits in a particular country.

The security certificate may form part of an entry visa. Entry visas are an element that would be particularly useful for secure public key authentication, because visas are particularly susceptible to falsification or forgery, and because entry visa authentication requires cooperation between different countries, and such cooperation is difficult to coordinate effectively .

Encrypted data can be in the form of a stamp. Using a stamp to display encrypted data is a versatile method for quickly and efficiently associating encrypted data with a document or object. The stamp may be a stamp placed on an entry visa, such as a physical stamp applied by physical stamping or printing on a page of a passport.

The data can only be displayed on the security certificate in an encrypted visual form, so that no unencrypted data corresponding to the encrypted data can be viewed on the security certificate. By presenting only the encrypted data in this way, no comparison can be made between the encrypted data and the unencrypted data, which reduces the possibility of data tampering, which may be possible due to the visual comparison of encrypted and unencrypted data.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a security certificate authentication system, comprising: a security certificate generator configured to encrypt data with an encryption private key and then generate a security certificate containing the encrypted data; a decryption public key directory configured to provide an authorized user with access to a public decryption key associated with the private encryption key; and an authenticating unit configured to decrypt the encrypted data with the accessed public decryption key associated with the private encryption key.

In an embodiment, the authenticating unit is configured to determine whether or not the encrypted data has been successfully decrypted using the decryption public key that is being made available. Automating the process of determining whether encrypted data has been successfully decrypted using the decryption public key that is made available allows you to more quickly determine whether a security certificate is genuine.

In an embodiment, the authentication unit is configured to indicate that the security certificate is authentic if the encrypted data is successfully decrypted. Thus, it can be determined whether the security certificate is genuine or not. In addition, with automatic detection of whether the encrypted data was successfully decrypted or not, the authenticator's indication of the authenticity of the security certificate can be cross-checked with a visual inspection by an authorized representative to provide fallbacks in the authentication process, thereby reducing the likelihood false positive result.

Likewise, the authenticator may (additionally or alternatively) be configured to indicate that the security certificate is not authentic if the security certificate has not been successfully decrypted, with the same benefits detailed above.

In addition or alternatively, the authentication unit may be configured to apply a checksum algorithm to verify the validity of the decrypted data.

In addition, it is also possible to analyze the security ink used to print the security certificate, preferably in the first step, to determine whether the ink is genuine or not.

In an embodiment, the decryption public key directory may comprise a database containing at least one decryption public key. In an embodiment

- 2 042414 the decryption public key directory may contain a database containing a plurality of public decryption keys. The database may be arranged to assign at least one identifier to a public decryption key, wherein at least one identifier is associated with an associated private encryption key. For example, in the case of entry visas, public decryption keys may be ordered by the issuing country so that entry visa data issued by a particular issuing country can be easily identified, and a security certificate containing the data encrypted with that country's private encryption key can be easily identified to allow quick and efficient access to the corresponding associated public decryption key. Alternatively, the database can be ordered by key function - with keys that can encrypt different data segments that are grouped together.

The database may be searchable. The database may be a managed database where one authorized manager is the only manager. Alternatively, more than one authorized manager may manage the database.

In an embodiment, the security certificate generator is configured to use the public encryption key to encrypt data when generating the security certificate. Using the public encryption key to encrypt the data in the security certificate allows some or all of the stamp data to be encrypted for privacy, as detailed above. In addition, the security certificate generator may be configured to use different public encryption keys to provide encryption levels for different parts of the stamp data, in the same manner as described in detail above.

The system may further comprise a confidential data decryptor configured to receive from an authorized user data encrypted with a public encryption key, wherein the confidential data decryptor is configured to decrypt the received encrypted data with an associated private decryption key. The private decryption key may be stored in a private decryption key directory configured to provide an authorized user with access to the private encryption key associated with the public encryption key. The confidential data decryptor may then be configured to transmit or otherwise present the decrypted data to an authorized user.

Thus, sensitive data encrypted with the public encryption key can be decrypted by authorized users without sharing private keys between users.

In particular, a directory of private decryption keys can be a safe place to provide centralized decryption of encrypted sensitive data. The private decryption key directory may be a database storing at least one private decryption key. The database may be searchable. The database may be a managed database where the authorized manager is the only manager. Alternatively, more than one authorized manager may manage the database.

The confidential data decryption block may be the same or an additional authentication block. Using the authenticator also to decrypt sensitive data can reduce hardware costs and increase the security of data processing.

An authorized user can access the private decryption key by retrieving the private decryption key from the private decryption key directory. An authorized user can decrypt the encrypted confidential data locally, at the confidential data decryption unit, using the extracted private decryption key.

