Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L9/00—Cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communications; Network security protocols
  • H04L9/32—Cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communications; Network security protocols including means for verifying the identity or authority of a user of the system or for message authentication, e.g. authorization, entity authentication, data integrity or data verification, non-repudiation, key authentication or verification of credentials
  • H04L9/3271—Cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communications; Network security protocols including means for verifying the identity or authority of a user of the system or for message authentication, e.g. authorization, entity authentication, data integrity or data verification, non-repudiation, key authentication or verification of credentials using challenge-response
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L63/00—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security
  • H04L63/04—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security for providing a confidential data exchange among entities communicating through data packet networks
  • H04L63/0428—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security for providing a confidential data exchange among entities communicating through data packet networks wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
  • H04L63/0442—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security for providing a confidential data exchange among entities communicating through data packet networks wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload wherein the sending and receiving network entities apply asymmetric encryption, i.e. different keys for encryption and decryption
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L63/00—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security
  • H04L63/08—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security for authentication of entities
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L63/00—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security
  • H04L63/08—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security for authentication of entities
  • H04L63/0853—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security for authentication of entities using an additional device, e.g. smartcard, SIM or a different communication terminal
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L63/00—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security
  • H04L63/08—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security for authentication of entities
  • H04L63/0861—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security for authentication of entities using biometrical features, e.g. fingerprint, retina-scan
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L63/00—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security
  • H04L63/16—Implementing security features at a particular protocol layer
  • H04L63/166—Implementing security features at a particular protocol layer at the transport layer
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L63/00—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security
  • H04L63/18—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security using different networks or channels, e.g. using out of band channels
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L9/00—Cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communications; Network security protocols
  • H04L9/08—Key distribution or management, e.g. generation, sharing or updating, of cryptographic keys or passwords
  • H04L9/0861—Generation of secret information including derivation or calculation of cryptographic keys or passwords
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L9/00—Cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communications; Network security protocols
  • H04L9/08—Key distribution or management, e.g. generation, sharing or updating, of cryptographic keys or passwords
  • H04L9/0891—Revocation or update of secret information, e.g. encryption key update or rekeying
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L9/00—Cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communications; Network security protocols
  • H04L9/32—Cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communications; Network security protocols including means for verifying the identity or authority of a user of the system or for message authentication, e.g. authorization, entity authentication, data integrity or data verification, non-repudiation, key authentication or verification of credentials
  • H04L9/3226—Cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communications; Network security protocols including means for verifying the identity or authority of a user of the system or for message authentication, e.g. authorization, entity authentication, data integrity or data verification, non-repudiation, key authentication or verification of credentials using a predetermined code, e.g. password, passphrase or PIN
  • H04L9/3231—Biological data, e.g. fingerprint, voice or retina
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L9/00—Cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communications; Network security protocols
  • H04L9/32—Cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communications; Network security protocols including means for verifying the identity or authority of a user of the system or for message authentication, e.g. authorization, entity authentication, data integrity or data verification, non-repudiation, key authentication or verification of credentials
  • H04L9/3247—Cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communications; Network security protocols including means for verifying the identity or authority of a user of the system or for message authentication, e.g. authorization, entity authentication, data integrity or data verification, non-repudiation, key authentication or verification of credentials involving digital signatures
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L9/00—Cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communications; Network security protocols
  • H04L9/32—Cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communications; Network security protocols including means for verifying the identity or authority of a user of the system or for message authentication, e.g. authorization, entity authentication, data integrity or data verification, non-repudiation, key authentication or verification of credentials
  • H04L9/3263—Cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communications; Network security protocols including means for verifying the identity or authority of a user of the system or for message authentication, e.g. authorization, entity authentication, data integrity or data verification, non-repudiation, key authentication or verification of credentials involving certificates, e.g. public key certificate [PKC] or attribute certificate [AC]; Public key infrastructure [PKI] arrangements
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L2463/00—Additional details relating to network architectures or network communication protocols for network security covered by H04L63/00
  • H04L2463/081—Additional details relating to network architectures or network communication protocols for network security covered by H04L63/00 applying self-generating credentials, e.g. instead of receiving credentials from an authority or from another peer, the credentials are generated at the entity itself
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L63/00—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security
  • H04L63/06—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security for supporting key management in a packet data network
  • H04L63/068—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security for supporting key management in a packet data network using time-dependent keys, e.g. periodically changing keys

Definitions

• This invention relates generally to the field of data processing systems. More particularly, the invention relates to a system and method for efficient challenge- response authentication.
• FIG 1 illustrates an exemplary client 120 with a biometric device 100.
• a biometric sensor 102 reads raw biometric data from the user (e.g., capture the user’s fingerprint, record the user’s voice, snap a photo of the user, etc) and a feature extraction module 103 extracts specified characteristics of the raw biometric data (e.g., focusing on certain regions of the fingerprint, certain facial features, etc).
• a matcher module 104 compares the extracted features 133 with biometric reference data 1 10 stored in a secure storage on the client 120 and generates a score based on the similarity between the extracted features and the biometric reference data 1 10.
• the biometric reference data 1 10 is typically the result of an enrollment process in which the user enrolls a fingerprint, voice sample, image or other biometric data with the device 100. An application 105 may then use the score to determine whether the authentication was successful (e.g., if the score is above a certain specified threshold).
• the client-side authenticators may be based on a PIN or other secret code (e.g., a password) entered by the user and/or may be triggered based on user presence (e.g., a button that user pushes to verify presence).
• a PIN or other secret code e.g., a password
• user presence e.g., a button that user pushes to verify presence
• 201 1/0082801 (‘“801 Application”) describes a framework for user registration and authentication on a network which provides strong authentication (e.g., protection against identity theft and phishing), secure transactions (e.g., protection against “malware in the browser” and“man in the middle” attacks for transactions), and enrollment/management of client authentication tokens (e.g., fingerprint readers, facial recognition devices, smartcards, trusted platform modules, etc).
• strong authentication e.g., protection against identity theft and phishing
• secure transactions e.g., protection against “malware in the browser” and“man in the middle” attacks for transactions
• client authentication tokens e.g., fingerprint readers, facial recognition devices, smartcards, trusted platform modules, etc.
• the Co-Pending Applications describe authentication techniques in which a user enrolls with authentication devices (or Authenticators) such as biometric devices (e.g., fingerprint sensors) on a client device.
• authentication devices or Authenticators
• biometric devices e.g., fingerprint sensors
• biometric reference data is captured (e.g., by swiping a finger, snapping a picture, recording a voice, etc).
