System and methods for secure short message service encryption and provisioning

• US 10,069,845 B2
• Filed: 11/29/2016
• Issued: 09/04/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/29/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Steinbach, Lodema M., Bendi, Sethumadhav
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, David
• Application Number:
  US15/363,669
• Publication Number:
  US 20180152462A1
• Time in Patent Office: 644 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0876 based on the identity of the terminal or configuration, e.g. MAC address, hardware or software configuration or device fingerprint
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/123 received data contents, e.g. message integrity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]

Abstract

A device may receive an encrypted short message service (SMS) message en route from an originating device to a recipient device, the encrypted SMS message to be encrypted by the originating device using a key. The device may identify a flag associated with the encrypted SMS message. The device may determine, based on the flag, that the SMS message is encrypted. The device may provide the encrypted SMS message to the recipient device.

Claims

1. A device, comprising:

a memory; and

one or more processors to;

receive an encrypted short message service (SMS) message en route from an originating device to a primary recipient device,

the encrypted SMS message to be encrypted by the originating device using a key,

the primary recipient device being one of a plurality of destination devices associated with a recipient of the encrypted SMS message, and

one or more non-primary recipient devices being one or more of the plurality of destination devices associated with the recipient;

identify a flag associated with the encrypted SMS message;

determine, based on the flag, that the encrypted SMS message is to be provided to only the primary recipient device; and

provide the encrypted SMS message with the flag, where the encrypted SMS message is provided only to the primary recipient device and not to the one or more non-primary recipient devices identified as one or more of the plurality of destination devices associated with the recipient by the encrypted SMS message.

2. The device of claim 1, where the flag comprises a value of a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) header field of the encrypted SMS message.

3. The device of claim 2, where the one or more processors, when identifying the flag, are to:

identify the flag based on a particular type-length-value element of a Short Message Peer-to-Peer (SMPP) protocol.

4. The device of claim 1, where the encrypted SMS message is a first SMS message;

and

where the one or more processors are further to;

receive a second SMS message en route to the primary recipient device;

determine that the second SMS message does not include the flag; and

provide the second SMS message to the one or more non-primary recipient devices.

5. The device of claim 1, where the one or more processors, when providing the encrypted SMS message, are to:

provide the flag to the primary recipient device to permit the primary recipient device to obtain the key based on the flag.

18. The device of claim 1, where the one or more processors are further to:

change a destination of the encrypted SMS message from one of the one or more non-primary recipient devices to the primary recipient device.

20. The device of claim 1, where the originating device is associated with a first service provider;

and

where the primary recipient device is associated with a second service provider that is different from the first service provider.

6. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, the instructions comprising:

one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a device, cause the one or more processors to;

receive an encrypted short message service (SMS) message en route from an originating device to a primary recipient device,

the encrypted SMS message having been encrypted by the originating device;

identify a flag associated with the encrypted SMS message;

determine, based on the flag, that the encrypted SMS message is to be provided only to the primary recipient device,

the primary recipient device being one of a plurality of destination devices associated with a recipient of the encrypted SMS message, and

one or more non-primary recipient devices being one or more of the plurality of destination devices associated with the recipient; and

provide the encrypted SMS message only to the primary recipient device and not to the one or more non-primary recipient devices identified as one or more of the plurality of destination devices associated with the recipient by the encrypted SMS message based on the flag to permit the primary recipient device to decrypt the encrypted SMS message, the encrypted SMS message being provided with the flag.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6, where the flag comprises a value of a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) header field of the encrypted SMS message.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6, where the one or more instructions, that cause the one or more processors to identify the flag, cause the one or more processors to:

identify the flag based on a particular type-length-value element of a Short Message Peer-to-Peer (SMPP) protocol.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6, where the device is a recipient cellular network device;

and

where the one or more instructions, that cause the one or more processors to receive the encrypted SMS message, cause the one or more processors to;

receive the encrypted SMS message from an originating cellular network device associated with the originating device based on a Short Message Peer-to-Peer (SMPP) protocol.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6, where the one or more instructions, that cause the one or more processors to provide the encrypted SMS message, cause the one or more processors to:

provide the flag to the primary recipient device to permit the primary recipient device to obtain a key, used to decrypt the encrypted SMS message, based on the flag.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, where the one or more instructions, that cause the one or more processors to provide the encrypted SMS message, cause the one or more processors to:

provide the flag to the primary recipient device to permit the primary recipient device to obtain the key from a key server,

the key server to store or provide keys for encryption and decryption of SMS messages including the encrypted SMS message.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6, where the one or more instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

change a destination of the encrypted SMS message from one of the one or more non-primary recipient devices to the primary recipient device.

12. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a device, an encrypted short message service (SMS) message en route from an originating device to a primary recipient device associated with a recipient,

the encrypted SMS message to be encrypted by the originating device based on a key obtained from a key server;

the primary recipient device being one of a plurality of destination devices associated with the recipient, and

one or more non-primary recipient devices being one or more of the plurality of destination devices associated with the recipient;

identifying, by the device, a flag associated with the encrypted SMS message;

identifying, by the device and based on the flag, the primary recipient device associated with the recipient; and

providing, by the device, the encrypted SMS message only to the primary recipient device and not to the one or more non-primary recipient devices that is identified as one or more of the plurality of destination devices associated with the recipient by the encrypted SMS message, where the encrypted SMS message is provided with the flag to permit the primary recipient device to obtain the key from the key server to decrypt the encrypted SMS message.

13. The method of claim 12, where the originating device is associated with a first service provider;

and

where the primary recipient device is associated with a second service provider that is different from the first service provider.

14. The method of claim 12, where providing the encrypted SMS message further comprises:

providing security information in association with the encrypted SMS message,

the primary recipient device to obtain the key based on the security information.

15. The method of claim 12, where the flag comprises a value of a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) header field of the encrypted SMS message.

16. The method of claim 15, where identifying the flag further comprises:

identifying the flag based on a particular type-length-value element of a Short Message Peer-to-Peer (SMPP) protocol.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

changing a destination of the encrypted SMS message from one of the one or more non-primary recipient devices to the primary recipient device.