In addition to being able to display encrypted and unencrypted data on the security certificate, the data can only be displayed on the security certificate in an encrypted visual form, so that no unencrypted data corresponding to the encrypted data can be viewed on the security certificate. By presenting only encrypted data in this way, no comparison can be made between encrypted data and unencrypted data, which reduces the possibility of data forgery, which may be possible due to the visual comparison of encrypted and unencrypted data.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for authenticating a security certificate, including: collecting encrypted data stored in a security certificate, wherein the data has been encrypted with a private encryption key; transmitting the encrypted data to an authentication unit for attempting to decrypt the encrypted data with the public decryption key associated with the private encryption key; and determining the success or failure of the attempted decryption of the encrypted data, wherein the successful decryption of the encrypted data authenticates the security certificate.

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According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for authenticating a security certificate, including: collecting encrypted data stored in a security certificate, wherein the data has been encrypted with a private encryption key; extracting a public decryption key associated with the private encryption key from the public decryption key directory; undertaking an attempt to decrypt the encrypted data using the public decryption key associated with the private encryption key; and determining the success or failure of the attempted decryption of the encrypted data, wherein the successful decryption of the encrypted data authenticates the security certificate.

Any of the third or fourth aspects can be performed using a computer. The encrypted data may be stored as a visual image or in digital form, as detailed above. The visual image can be a QR code, a barcode, or a grayscale image. The visual image may be a latent image within an image, or a sequence of frequencies generated by a device, such as pressing a key on a digital telephone, these frequencies may be generated by a reader or recorded audio.

In any of the third or fourth aspects, the attempted decryption may be performed by the authenticator.

The security certificate may form part of an entry visa. As detailed above, these methods are particularly useful for entry visas, which are particularly susceptible to fraud, and since many different participating countries issue entry visas, it is important that information can be transferred between participating countries in a secure and efficient manner.

Encrypted data can be displayed as a stamp.

Any of the methods of the third or fourth aspects may be performed multiple times, for example, to authenticate the encrypted data multiple times at different locations.

In any of the third or fourth aspects, the data may only be displayed on the security certificate in an encrypted visual form such that no unencrypted data corresponding to the encrypted data can be viewed on the security certificate. By presenting only encrypted data in this way, no comparison can be made between encrypted data and unencrypted data, which reduces the possibility of data forgery, which may be possible due to the visual comparison of encrypted and unencrypted data.

In any of the above aspects or embodiments, the transmission of encrypted data and/or extraction of the key may be performed using a secure communication channel.

Each of the above aspects or embodiments may be combined with each of the other aspects or embodiments, where applicable.

Brief description of graphic materials

For the purpose of a better understanding of the present invention, in order to show how it can be carried out, reference will be made by way of example only to the following drawings, in which:

in fig. 1 shows a method for generating a security certificate; and in FIG. 2 shows a method for authenticating a security certificate.

Detailed description

The following description illustrates in detail an exemplary embodiment of the disclosed invention. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that there are numerous variations and modifications of the present invention, which are covered by the scope of the appended claims. Accordingly, the description of a particular exemplary embodiment should not be construed as limiting the scope of the present invention.

In the following description, the term access is a broad term, and when it refers to allowing access to a public or private decryption key, it covers both: (1) transmitting encrypted data to a remote authenticator and then forwarding a request to the remote authenticator for decrypting the data using the decryption key; and (2) extracting the decryption key to perform local decryption.

In the following description, specific methods for encrypting data using public key cryptography are disclosed.

Public key cryptography uses key pairs: a public key, which can be made publicly available, and a private key associated with the public key, this private key being known only to the owner of the private key. The public key and private key may be related in such a way as to encrypt and/or decrypt data using the respective keys, but where it is difficult or impossible to calculate the private key, only from the information associated with the public key. For example, the public and private keys can be factors in the product of two large prime numbers. By calculation it is very difficult to determine the associated factor of a product of large primes, knowing only one factor and not knowing the primes.

With associated public and private keys, two different functions can be achieved. First, the data can be encrypted with the private key, and then the data is decrypted with the public key. This process allows you to establish the authenticity of what

- 4 042414 the data was encrypted by the owner of the private key. If the encrypted data can therefore be successfully decrypted using the public key, then the encrypted data must therefore have been encrypted by the owner of the private key, and is therefore authentic.

Alternatively, encrypting data with a public key means that only the party with the associated private key can decrypt the data. Thus, the data remains private to everyone except the participant who has access to the correct associated private key.

In FIG. 1 shows how to generate a security certificate. Although the particular security certificate illustrated in FIG. 1 is related to an entry visa for a passport, it will be understood that the same technology can be used to generate security certificates for other objects and documents.