• the user may subsequently register the authentication devices with one or more servers over a network (e.g., Websites or other relying parties equipped with secure transaction services as described in the Co- Pending Applications); and subsequently authenticate with those servers using data exchanged during the registration process (e.g., cryptographic keys provisioned into the authentication devices).
• the user is permitted to perform one or more online transactions with a Website or other relying party.
• sensitive information such as fingerprint data and other data which can be used to uniquely identify the user, may be retained locally on the user’s authentication device to protect a user’s privacy.
• FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary client device having biometric authentication capabilities
• FIGS. 2A-B illustrate two different embodiments of a secure authentication system architecture
• FIG. 2C illustrates a transaction diagram showing how keys may be registered into authentication devices
• FIGS. 3A-B illustrates embodiments for secure transaction confirmation using a secure display
• FIG. 4 illustrate one embodiment of the invention for performing
• FIGS. 5A-B are transaction diagrams showing two different embodiments for performing authentication for a transaction
• FIG. 6 illustrates additional architectural features employed in one embodiment of the invention
• FIGS. 7-8 illustrate different embodiments of bearer tokens employed in different embodiments of the invention ;
• FIG. 9 illustrates exemplary“offline” and“semi-offline” authentication scenarios
• FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary system architecture for clients and/or servers
• FIG. 11 illustrates another exemplary system architecture for clients and/or servers
• FIG. 12 illustrates an example of a challenge-response authentication protocol and system
• FIG. 13 illustrates one embodiment in which a client device locally generates a challenge
• FIG. 14 illustrates an embodiment of a time acceptance window.
• biometric devices include, for example, fingerprint sensors, voice recognition hardware/software (e.g., a microphone and associated software for recognizing a user’s voice), and optical recognition capabilities (e.g., an optical scanner and associated software for scanning the retina of a user).
• biometric devices including, for example, fingerprint sensors, voice recognition hardware/software (e.g., a microphone and associated software for recognizing a user’s voice), and optical recognition capabilities (e.g., an optical scanner and associated software for scanning the retina of a user).
• the authentication capabilities may also include non-biometric devices such as trusted platform modules (TPMs) and smartcards.
• TPMs trusted platform modules
• the biometric device may be remote from the relying party.
• the term“remote” means that the biometric sensor is not part of the security boundary of the computer it is communicatively coupled to (e.g., it is not embedded into the same physical enclosure as the relying party computer).
• the biometric device may be coupled to the relying party via a network (e.g., the Internet, a wireless network link, etc) or via a peripheral input such as a USB port.
• the relying party may know if the device is one which is authorized by the relying party (e.g., one which provides an acceptable level of authentication and integrity protection) and/or whether a hacker has compromised the biometric device. Confidence in the biometric device depends on the particular implementation of the device.
• the authentication techniques employed to authenticate the user may involve non-location components such as communication over a network with remote servers and/or other data processing devices.
• non-location components such as communication over a network with remote servers and/or other data processing devices.
• specific embodiments are described herein (such as an ATM and retail location) it should be noted that the underlying principles of the invention may be implemented within the context of any system in which a transaction is initiated locally or remotely by an end user.
• the term“relying party” is sometimes used herein to refer, not merely to the entity with which a user transaction is attempted (e.g., a Website or online service performing user transactions), but also to the secure transaction servers implemented on behalf of that entity which may performed the underlying authentication techniques described herein.
• the secure transaction servers which provided remote authentication capabilities may be owned and/or under the control of the relying party or may be under the control of a third party offering secure transaction services to the relying party as part of a business arrangement.
• server is used herein to refer to software executed on a hardware platform (or across multiple hardware platforms) that receives requests over a network from a client, responsively performs one or more operations, and transmits a response to the client, typically including the results of the operations.
• the server responds to client requests to provide, or help to provide, a network“service” to the clients.
• a server is not limited to a single computer (e.g., a single hardware device for executing the server software) and may, in fact, be spread across multiple hardware platforms, potentially at multiple geographical locations.
• the embodiments of the invention described herein include techniques for authenticating a user for a transaction initiated through a secure transaction device.
• the transaction may be a withdrawal, transfer, or other user-initiated operation and the transaction device may be an automatic teller machine (ATM), point- of-sale (PoS) transaction device or other device capable of executing transactions on behalf of the user.
• ATM automatic teller machine
• PoS point- of-sale
• the transaction may involve, for example, completing a payment to purchase goods or services at a retail store or other retail location equipped with the device, withdrawing funds via the device, performing maintenance on the device, or any other transaction for which user authentication is required.
• One embodiment of the invention provides techniques for authenticating the user locally (i.e. verifying the user), even in circumstances where the device is offline (i.e., not connected to a back-end authentication server) or semi-offline (i.e., only periodically connected to a back-end authentication server).
• the user’s client device is provided with the ability to cache authentication requests generated by a back-end authentication server (e.g., operated on behalf of the relying party) and the device is provided with data needed to verify the authentication response transmitted from the user’s client device to the device.
• Figures 2A-B illustrate two embodiments of a system architecture comprising client-side and server-side components for remotely authenticating a user.
• the embodiment shown in Figure 2A uses a browser plugin-based architecture for communicating with a website while the embodiment shown in Figure 2B does not require a browser.
• the various authentication techniques and associated applications described herein may be implemented on either of these system architectures.
• the authentication engines within client devices described herein may be implemented as part of the secure transaction service 201 including interface 202. It should be noted, however, that the embodiments described above may be implemented using logical arrangements of hardware and software other than those shown in
• the illustrated embodiment includes a client 200 equipped with one or more authentication devices 210-212 for enrolling and
• the authentication devices 210-212 may include biometric devices such as fingerprint sensors, voice recognition
• a user may enroll the biometric devices by providing biometric data (e.g., swiping a finger on the fingerprint device) which the secure transaction service 201 may store as biometric template data in secure storage 220 (via interface 202).
• biometric data e.g., swiping a finger on the fingerprint device
• secure transaction service 201 may store as biometric template data in secure storage 220 (via interface 202).
• each authentication device 210-212 may have its own integrated secure storage. Additionally, each authentication device 210-212 may cryptographically protect the biometric reference data records (e.g., wrapping them using a symmetric key to make the storage 220 secure).
• the authentication devices 210-212 are communicatively coupled to the client through an interface 202 (e.g., an application programming interface or API) exposed by a secure transaction service 201.
• the secure transaction service 201 is a secure application for communicating with one or more secure transaction servers 232-233 over a network and for interfacing with a secure transaction plugin 205 executed within the context of a web browser 204.
