Method for validating a cryptographic parameter and corresponding device

• US 10,038,560 B2
• Filed: 04/30/2014
• Issued: 07/31/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IDEMIA France (Advent International Corporation)
• Original Assignee: IDEMIA France (Advent International Corporation)
• Inventors: Dottax, Emmanuelle, Rondepierre, Franck
• Primary Examiner(s): Vaughan, Michael R
• Application Number:
  US14/266,327
• Publication Number:
  US 20140369493A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,553 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/34 involving the use of external additional devices, e.g. dongles or smart cards
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/44 Program or device authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/72 Signcrypting, i.e. digital signing and encrypting simultaneously
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/805 Lightweight hardware, e.g. radio-frequency identification [RFID] or sensor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/002 Countermeasures against attacks on cryptographic mechanisms network architectures or network communication protocols for protection against malicious traffic H04L63/1441
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3066 involving algebraic varieties, e.g. elliptic or hyper-elliptic curves
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3239 involving non-keyed hash functions, e.g. modification detection codes [MDCs], MD5, SHA or RIPEMD
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3252 using DSA or related signature schemes, e.g. elliptic based signatures, ElGamal or Schnorr schemes

Abstract

An electronic device is proposed, which is configured to receive at least one cryptographic parameter and validate the at least one cryptographic parameter. The electronic device is is configured to validating the parameter by determining an imprint from a one-way function and from at least the cryptographic parameter; detecting at least one part of the imprint in a dedicated memory zone of the electronic device, and delivering a piece of information on validation should there be effective detection.

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising:

a communications interface, configured to connect with devices distinct from and external to said electronic device, and

a microcircuit, contained within said electronic device, said microcircuit comprising a microprocessor and a memory, said microcircuit being programmed to execute the following steps, in that order;

preliminarily storing an imprint received from an electronic apparatus through the communications interface, in a dedicated memory zone of said memory, wherein the stored imprint is determined from a one-way function and from at least one elliptic curve cryptographic parameter;

receiving at least one elliptic curve cryptographic parameter from another electronic device, through the communications interface, said another electronic device participating with said electronic device to a cryptographic protocol;

validating said received at least one elliptic curve cryptographic parameter, wherein said validating comprises;

determining an imprint from the one-way function and from at least said received elliptic curve cryptographic parameter; and

detecting at least one part of said determined imprint in said dedicated memory zone of said memory, wherein said detecting delivers a piece of information on validation if there is effective detection; and

after validating, further implementing the cryptographic protocol using said received at least one elliptic curve cryptographic parameter, if the detecting is effective.

2. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein said microcircuit is furthermore programmed for receiving an identifier of said received at least one elliptic curve cryptographic parameter.

3. The electronic device according to claim 2, wherein microcircuit is furthermore programmed to apply said one-way function to a concatenation of at least one part of said identifier and of said received elliptic curve cryptographic parameter.

4. The electronic device according to claim 2, wherein said microcircuit is furthermore programmed to use said identifier as an index during detection of said at least one part of said determined imprint.

5. The electronic device according to claim 2, wherein said microcircuit is further programmed in order to:

after the step of determining, concatenate at least one part of said identifier with said determined imprint to deliver a second imprint, and

during the step of detecting, detect at least one part of said determined imprint in the dedicated memory of said electronic device by detecting at least one part of said second imprint in the dedicated memory of said electronic device.

6. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein said received at least one elliptic curve cryptographic parameter corresponds to the domain of parameters of the hyperelliptic curve of the g≥

1 type.

7. The electronic device according to claim 6, wherein said type of said curve is equal to 1 and said domain of parameters comprises the following elements:

a number q verifying the relationship q=p^m, with m being an integer greater than or equal to 1, and p being a prime number greater than or equal to 2;

coefficients a and b which are elements belonging to the q-element finite field defining an equation of an elliptic curve;

a point P, belonging to the elliptic curve; and

a number n corresponding to an order of said point P.

8. The electronic device according to claim 7, wherein said domain of parameters furthermore comprises one or more of the following elements:

a value corresponding to an indication on the manner of representing an element belonging to the finite field F_q;

a value corresponding to a seed enabling the generation of the elements a and b;

a value of the cofactor of the elliptic curve.

9. The electronic device according to claim 7, wherein said elliptic curve corresponds to a curve referenced in any one of the following standards:

ANSI X9.62, FIPS 186-2, IEEE P1363, ISO/IEC 15946, SECG.