For the purpose of generating a security certificate, each authorized user (eg a member country) has a signing certification authority (SCA) 10 that generates that member's private encryption key and associated decryption public key 7 . For security reasons, the SCA 10 of each participating country usually securely stores its private encryption key.

As shown in FIG. 1, the signing certification authority 10 outputs the decryption public key 7 to the decryption public key directory (PKD) 1 . The decryption public key directory (PKD) 1 may be a database that stores the public keys of each SCA along with other data. For example, PKD 1 may also store CRLs and master SCA certificate lists, which will be described in more detail below.

If it is necessary to issue data about a specific person or product (for example, a traveler's passport 9) with a security certificate (for example, an entry visa), this data can be collected by an official representative 11 in unencrypted form. For the traveler, unencrypted data 100 may include information regarding passport number, date of entry, time of entry, place of entry such as airport name and exit number, route number associated with entry, type of visa issued, eligibility for government benefits, maximum allowable duration of stay, biometric and biographical data associated with the passport and/or traveler, other traveler identification characteristics, passport expiry date, purpose of travel, travel history, records made during the interview with the official, additional comments provided by the official, information on the official collection of data and/or other information. The official 11 may also verify and verify other information relating to the traveler 9 at this stage, and the verification and verification results may form part of the unencrypted data 100 collected.

The unencrypted data 100 may then be entered into the security certificate generator 5 . The security certificate generator 5 is configured to encrypt the collected data 100 with the corresponding private encryption key 8 of the participant. Encrypting the data with the participant's private encryption key 8 digitally signs the data to indicate the point of origin of the data. The security certificate generator 5 may have secure communication with the SCA 10 in order to obtain a private encryption key 8 . The use of a secure communication channel between the security certificate generator 5 and the SCA 10 makes it easy to update private and public keys, with the keys stored centrally. Alternatively, a copy of the private encryption key may be stored in the security certificate generator 5 . Further, alternatively, the security certificate generator may form a secure communication with PKD 1 and access a copy 9 of the private encryption key stored on PKD 1 to encrypt the collected data 100.

The collected unencrypted data 100 may be stored in the PKD 1 or alternative database or storage in encrypted or unencrypted form. Stored collected data may be managed by an authorized third party. Stored collected data may be shared between participating countries or may be analyzed for business or security reasons. Access to stored collected data may be monitored and may only be granted to authorized users.

When the unencrypted data 100 is encrypted by the security certificate generator 5, the encrypted data 200 is then included in the security certificate to be associated with the protected item. For example, the encrypted data could be printed as a bar code stamp using the stamp printer 13 and then applied to the entry visa in the traveler's passport 9. Alternatively, the encrypted data could be digitally incorporated into a magnetic track and then marked on the entry visa in the traveler's passport 9.

In addition or alternatively, some or all of the collected unencrypted data 10 may be encrypted using a separate public encryption key generated by the SCA. The use of public key encryption ensures the privacy of some of the collected data. Such data cannot be decrypted using the public decryption key. Instead, the private decryption key associated with the public encryption key must be used to decrypt this data. Encryption levels can be used to protect and authenticate different parts of the encrypted data, for example, to allow different parties to access different parts of the encrypted data.

For example, in the case of a visa stamp, the information in a diplomat's passport stamp may be encrypted differently than the stamp data in a typical tourist's passport.

The public encryption keys may also be stored locally by the corresponding SCA 10 or may be obtained from PKD 1. Alternatively, the public encryption keys may be stored separately in a private key directory PrKD 3 which is accessible in the same way as PKD1.

Any of the collected data 100 can also be uploaded to the master list database stored in PKD 1. A separate center can search and manage this master list database.

The data in this master list can be shared between participants, or can be parsed and shared for specific requests.

The authentication of the security certificate will now be described with reference to FIG. 2.

To authenticate the security certificate associated with the passport, another official may collect encrypted data using the authentication unit 6 . The authentication unit 6 can collect the encrypted data 200 by various means, such as reading a barcode with a stamp reader, capturing an image of a visual image or part of a visual image with an imaging device, extracting encrypted data from a memory IC or magnetic track, or other methods. The authenticator may be non-local to the official. For example, the official representative may collect the encrypted data 200 with the stamp reader, and the stamp reader may be configured to transmit the encrypted data 200 to the remote authentication unit 6 .

After the encrypted data 200 is collected or received at the data authenticator 6, the data authenticator 6 may determine the origin of the encryption private key used to encrypt the encrypted data 200. This origin determination may be performed based on some unencrypted data associated with the digital signature. security certificate, such as the country issuing the entry visa.