• the Interface 202 may also provide secure access to a secure storage device 220 on the client 200 which stores
• a device identification code such as an Authenticator Attestation ID (AAID)
• user identification code such as an Authenticator Attestation ID (AAID)
• user enrollment data e.g., scanned fingerprint or other biometric data
• keys used to perform the secure authentication techniques described herein For example, as discussed in detail below, a unique key may be stored into each of the authentication devices and subsequently used when communicating to servers 230 over a network such as the Internet.
• the secure transaction plugin 205 is initiated in response to specific HTML tags inserted into the HTML code of a web page by the web server 231 within the secure enterprise or Web destination 230 (sometimes simply referred to below as“server 230”). In response to detecting such a tag, the secure transaction plugin 205 may forward transactions to the secure transaction service 201 for processing. In addition, for certain types of transactions (e.g., such as secure key exchange) the secure transaction service 201 may open a direct communication channel with the on-premises transaction server 232 (i.e., co-located with the website) or with an off-premises transaction server 233.
• the on-premises transaction server 232 i.e., co-located with the website
• an off-premises transaction server 233 i.e., co-located with the website
• the secure transaction servers 232-233 are coupled to a secure transaction database 240 for storing user data, authentication device data, keys and other secure information needed to support the secure authentication transactions described below.
• the underlying principles of the invention do not require the separation of logical components within the secure enterprise or web destination 230 shown in Figure 2A.
• the website 231 and the secure transaction servers 232-233 may be implemented within a single physical server or separate physical servers.
• the website 231 and transaction servers 232-233 may be implemented within an integrated software module executed on one or more servers for performing the functions described below.
• Figure 2B illustrates an alternate implementation in which a stand-alone application 254 utilizes the functionality provided by the secure transaction service 201 to authenticate a user over a network.
• the application 254 is designed to establish communication sessions with one or more network services 251 which rely on the secure transaction servers 232-233 for performing the user/client authentication techniques described in detail below.
• the secure transaction servers 232-233 may generate the keys which are then securely transmitted to the secure transaction service 201 and stored into the authentication devices within the secure storage 220. Additionally, the secure transaction servers 232-233 manage the secure transaction database 240 on the server side.
• FIG. 2C illustrates a series of transactions for registering authentication devices.
• a key is shared between the authentication device and one of the secure transaction servers 232-233.
• the key is stored within the secure storage 220 of the client 200 and the secure transaction database 220 used by the secure transaction servers 232-233.
• the key is a symmetric key generated by one of the secure transaction servers 232-233.
• asymmetric keys may be used.
• the public key may be stored by the secure transaction servers 232- 233 and a second, related private key may be stored in the secure storage 220 on the client.
• the key(s) may be generated on the client 200 (e.g., by the authentication device or the authentication device interface rather than the secure transaction servers 232-233).
• the underlying principles of the invention are not limited to any particular types of keys or manner of generating the keys.
• a secure key provisioning protocol such as the Dynamic Symmetric Key Provisioning Protocol (DSKPP) may be used to share the key with the client over a secure communication channel (see, e.g., Request for Comments (RFC) 6063).
• DSKPP Dynamic Symmetric Key Provisioning Protocol
• the server 230 generates a randomly generated challenge (e.g., a cryptographic nonce) that must be presented by the client during device registration.
• the random challenge may be valid for a limited period of time.
• the secure transaction plugin detects the random challenge and forwards it to the secure transaction service 201.
• the secure transaction service initiates an out-of-band session with the server 230 (e.g., an out-of-band transaction) and communicates with the server 230 using the key provisioning protocol.
• the server 230 locates the user with the user name, validates the random challenge, validates the device’s attestation code (e.g., AAID) if one was sent, and creates a new entry in the secure transaction database 220 for the user. It may also generate the key or public/private key pair, write the key(s) to the database 220 and send the key(s) back to the secure transaction service 201 using the key provisioning protocol.
• the authentication device and the server 230 share the same key if a symmetric key was used or different keys if asymmetric keys were used.
• Figure 3A illustrates a secure transaction confirmation for a browser-based implementation. While a browser-based implementation is illustrated, the same basic principles may be implemented using a stand-alone application or mobile device app.
• the secure transaction confirmation is designed to provide stronger security for certain types of transactions (e.g., financial transactions).
• the user confirms each transaction prior to committing the transaction.
• the user confirms exactly what he/she wants to commit and commits exactly what he/she sees displayed in a window 301 of the graphical user interface (GUI).
• GUI graphical user interface
• this embodiment ensures that the transaction text cannot be modified by a“man in the middle” (MITM) or“man in the browser” (MITB) to commit a transaction which the user did not confirm.
• the secure transaction plugin 205 displays a window 301 in the browser context to show the transaction details.
• the secure transaction server 201 periodically (e.g., with a random interval) verifies that the text that is shown in the window is not being tampered by anyone (e.g., by generating a hash/signature over the displayed text).
• the authentication device has a trusted user interface (e.g. providing an API compliant to GlobalPlatform’s TrustedUI).
• a user chooses items for purchase from a merchant site and selects“check out.”
• the merchant site sends the transaction to a service provide which has a secure transaction server 232-233 implementing one or more of the embodiments of the invention described herein (e.g., PayPal).
• the merchant site authenticates the user and completes the transaction.
• the secure transaction server 232-233 receives the transaction details (TD) and puts a“Secure Transaction” request in an HTML page and sends to client 200.
• the Secure Transaction request includes the transaction details and a random challenge.
• the secure transaction plugin 205 detects the request for transaction confirmation message and forwards all data to the secure transaction service 201.
• the information may be sent directly from the secure transaction servers to the secure transaction service on the client 200.
• the secure transaction plugin 205 displays a window 301 with transaction details to the user (e.g. in a browser context) and asks the user to provide authentication to confirm the transaction.
• the secure transaction plugin 205 displays a window 301 with transaction details to the user (e.g. in a browser context) and asks the user to provide authentication to confirm the transaction.
• the secure transaction service 201 may display the window 301 .
• the secure transaction service 201 starts a timer and verifies the content of the window 301 being displayed to the user. The period of verification may be randomly chosen.
• the secure transaction service 201 ensures that user sees the valid transaction details in the window 301 (e.g., generating a hash on the details and verifying that the contents are accurate by comparing against a hash of the correct contents). If it detects that the content has been tampered with it prevents the confirmation token/signature from being generated.
• the authentication device verifies the user and generates a cryptographic signature (sometimes referred to as a“token”) with the transaction details and the random challenge (i.e., the signature is calculated over the transaction details and the nonce).
• a cryptographic signature sometimes referred to as a“token”
• the secure transaction service 201 sends the generated signature and username to the secure transaction plugin 205 which forwards the signature to the secure transaction server 232-233.
