Decentralized authoritative messaging

• US 10,142,300 B1
• Filed: 06/27/2018
• Issued: 11/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Wickr Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Leavy, Thomas Michael, Ryan, Gerard
• Primary Examiner(s): Schwartz, Darren B
• Application Number:
  US16/020,152
• Publication Number:
  US 20180324155A1
• Time in Patent Office: 153 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/602 Providing cryptographic facilities or services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/10 Multimedia information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/224 providing notification on incoming messages, e.g. pushed notifications of received messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0471 applying encryption by an intermediary, e.g. receiving clear information at the intermediary and encrypting the received information at the intermediary before forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/06 for supporting key management in a packet data network cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key management H04L9/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/061 for key exchange, e.g. in peer-to-peer networks cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key agreement H04L9/0838
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/065 for group communications cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key management involving conference or group key H04L9/0833
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/104 Grouping of entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/146 Markers for unambiguous identification of a particular session, e.g. session cookie or URL-encoding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0637 Modes of operation, e.g. cipher block chaining [CBC], electronic codebook [ECB] or Galois/counter mode [GCM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0643 Hash functions, e.g. MD5, SHA, HMAC or f9 MAC
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0822 using key encryption key
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0861 Generation of secret information including derivation or calculation of cryptographic keys or passwords
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0894 Escrow, recovery or storing of secret information, e.g. secret key escrow or cryptographic key storage
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/041 Key generation or derivation

Abstract

A secure chat client is described that allows users to exchange encrypted communications via secure chat rooms, as well as one-to-one communications. In particular, the secure chat client allows users to create, configure, and manage secure chat rooms. Furthermore, the secure chat client provides users with the ability to recover secure messages when they obtain a new device or otherwise lose communications.

Claims

1. A method for accessing an encrypted communication, the method comprising:

receiving, at a first device, a first encrypted communication from a second device, wherein a first ephemeral component and a signature of the first ephemeral component are included in a header of the first encrypted communication;

deriving, by the first device, a first key using the first ephemeral component and a second ephemeral component;

decrypting, by the first device, the first encrypted communication received from the second device using, in part, the first key;

providing, by the first device, the first decrypted communication to a user of the first device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first ephemeral component is a first public component associated with the second device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the second ephemeral component is a second private component associated with the first device.

4. The method of claim 1, comprising:

transmitting, from the first device, a second encrypted communication to the second device, wherein the second encrypted communication includes a third ephemeral component associated with the first device.

5. The method of claim 1, comprising:

encrypting, by the first device, the first decrypted communication with a local storage key and storing the local-storage-key-encrypted first communication in a storage of the first device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first key is a key-encrypting key.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein decrypting the first encrypted communication further comprises:

decrypting, by the first device, a second key using the key-encrypting key.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the second key is an encrypted symmetric key included in the first encrypted communication received from the second device.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

decrypting, by the first device, the first encrypted communication using the decrypted second key.

10. A system for accessing an encrypted communication, the system comprising:

an interface configured to receive a first encrypted communication from a second device, wherein a first ephemeral component and a signature of the first ephemeral component are included in a header of the first encrypted communication;

a processor configured to derive a first key using the first ephemeral component and a second ephemeral component and decrypt the first encrypted communication received from the second device using, in part, the first key; and

an output configured to provide the first decrypted communication to a user of a first device.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the first ephemeral component is a first public component associated with the second device.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the second ephemeral component is a second private component associated with the first device.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that when, executed by at least one processor, perform the steps of:

receiving a first encrypted communication from a second device, wherein a first ephemeral component and a signature of the first ephemeral component are included in a header of the first encrypted communication;

deriving a first key using the first ephemeral component and a second ephemeral component;

decrypting the first encrypted communication received from the second device using, in part, the first key;

providing the first decrypted communication to a user of a first device.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the first ephemeral component is a first public component associated with the second device.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the second ephemeral component is a second private component associated with the first device.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein receiving a first encrypted communication from a second device comprises instructions for:

receiving a notification, from a first server, indicating that the first encrypted communication has been received from the second device.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, comprising instructions for:

retrieving the first encrypted communication from the first server in response to the notification received from the first server.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the notification is a push notification.