After determining the origin of the private encryption key, the data authentication unit 6 may request the PKD 1 to allow access to the associated decryption public key 7 . As detailed previously, access to the associated decryption public key 7 may include extracting the decryption public key 7 for local decryption, or transferring the encrypted data 200 to the PKD 1 for remotely decrypting the encrypted data 200. These two types of access will now be explained in more detail.

In one embodiment, after receiving a request from the authenticator 6, the PKD 1 can establish a secure communication channel between itself and the authenticator to securely transmit the decryption public key 7 to the authenticator 6. The authentication unit 6 then attempts to decrypt the encrypted data 200 using the extracted decryption public key 7 . If the decryption of the encrypted data 200 is successful, the public decryption key should have been correctly associated with the private encryption key 8 . Thus, it is confirmed that the security certificate is authentic, i.e. the security certificate contains data that has been encrypted with the expected correct private encryption key. The authentication unit 6 may indicate the success or failure of the decryption to provide an indication of the authenticity of the security certificate, which can be verified by the official. The authentication unit 6 also displays the unencrypted data 100 to the official.

If the encrypted data 200 has been tampered with after encryption, or if the encrypted data 200 is falsified, the decryption public key associated with the private encryption key 8 used by a particular issuing country will not decrypt the encrypted data 200. Thus, data integrity cannot be ensured and may be falsified or otherwise forged. Any change to the data after encryption invalidates the digital signature, so decryption with the associated public decryption key will result in an illegible decrypted message.

In another embodiment, the authenticator may securely pass the encrypted data 200 to the public key directory 1 and the PKD 1 itself identifies the correct decryption public key to use to decrypt the encrypted data using the unencrypted data associated with the security certificate, such as the country issuer. The PKD 1 then attempts to decrypt the encrypted data 200 using the selected decryption public key. After the attempted decryption, the PKD 1 securely transmits the decrypted data 100 or an indication of the success or failure of the attempted decryption to the establishment unit 6

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Claims (5)

authenticity. The authenticator may then indicate the success or failure of the decryption attempt and display the unencrypted data 100 to the official, for example with an indicator or special software. An authenticated security certificate can be used to resolve a variety of traveler-related issues with an official representative. In cases where the first party has encrypted all or part of the data for privacy (i.e. some or all of the encrypted data 200 has been encrypted with the public encryption key), the authenticator may request PrKD 3 to allow access to the private decryption key to decrypt those encrypted data 200, the same as requesting a public decryption key. The PrKD can monitor the credentials associated with the various authenticators to determine if the authenticator 6 is allowed access to the private decryption key. The PrKD may determine whether or not to allow access to a particular private decryption key based on this authority. If the private key becomes compromised, i.e. becomes public knowledge, public and private keys can be updated. In this case, outdated public and/or private keys may be present in a CRL stored in PKD 1 and the keys may be reverified against this list for additional protection against tampering. Further modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the description disclosed herein. Therefore, it is intended that the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments presented herein, but that it embraces all modifications and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. CLAIM 1. A protected physical product containing a security certificate containing the first data, which is public data, which has been encrypted with a private encryption key, while the encrypted public data is decryptable with a public decryption key associated with a private encryption key, with the purpose of authenticating the security certificate, characterized in that the security certificate additionally contains the second data, which is confidential data, different parts of which were encrypted using different public encryption keys, while different parts of the encrypted confidential data are decryptable using different private keys decryption associated with different public encryption keys, in order to provide access to different participants to different parts of confidential data, while each of the encrypted first and second data is applied to the protected and the product in the form of a visual image or in digital form on a microprocessor LSI or a magnetic track, while the private encryption key and public encryption keys are stored centrally in separate directories with secure access. 2. Protected product according to claim 1, characterized in that the visual image is a QR code, a barcode or a grayscale image. 3. A protected article according to any of the preceding paragraphs, characterized in that the safety certificate forms part of the entry visa. 4. The system for authenticating the security certificate of the protected physical product according to any one of claims 1 to 3, containing a secure directory of public decryption keys, configured to provide an authorized user with access to a public decryption key associated with a private encryption key, while the encrypted public data is decrypted using a public decryption key, access to which is provided, associated with a private encryption key, a confidential data decryption unit, configured to receive encrypted confidential data from an authorized user, different parts of which are encrypted using different public encryption keys, and decrypt the received different parts of the encrypted confidential data using different private decryption keys associated with different public encryption keys, in order to provide access to different parties to different parts of the confidential data, while the private decryption key is stored in a secure private decryption key directory configured to provide an authorized user with access to the private encryption key associated with the public encryption key. 5. The system according to claim 4, characterized in that the system is configured to determine the successful or unsuccessful decryption of the encrypted public data using the public decryption key, access to which is provided. -