• the secure transaction server 232-233 identifies the user with the username and verifies the signature. If verification succeeds, a confirmation message is sent to the client and the transaction is processed.
• One embodiment of the invention implements a query policy in which a secure transaction server transmits a server policy to the client indicating the
• the client then analyzes the server policy to identify a subset of authentication capabilities which it supports and/or which the user has indicated a desire to use. The client then registers and/or authenticates the user using the subset of authentication tokens matching the provided policy.
• the client may include numerous user verification capabilities such as a fingerprint sensor, voice recognition capabilities, facial recognition capabilities, eye/optical recognition capabilities, PIN verification, to name a few.
• the secure transaction server may transmit a server policy to the client indicating that it supports, for example, fingerprint, optical, or smartcard authentication. The client may then compare the server policy against its own authentication capabilities and choose one or more of the available authentication options.
• One embodiment of the invention employs transaction signing on the secure transaction server so that no transaction state needs to be maintained on the server to maintain sessions with clients.
• transaction details such as transaction text displayed within the window 301 may be sent to the client signed by the server.
• the server may then verify that the signed transaction responses received by the client are valid by verifying the signature.
• the server does not need to persistently store the transaction content, which would consume a significant amount of storage space for a large number of clients and would open possibility for denial of service type attacks on server.
• Figure 3B shows a website or other network service 31 1 initiating a transaction with a client 200.
• the user may have selected items for purchase on the website and may be ready to check out and pay.
• the website or service 31 1 hands off the transaction to a secure transaction server 312 which includes signature processing logic 313 for generating and verifying signatures (as described herein) and authentication logic for performing client authentication 314 (e.g., using the
• the authentication request sent from the secure transaction server 312 to the client 200 includes the random challenge such as a cryptographic nonce (as described above), the transaction details (e.g., the specific text presented to complete the transaction), and a signature generated by the signature processing logic 313 over the random challenge and the transaction details using a private key (known only by the secure transaction server).
• the random challenge such as a cryptographic nonce (as described above)
• the transaction details e.g., the specific text presented to complete the transaction
• a signature generated by the signature processing logic 313 over the random challenge and the transaction details using a private key (known only by the secure transaction server).
• the user may receive an indication that user verification is required to complete the transaction.
• the user may, for example, swipe a finger across a fingerprint scanner, snap a picture, speak into a microphone, or perform any other type of authentication permitted for the given transaction.
• the client transmits the following back to the server: (1 ) the random challenge and transaction text (both previously provided to the client by the server), (2) authentication data proving that the user successfully completed
• the authentication module 314 on the secure transaction server 312 may then confirm that the user has correctly authenticated and the signature processing logic 313 re-generates the signature over the random challenge and the transaction text using the private key. If the signature matches the one sent by the client, then the server can verify that the transaction text is the same as it was when initially received from the website or service 31 1. Storage and processing resources are conserved because the secure transaction server 312 is not required to persistently store the transaction text (or other transaction data) within the secure transaction database 120.
• one embodiment of the invention includes techniques for authenticating the user locally (i.e. verifying the user), even in circumstances where the user device and device are offline (i.e., not connected to a back-end authentication server of a relying party) or semi-offline (i.e., where the user device is not connected to the relying party, but the device is).
• Figure 4 illustrates one such arrangement in which a client 400 with authentication devices previously registered with a relying party 451 establishes a secure channel with a transaction device 450 to complete a transaction.
• the transaction device may be an ATM, point-of- sale (PoS) transaction device at a retail location, Internet of Things (loT) device, or any other device capable of establishing a channel with the client 400 and allowing the user to perform a transaction.
• the channel may be implemented using any wireless communication protocol including, by way of example and not limitation, near field communications (NFC) and Bluetooth (e.g., Bluetooth Low Energy (BTLE) as set forth in the Bluetooth Core Specification Version 4.0).
• NFC near field communications
• Bluetooth e.g., Bluetooth Low Energy (BTLE) as set forth in the Bluetooth Core Specification Version 4.0
• BTLE Bluetooth Low Energy
• connection between the client 400 and the relying party 451 and/or the connection between the transaction device 450 and the relying party 451 may be sporadic or non-existent.
• Real world applications in the area of payments often rely on such“off-line” use-cases.
• a user with a client 400 e.g., a Smartphone
• the client 400 and/or transaction device 450 do exchange some information with the relying party 451 (although not necessarily during the authentication or transaction confirmation process described herein).
• PIN personal identification number
• the device e.g. the PoS transaction device or ATM.
• the device would then create an online connection to the relying party in order to verify the secret or would ask the user’s authenticator (e.g.,
• EMV banking card for verifying the PIN.
• EMV banking card for verifying the PIN.
• the authentication techniques described herein provide significantly more flexibility in terms of user verification methods and security as they allow the user to rely on his/her own client’s authentication capabilities.
• a mobile application on the user’s client caches authentication requests provided by the relying party during a time when the client is connected to the relying party.
• the authentication requests may include the same (or similar) information as the
• the mobile application may cache multiple such connection requests (e.g., one for each transaction device or transaction device type).
• the cached authentication requests may then be used for transactions with the transaction device, in circumstances where the client/mobile app is incapable of connecting with the relying party.
• the mobile app triggers the creation of the authentication response based on the cached authentication request containing the serverData and additional data received from the transaction device.
• the authentication response is then transmitted to the transaction device which then verifies the authentication response using a verification key provided from the relying party (e.g., during a time when the transaction device is connected with the relying party).
• the transaction device may use the key provided by the relying party to verify the signature over the serverData included in the authentication response.
• the signature is generated by the relying party using a private relying party verification key and the transaction device verifies the signature using a corresponding public relying party verification key (provided to the transaction device by the relying party).
• the transaction device verifies the serverData extracted from the authentication response, it may then use the public key extracted from the
• authentication request (e.g., Uauth.pub) to verify the authentication response generated by the client/mobile app (e.g., in the same or a similar manner to the verifications by the relying party described above, when the client is authenticating directly to the relying party).
• the relying party provides the authentication request directly to the transaction device (rather than through the mobile app on the client device).
• the transaction device may ask for the authentication request from the relying party upon receiving a request to complete a transaction from the mobile app on the client.
• it may validate the request and the authentication response as described above (e.g., by generating a signature and comparing it to the existing signature).
• Figure 5A is a transaction diagram showing interactions between the client 400, transaction device 450 and relying party in an embodiment in which the client 400 caches the authentication request.
• This embodiment is sometimes referred to as the “full-offline” embodiment because it does not require the transaction device 450 to have an existing connection with the relying party.