10. The electronic device according to claim 2, wherein:

said received at least one elliptic curve cryptographic parameter corresponds to the domain of parameters of the hyperelliptic curve of the g≥

1 type;

said one-way function is an encryption function using an encryption key stored in said electronic device; and

said encryption key stored in said device corresponds to said identifier of said elliptic curve.

11. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein said received at least one elliptic curve cryptographic parameter corresponds to the group of parameters consisting of:

a generator g, a prime number p and a prime number q corresponding to the order of said generator.

12. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein said one-way function is a cryptographic hash function.

13. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein said one-way function is an encryption function using an encryption key stored in said electronic device.

14. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein said microcircuit is furthermore programmed to detect the totality of said determined imprint in the dedicated memory zone of said electronic device.

15. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein said microcircuit is furthermore programmed to use masking operations with at least one random number during the steps of determining and detecting when said received at least one elliptic curve cryptographic parameter is confidential.

16. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the microcircuit is further programmed to personalize the electronic device, enabling the storage of at least one part of said determined imprint when the detecting delivers a piece of non-validating information if there is no effective detection.

17. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein said dedicated memory zone comprising the preliminarily stored imprint is a non-volatile memory.

18. A method of cryptographic processing implemented by an electronic device, comprising the following steps executed in that order:

preliminarily storing an imprint received from an electronic apparatus, in a dedicated memory zone of said electronic device, said dedicated memory zone being contained within said electronic device, said electronic apparatus being distinct from and external to said electronic device, and wherein the stored imprint is determined from a one-way function and from at least one elliptic curve cryptographic parameter;

receiving at least one elliptic curve cryptographic parameter through a communications interface of the electronic device, from another electronic device, said another electronic device being distinct from and external to said electronic device and participating with said electronic device in a cryptographic protocol;

validating said received at least one elliptic curve cryptographic parameter with the electronic device, wherein validating comprises;

determining an imprint from application of the one-way function to at least said received elliptic curve cryptographic parameter; and

detecting at least one part of said determined imprint in said dedicated memory zone of said electronic device, wherein detecting delivers a piece of information on validation if there is effective detection; and

after validating, further implementing the cryptographic protocol using said received at least one elliptic curve cryptographic parameter, if the detecting is effective.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein said at least one parameter corresponds to the domain of parameters of a g≥

1 type hyperelliptic curve.

20. The method according to claim 18 wherein, in case of negative detection, the method comprises carrying out another validation technique to validate said received at least one elliptic curve cryptographic parameter received from said another electronic device.

21. A computer-readable and non-transient storage medium storing a computer program comprising a set of instructions executable by a computer to implement a method comprising the following steps executed in that order:

preliminarily storing an imprint received from an electronic apparatus in a dedicated memory zone of an electronic device, said dedicated memory zone being contained within said electronic device, said electronic apparatus being distinct from and external to said electronic device, and wherein the stored imprint is determined from a one-way function and from at least one elliptic curve cryptographic parameter;

receiving at least one elliptic curve cryptographic parameter through a communications interface of said electronic device, from another electronic device, said another electronic device being distinct from and external to said electronic device and participating with said electronic device in a cryptographic protocol;

validating said received at least one elliptic curve cryptographic parameter with the electronic device, wherein validating comprises;

determining an imprint from application of the one-way function to at least said received elliptic curve cryptographic parameter; and

detecting at least one part of said determined imprint in said dedicated memory zone of said electronic device, wherein detecting delivers a piece of information on validation if there is effective detection; and

after validating, further implementing the cryptographic protocol using said received at least one elliptic curve cryptographic parameter, if the detecting is effective.

22. System comprising

a personalizing device,

an electronic device, and

another electronic device, which is configured to participate with said electronic device to a cryptographic protocol,

said electronic device comprising:

a communications interface, configured to connect with devices distinct from and external to said electronic device, and

a microcircuit, contained within said electronic device, said microcircuit comprising a microprocessor and a memory, said microcircuit being programmed to execute the following steps, in that order;

preliminarily storing an imprint received from said personalizing device through the communications interface, in a dedicated memory zone of said memory, wherein the stored imprint is determined from a one-way function and from at least one elliptic curve cryptographic parameter;

receiving at least one elliptic curve cryptographic parameter from said another electronic device through the communications interface;

validating said received at least one elliptic curve cryptographic parameter, wherein validating comprises;

determining an imprint from the one-way function and from at least said received elliptic curve cryptographic parameter; and

detecting at least one part of said determined imprint in said dedicated memory zone of said memory, wherein detecting delivers a piece of information on validation if there is effective detection; and

after validating, further implementing the cryptographic protocol using said received at least one elliptic curve cryptographic parameter, if the detecting is effective.