• the client requests a cacheable authentication request from the relying party.
• the relying party generates the cacheable authentication request
• the authentication request is sent to the client, and at 504 the client caches the authentication request.
• the authentication request includes the public key associated with the authenticator to be used for authentication (Uauth.pub) and a signature generated using the relying party verification key (RPVerifyKey) over the public key and a random nonce. If asymmetric keys are used, then RPVerifyKey used by the relying party to generate the signature is a private key having a
• the authentication request also includes timing information indicating the length of time for which the authentication request will be valid (e.g., MaxCacheTime).
• authentication request may be generated over the combination of the public
• the authentication response includes more than one authentication key (e.g., one for each authenticator capable of authenticating the user) and the signature may be generated over all of these keys (e.g., along with the nonce and the MaxCacheTime).
• the public RPVerifyKey needs to be known the transaction device 450, or any device intended to perform offline verification of the authentication requests/responses.
• This extension is required because the transaction device does not have any knowledge about the authentication keys registered at the relying party (i.e. no established relation exists between user device and the transaction device). Consequently, the relying party must communicate to the transaction device (or other device), in a secure manner, which key(s) are to be used for authentication response verification.
• the transaction device will verify the MaxCacheTime to determine whether the cached authentication request is still valid (to comply with the relying party’s policy on how long the cached authentication request may be used).
• the client establishes a secure connection to the transaction device and initiates a transaction.
• the transaction device is a PoS transaction device
• the transaction may involve a debit or credit transaction.
• the transaction device is an ATM
• the transaction may involve a cash withdrawal or a maintenance task.
• the underlying principles of the invention are not limited to any particular type of transaction device or secure connection.
• the client may transmit the cached authentication request to the transaction device.
• the transaction device may transmit device identity information (e.g., a transaction device identification code), a random challenge (nonce) and optionally transaction text in a defined syntax to complete the transaction.
• device identity information e.g., a transaction device identification code
• a random challenge e.g., a random challenge
• optionally transaction text e.g., a transaction device identification code
• the random challenge/nonce will then be cryptographically bound to the authentication response. This mechanism allows the device to verify that the user verification is fresh and hasn’t been cached / reused.
• the transaction device may be required to create a standardized, and human readable representation of the transaction.
• Standardized as used herein means a format that can be parsed by the relying party (e.g. for final verification as indicated in operation 51 1 below) and/or the transaction device. It needs to be human readable because transaction confirmations require the authenticator to display it on the secure display of the client 400.
• An example of such an encoding could be XML where XSLT is used for visualization.
• an authentication user interface is displayed directing the user to perform authentication on the client using a particular authenticator (e.g., to swipe a finger on a fingerprint sensor, enter a PIN code, speak into a microphone, etc).
• a particular authenticator e.g., to swipe a finger on a fingerprint sensor, enter a PIN code, speak into a microphone, etc.
• authentication engine on the client verifies the identity of the user (e.g., comparing the authentication data collected from the user with the user verification reference data stored in the secure storage of the authenticator) and uses the private key associated with the authentication device to encrypt and/or generate a signature over the random challenge (and also potentially the transaction device ID and/or the transaction text).
• the authentication response is then transmitted to the transaction device at 508.
• the transaction device uses the public RPVerifyKey to verify the signature on the serverData (received at 505) if it has not done so already.
• the serverData knows the public key associated with the authenticator used to perform the authentication (Uauth.pub). It uses this key to verify the authentication response. For example, it may use the public authentication key to decrypt or verify the signature generated over the nonce and any other related information (e.g., the transaction text, the transaction device ID, etc).
• transaction confirmation is performed by the transaction device, then it may verify the transaction text displayed on the client by validating the signature generated over the transaction text and included in the authentication response at 508.
• the transaction device could also verify unsigned serverData using an online connection to the relying party - if this is available (semi-offline case).
• a success or failure indication is sent to the client depending on whether authentication was successful or unsuccessful, respectively. If successful, the transaction device will permit the transaction (e.g., debiting/crediting an account to complete a purchase, dispensing cash, performing administrative task, etc). If not, it will disallow the transaction and/or request additional authentication.
• the transaction device will permit the transaction (e.g., debiting/crediting an account to complete a purchase, dispensing cash, performing administrative task, etc). If not, it will disallow the transaction and/or request additional authentication.
• the transaction device may transmit the authentication response to the relying party and/or the transaction text (assuming that the relying party is the entity responsible for verifying the transaction text).
• a record of the transaction may be recorded at the relying party and/or the relying party may verify the transaction text and confirm the transaction (not shown).
• Figure 5B is a transaction diagram showing interactions between the client 400, transaction device 450 and relying party in an embodiment in which the transaction device has a connection with and receives the authentication request from the relying party.
• This embodiment is sometimes referred to as the“semi-offline” embodiment because although the client does not have a connection to the relying party, the transaction device 450 does.
• the client initiates a transaction, establishing a secure connection with the transaction device (e.g., NFC, Bluetooth, etc).
• the transaction device responsively asks for an authentication request from the relying party.
• the relying party generates the authentication request and at 524 the authentication request is sent to the transaction device.
• the authentication request may include the public key associated with the authenticator on the client to be used for authentication (Uauth.pub) and a signature generated using the relying party verification key (RPVerifyKey) over the public key and a random nonce.
• RPVerifyKey used by the relying party to generate the signature is a private key having a corresponding public RPVerifyKey which the relying party provides to the transaction device (potentially far in advance of processing the user authentication request).
• the transaction device may also verify unsigned serverData using an online connection to the relying party - if this is available (semi-offline case).
• the serverData also includes timing information indicating the length of time for which the authentication request will be valid (e.g.,
• the authentication response includes more than one authentication key (e.g., one for each authenticator) and the signature may be generated over all of these keys (e.g., along with the nonce and the MaxCacheTime).
• the remainder of the transaction diagram in Figure 5B operates substantially as shown in Figure 5A.
• the transaction device may transmit identity information (e.g., a transaction device identification code), a random challenge (nonce) and optionally transaction text in a defined syntax to complete the transaction.
• identity information e.g., a transaction device identification code
• a random challenge once
• optionally transaction text in a defined syntax to complete the transaction.
• the random challenge/nonce will then be cryptographically bound to the authentication response. This mechanism allows the device to verify that the user verification is fresh and hasn’t been cached.
• the transaction device may be required to create a standardized, and human readable representation of the transaction.
• Standardized as used herein means a format that can be parsed by the relying party (e.g. for final verification as indicated in operation 51 1 below) and/or the transaction device. It needs to be human readable because transaction confirmations require the authenticator to display it on the secure display of the client 400.
• An example of such an encoding could be XML where XSLT is used for visualization.
• an authentication user interface is displayed directing the user to perform authentication on the client using a particular authenticator (e.g., to swipe a finger on a fingerprint sensor, enter a PIN code, speak into a microphone, etc).
• a particular authenticator e.g., to swipe a finger on a fingerprint sensor, enter a PIN code, speak into a microphone, etc.
• authentication engine on the client verifies the identity of the user (e.g., comparing the authentication data collected from the user with the user verification reference data stored in the secure storage of the authenticator) and uses the private key associated with the authentication device to encrypt and/or generate a signature over the random challenge (and also potentially the transaction device ID and/or the transaction text).
• the authentication response is then transmitted to the transaction device at 527.
• the transaction device uses the public RPVerifyKey to verify the signature on the serverData (received at 524) if it has not done so already.
• the serverData knows the public key associated with the authenticator used to perform the authentication (Uauth.pub). It uses this key to verify the authentication response. For example, it may use the public authentication key to decrypt or verify the signature generated over the nonce and any other related information (e.g., the transaction text, the transaction device ID, etc). If transaction confirmation is performed by the transaction device, then it may verify the transaction text displayed on the client by validating the signature generated over the transaction text and included in the authentication response at 528.
• the transaction device could also verify unsigned serverData using an online connection to the relying party - if this is available (semi-offline case).
• a success or failure indication is sent to the client depending on whether authentication was successful or unsuccessful, respectively. If successful, the transaction device will permit the transaction (e.g., debiting/crediting an account to complete a purchase, dispensing cash, performing administrative task, etc). If not, it will disallow the transaction and/or request additional authentication.
• the transaction device may transmit the authentication response to the relying party and/or the transaction text (assuming that the relying party is the entity responsible for verifying the transaction text).
• a record of the transaction may be recorded at the relying party and/or the relying party may verify the transaction text and confirm the transaction (not shown).
• a mobile app 601 is executed on the client to perform the operations described herein in combination with an authentication client 602 (which may be the secure transaction service 201 and interface 202 shown in Figure 2B).
• the mobile app 601 may open a secure channel to a web app 61 1 executed on the transaction device 450 using transport layer security (TLS) or other secure communication protocol.
• a web server 612 on the transaction device may also open a secure channel to communicate with the relying party 451 (e.g., to retrieve authentication requests and/or to provide updates to the relying party 451 as discussed above).
• the authentication client 602 may communicate directly with the relying party 451 to, for example, retrieve cacheable authentication requests (as discussed in detail above).
• the authentication client 602 may identify the relying party and any authorized Mobile Apps 601 with an“AppID” which is a unique code associated with each application made available by a relying party.
• an“AppID” is a unique code associated with each application made available by a relying party.
• a user may have multiple AppIDs with a single relying party (one for each service offered by the relying party).
• any application identified by an AppID may have multiple “facets” which identify the allowable mechanisms and/or application types for connecting with the relying party.
• a particular relying party may allow access via a Web service and via different platform-specific mobile apps (e.g., an Android App, an iOS App, etc). Each of these may be identified using a different “FacetID” which may be provided by the relying party to the authentication engine as illustrated.
• the calling mobile app 601 passes its AppID to the API exposed by the authentication client 602. On each platform, the authentication client 602 identifies the calling app 601 , and determines its FacetID. It then resolves the AppID and checks whether the FacetID is included in a TrustedApps list provided by the relying party 451.
• the cacheable authentication requests discussed above may be implemented using bearer tokens such as illustrated in Figures 7 and 8.
• the token recipient the transaction device 450
• the token recipient needs to be able to verify the token, the authentication response and the binding of the token to the authentication response without requiring another“online” connection to the token issuer (the relying party).
• Tokens which can only be verified by the recipient (e.g., the transaction device 450) using a different channel to the issuer (e.g., the relying party 451 ), that must exist between the token issuance and the token verification.
• This class of tokens is referred to herein as“unsigned tokens.”
• Tokens which can be verified by the recipient due to their cryptographic structure e.g., because they contain a digital signature which can be verified using data received from the token issuer, potentially way before the specific token was issued.
• This class of tokens is referred to herein as“signed tokens”.
• signed token structure Is used herein to refer to both the signed token including the Uauth.pub key and the signed structure containing the token.
• the token issuer (e.g., the relying party 451 ): (a) adds the Authentication public key (Uauth.pub) 702 to the to-be-signed portion 701 of the (to-be-) signed token; and (b) includes that signed token in the to-be-signed portion of the authentication response.
• the token recipient e.g., the transaction device 450
• the token recipient can verify the token by validating the signature 703 (e.g., the public RPVerifyKey discussed above). If the verification succeeds, it can extract the public key (Uauth.pub) and use it to verify the authentication response, as previously discussed.
• the token issuer e.g., the relying party 451
• the signed structure can be verified by validating the signature 803 using the public key related to the private signing key (e.g., the RPVerifyKey pair discussed above).
• This public signing key needs to be shared with the token recipient (e.g., the transaction device 450). Sharing can be done once after generation of the signing key pair, potentially way before the first signed structure was generated.
• the techniques described herein support both the“full-offline” implementation (i.e., the transaction device 450 has no connection to the relying party 451 at the time of the transaction) as well as the“semi-offline” implementation (i.e., the transaction device has a connection to the relying party 451 at the time of the transaction, but the client does not.
• the transaction device 450 is still expected to be connected via a host from time to time to the relying party 451.
• the host may collect all responses stored in the transaction device 450 in order to send them to the relying party and may also update (if required) the list of revoked Uauth keys (e.g., the public authentication keys which have been revoked since the last connection).
• Some embodiments also support pure (session) authentication as well as transaction confirmation. Even in the case of transaction confirmation, the relying party 451 can verify the transaction, if the transaction device 450 submits the transaction text along with the authentication response to the relying party 451 .
• a user has registered his authenticator (e.g. a smartphone) with a payment service provider (PSP).
• PSP payment service provider
• the user wants to authenticate a payment at some merchant using a Point-of-Sale device (PoS) authorized by the PSP, but the PoS doesn’t have a reliable and permanent online connection to the PSP (e.g. located in a Bus).
• PoS Point-of-Sale device
• the PoS may be implemented as the transaction device 450 and the PSP may be implemented as the relying party 451 described above to allow the transaction notwithstanding the lack of a reliable and permanent connection.
• the company can inject a trust anchor (e.g., the public RPVerifyKey) into all devices once (e.g., at installation time).
• a trust anchor e.g., the public RPVerifyKey
• Each technician registers with the contracted party (e.g., the relying party 451 which may be the technician’s employer).
• the technician will be able to authenticate to each device.
• the embodiments of the invention described above may be implemented in any system in which a client with authentication capabilities is registered with a relying party and the authentication operation is performed between this client and a device (a) acting on behalf of the relying party and (b) being offline (i.e. not having a reliable network connection to the relying party’s original server the client has been registered with) at the time of transaction.
• the client receives a cacheable authentication request from the original server and caches it. Once it is required, the client computes the authentication response and sends it to the device.
• the client adds channel binding data (received in the authentication request) to the response in a cryptographically secure way.
• the relying party s original server can verify that the request was received by a legitimate client (and not some man-in-the-middle).
• the relying party adds additional authenticated data to the response such as the Uauth.pub key which allows the device to verify the authentication or transaction confirmation response, without having to contact the relying party server for retrieving the approved Uauth.pub key.
• the relying party requires the user of the client to perform a successful authentication before issuing the“cacheable” authentication requests (in order to prevent denial of service attacks).
• the relying party requires the client to indicate whether a request needs to be cacheable or not. If cacheable, the relying party may require additional authentication data in the response (e.g., the MaxCacheTime discussed above).
• a device such as the transaction device 450 does not have a direct network connection to the relying party and is“synchronized” to the relying party using a separate computer (sometimes referred to herein as the“host”).
• This host retrieves all collected authentication responses from the device and transfers them to the relying party. Additionally the host may also copy a list of revoked Uauth keys to the device to ensure that one of the revoked keys is not used in an authentication response.
• a device such as the transaction device 450 sends a random value (e.g., nonce) to the client and the client cryptographically adds this random value as an extension to the authentication response before signing it.
• This signed random value serves as a freshness proof to the device.
• the client’s authenticator adds the current time Ta as an extension to the authentication response before signing it.
• the device/transaction device may compare that time to the current time Td and only accept the response if the difference between Ta and Td is acceptable (e.g., if the difference is less than two minutes (abs(Td-Ta) ⁇ 2 min)).
• the relying party adds an authenticated (i.e., signed) expiration time to the cacheable request.
• an authenticated (i.e., signed) expiration time As discussed above, the device/transaction device will only accept the response as valid if it is received before the expiration time.
• the relying party adds an authenticated (i.e., signed) data block (e.g., the“signed token structure” mentioned above) including additional information such as (but not limited to) public key, expiration time, maximum transaction value (e.g., Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) assertions, OAuth tokens, JSON Web Signature (JWS) objects, etc) to the cacheable request.
• SAML Security Assertion Markup Language
• JWS JSON Web Signature
• the device/transaction device may only accept the response as valid if the signed data block can be positively verified and the contents are acceptable.
• the relying party only adds the unsigned token to the cacheable authentication request, but the transaction device has an online connection to the relying party at the time of transaction.
• the transaction device verifies the authenticity of the unsigned token using the online connection to the relying party at the time of transaction.
• FIG. 9 illustrates exemplary“offline” and“semi-offline” authentication scenarios in accordance with one embodiment of the invention.
• the user with a computing device 910 has an established relation to the relying party 930 and could authenticate to the relying party.
• the user wants to perform a transaction (e.g., an authentication of a transaction confirmation) with a device 970 which has an established relation to the relying party 930 but not necessarily one to the user’s computing device 910.
• the transaction is referred to as“full offline” if the connection 920 and connection 921 do not exist or are not stable at the relevant time (e.g., the time of authentication of the user’s computing device 910 to the device 970 or of the transaction between the user’s computing device 910 and the device 970).
• the transaction is“semi-offline” if the connection 920 between the user’s computing device 910 and the relying party 930 is not stable, but the connection 921 between the device 970 and the relying party 930 is stable. Note that in this embodiment, connection 922 between the user’s computing device 910 and device 970 is required to be stable at the relevant time.
• connection 922 could be implemented using any type of communication channels/protocols including, but not limited to, Bluetooth, Bluetooth low energy (BTLE), near field communication (NFC), Wifi, Global System for Mobile
• GSM Global System for Mobile communications
• UTMS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System
• LTE Long- Term Evolution
• 4G LTE Long- Term Evolution
• TCP/IP TCP/IP
• Figure 10 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary clients and servers which may be used in some embodiments of the invention. It should be understood that while Figure 10 illustrates various components of a computer system, it is not intended to represent any particular architecture or manner of interconnecting the components as such details are not germane to the present invention. It will be appreciated that other computer systems that have fewer components or more components may also be used with the present invention.
• the computer system 1000 which is a form of a data processing system, includes the bus(es) 1050 which is coupled with the processing system 1020, power supply 1025, memory 1030, and the nonvolatile memory 1040 (e.g., a hard drive, flash memory, Phase-Change Memory (PCM), etc.).
• the bus(es) 1050 may be connected to each other through various bridges, controllers, and/or adapters as is well known in the art.
• the processing system 1020 may retrieve instruction(s) from the memory 1030 and/or the nonvolatile memory 1040, and execute the instructions to perform operations as described above.
• the bus 1050 interconnects the above components together and also interconnects those components to the optional dock 1060, the display controller & display device 1070, Input/Output devices 1080 (e.g., NIC (Network Interface Card), a cursor control (e.g., mouse, touchscreen, touchpad, etc.), a keyboard, etc.), and the optional wireless transceiver(s) 1090 (e.g., Bluetooth, WiFi, Infrared, etc.).
• NIC Network Interface Card
• FIG 11 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary data processing system which may be used in some embodiments of the invention.
• the data processing system 190 may be a handheld computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, a portable gaming system, a portable media player, a tablet or a handheld computing device which may include a mobile telephone, a media player, and/or a gaming system.
• the data processing system 1 100 may be a network computer or an embedded processing device within another device.
• the exemplary architecture of the data processing system 1 100 may be used for the mobile devices described above.
• the data processing system 1 100 includes the processing system 1120, which may include one or more microprocessors and/or a system on an integrated circuit.
• the processing system 1 120 is coupled with a memory 1 1 10, a power supply 1 125 (which includes one or more batteries) an audio input/output 1 140, a display controller and display device 1 160, optional input/output 1 150, input device(s) 1 170, and wireless transceiver(s) 1 130.
• a power supply 1 125 which includes one or more batteries
• an audio input/output 1 140 which includes one or more batteries
• a display controller and display device 1 160 optional input/output 1 150
• input device(s) 1 170 input device(s) 1 170
• wireless transceiver(s) 1 130 wireless transceiver
• the memory 1 1 10 may store data and/or programs for execution by the data processing system 1 100.
• the audio input/output 1 140 may include a microphone and/or a speaker to, for example, play music and/or provide telephony functionality through the speaker and microphone.
• the display controller and display device 1 160 may include a graphical user interface (GUI).
• the wireless (e.g., RF) transceivers 1 130 e.g., a WiFi transceiver, an infrared transceiver, a Bluetooth transceiver, a wireless cellular telephony transceiver, etc.
• the one or more input devices 1 170 allow a user to provide input to the system. These input devices may be a keypad, keyboard, touch panel, multi touch panel, etc.
• the optional other input/output 1 150 may be a connector for a dock.
• the client device 1210 typically asks the server 121 1 (at 1201 ) to generate and remember a random challenge and send that challenge over to the client (at 1202).
• the client calculates a response 1203 comprising a signature generated using the challenge 1202.
• the client transmits this response 1204 including the signature to the server 121 1 which must verify and transmit a confirmation 1205 if successful (i.e., if the signature was validated).
• the server 121 1 will only accept responses related to a challenge 1202 the server has stored for subsequent use.
• the reason for this approach is that there is a need to protect against replay attacks, i.e., attacks in which some entity could just capture a response and replay it in order to be authenticated. Unfortunately, this requires one additional communication roundtrip.
• the server 121 1 verifies the freshness of the challenge in the response 1204 (i.e., verifies whether the server still has a copy of that challenge and verifies the age of the challenge) in order to ensure it is not a replay attack.
• one embodiment of the invention generates a challenge locally in a predetermined manner, thereby avoiding the client-to-server request for a challenge and the subsequent server.
• Figure 13 illustrates one particular embodiment in which the client device 1310 and server 131 1 may initially establish a TLS (Transport Layer Security) channel at 1300.
• the authentication engine 1313 of the client device 1310 includes a local challenge generator 1320 which locally generates the challenge at 1301 .
• the authentication engine 1313 generates a challenge response 1302 including a signature over the challenge.
• the challenge response is transmitted at 1303 and challenge verification logic/circuitry 1321 on the server 131 1 verifies the challenge at 1304 and verifies the response at 1305.
• the server 131 1 retains the challenge and AppID for a specified duration as described below (e.g., until server-now > app-now+X + more).
• the challenge verification logic/circuitry 1321 performs the verification at 1304-1305 by independently generating the challenge and signature and comparing the signature and/or challenge to the one received by the client device 1310. If verification is successful, the server 131 1 transmits a confirmation at 1306.
• the key derivation function comprises Argon 2 with a set of pre-defined parameters such as salt (for password hashing), degree of parallelism, desired number of returned bytes, amount of memory to use, number of iterations to perform, version number, and/or key.
• the key derivation function comprises Password-Based Key Derivation Function 2 (pbkdf2); however, any similar function may be employed.
• pbkdf2 Password-Based Key Derivation Function 2
• the response is calculated at 1302 as defined by the underlying challenge- response protocol.
• Various different challenge-response protocol may be used including, but not limited to, FIDO, SafetyNet, and Android Protected Confirmation.
• the challenge response is transmitted at 1303 which includes the“current time” to the server 131 1 .
• the server verifies that the“current-time” is inside a specified acceptance window and stores the value“c” until this window is exceeded. This means that the server 131 1 will reject responses that indicate they have been generated more than a threshold amount of time in the past (e.g., more than 60 seconds, 90 seconds, 120 seconds, etc) or that indicate having been generated too far in the future (e.g., more than 10 seconds).
• FIG 14. An example time acceptance window 1401 is illustrated in Figure 14.
• the acceptance window is selected to be large enough to allow for clock-skew (i.e., inaccuracies between client-side and server-side notion of the time) but is still small enough to allow the server to remember all values“c” that appeared in a correctly signed response.
• the server 131 1 will also reject responses containing an already known value“c” that are signed by the same cryptographic key (as the original value“c”). If acceptable, the server 131 1 returns the requested data or sends a confirmation of the intended operation at 1305.
• t1 is too early and hence considered outside of that window; this response would not be accepted.
• Time t2 is well inside the acceptance window; this response will be accepted if the related challenge is not already remembered by the server.
• Time t3 is too late and hence considered outside of that window; the response is not accepted.
• one embodiment of the invention implements a cryptographic challenge-response protocol, where a local challenge generator 1320 generates a challenge and a cryptographic signature over the challenge using a private key (e.g., stored in a secure storage 1325) and where the related public key is known to the challenge verification circuitry/logic 1321 on the server 131 1.
• the challenge verification circuitry/logic 1321 uses the public key to validate the cryptographic signature and rejects all responses which do not have a valid cryptographic signature.
• the challenge c is generated by the local challenge generator 1320 using a key derivation function and the server verifies whether challenge c is“fresh” based on a verification that the input data to generate the challenge is acceptable (e.g., the dynamic-input-data is acceptable and the defined-prefix is the expected one).
• the server 131 1 retains all used challenges related to the respective cryptographic public key for a defined time in order to prevent replay attacks.
• the dynamic-input-data to the key derivation function is the current-time as known to the client device 1310 and where the challenge verification circuitry/logic 1321 determines the dynamic-input-data to be acceptable inside an acceptance-window.
• the dynamic-input-data may be data that was exchanged previously such as unique data generated as part of the establishment of the TLS session 1300.
• the key derivation function used may be Argon2, pbkdf2 or some other password hashing function.
• the key derivation function may also comprise a hash function such as SHA256 and SHA-3.
• the define-prefix variable may include a FIDO ApplD/Rpld.
• the challenge-response protocol may include any type of challenge-response protocol including a FIDO registration / makeCredential operation, a FIDO
• Embodiments of the invention may include various steps as set forth above.
• the steps may be embodied in machine-executable instructions which cause a general- purpose or special-purpose processor to perform certain steps.
• these steps may be performed by specific hardware components that contain hardwired logic for performing the steps, or by any combination of programmed computer components and custom hardware components.
• Elements of the present invention may also be provided as a machine- readable medium for storing the machine-executable program code.
• the machine- readable medium may include, but is not limited to, floppy diskettes, optical disks, CD- ROMs, and magneto-optical disks, ROMs, RAMs, EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards, or other type of media/machine-readable medium suitable for storing electronic program code.
• Embodiments of the invention may include various steps as set forth above.
• the steps may be embodied in machine-executable instructions which cause a general- purpose or special-purpose processor to perform certain steps.
• these steps may be performed by specific hardware components that contain hardwired logic for performing the steps, or by any combination of programmed computer components and custom hardware components.

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