Key exchange through partially trusted third party

• US 10,447,674 B2
• Filed: 07/06/2017
• Issued: 10/15/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Campagna, Matthew John
• Primary Examiner(s): Holder, Bradley W
• Application Number:
  US15/643,276
• Publication Number:
  US 20170310652A1
• Time in Patent Office: 831 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0442 wherein the sending and receiving network entities apply asymmetric encryption, i.e. different keys for encryption and decryption cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for public-key encryption H04L9/30
• 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 63/062 for key distribution, e.g. centrally by trusted party cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key distribution involving a central third party H04L9/0819
• 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 63/166 at the transport layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/083 involving central third party, e.g. key distribution center [KDC] or trusted third party [TTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0841 involving Diffie-Hellman or related key agreement protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/321 involving a third party or a trusted authority
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3263 involving certificates, e.g. public key certificate [PKC] or attribute certificate [AC]; Public key infrastructure [PKI] arrangements network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using certificates in a packet data network H04L63/0823

Abstract

A system may transmit, to a first entity, data to indicate an association between the first entity and a public key, wherein the public key is to be used to establish a cryptographically protected communications session between the first entity and a second entity, receive the data in response to a request to verify the association, and transmit, to the second entity, an indication that the data is valid. The system may be a cryptography service that is partially by the first and second entities. A partially trusted system can a computer system that is trusted in some respects but not trusted in other respects. A partially trusted cryptography service may be trusted to generate digital signatures and verify authenticity of digital signatures, but not trusted with access to a cryptographic key that can be used to access a cryptographically protected communications between a first entity and a second entity.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

transmitting, from a cryptography service running on a computer system and to a first entity, a first data to indicate a first association between the first entity and a first public key;

obtaining, at the cryptography service, the first data in response to a request to verify the first association;

transmitting, from the cryptography service and to a second entity, an indication that the data is valid; and

transmitting, from the cryptography service and to the second entity, a second data used to indicate validity of a second association between the second entity and a second public key, wherein the first public key and the second public key are both used as part of establishing a cryptographically protected communications session between the first entity and the second entity.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining, at the cryptography service, the second data in response to a second request to verify the second association; and

transmitting, from the cryptography service and to the first entity, a second indication that the second data is valid.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein

the first data comprises a digital signature usable to cryptographically verify a first identifier and the first public key are associated with the first entity;

and

the method further comprises, in response to the request to verify the first association, cryptographically verifying authenticity of the digital signature.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the indication that the first data is valid is cryptographically verifiable by the second entity.

5. A system, comprising:

one or more hardware processors; and

memory that stores executable instructions that, as a result of being executed by the one or more processors, causes the system to;

transmit, from the system and to a first entity, a first data to indicate a first association between the first entity and a first public key;

obtain, at the system, the first data in response to a request to verify the first association;

transmit, from the system and to the second entity, an indication that the data is valid; and

transmit, from the system and to the second entity, a second data used to indicate validity of a second association between the second entity and a second public key, wherein the first public key and the second public key are both used as part of establishing a cryptographically protected communications session between the first entity and the second entity.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the instructions, which as a result of being executed by the one or more processors, further causes the system to at least:

obtain, at the system, the second data in response to a second request to verify the second association; and

transmit, from the system and to the first entity, a second indication that the second data is valid.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the cryptographically protected communications session is established based at least in part on the first indication being obtained by the first entity and the second indication being obtained by the first entity.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein:

a shared secret is derivable from the first public key and a second private key corresponding to the second public key;

the shared secret is also derivable from the second public key and a first private key corresponding to the first public key; and

the shared secret is unavailable to the system and is used by the first entity and the second entity to communicate via the cryptographically protected communications session.

9. The system of claim 5, wherein the first public key is an elliptic curve Diffie-Hellman (ECDH) public key.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the system lacks sufficient cryptographic material to decrypt one or more messages encrypted in accordance with a protocol of the cryptographically protected communications session.

11. The system of claim 5, wherein:

the first data to indicate the first association between the first entity and the first public key includes a ciphertext; and

the instructions, which as a result of being executed by the one or more processors, further causes the system to at least;

encrypt a plaintext comprising the first public key and an identifier associated with the first entity, encryption of the plaintext generating the ciphertext; and

decrypt the ciphertext in response to the request to verify the first association.

12. The system of claim 5, wherein the instructions, which if performed by the one or more processors, further causes the system to at least generate a message authentication (MAC) tag comprising an identifier associated with the first entity and the first public key using a cryptographic hash function, wherein the first data comprises the MAC tag.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon executable instructions that, as a result of being executed by one or more processors of a computer system, cause the computer system to at least:

transmit, from the computer system and to a first entity, a first data to indicate a first association between the first entity and a first public key;

obtain, at the computer system, the first data in response to a first request to verify the first association;

transmit, from the computer system and to the second entity, a first indication that the first data is valid; and

transmit, from the computer system and to the second entity, a second data used to indicate validity of a second association between the second entity and a second public key, wherein the first public key and the second public key are both used as part of establishing a cryptographically protected communications session between the first entity and the second entity.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the executable instructions that cause the computer system to transmit the first indication, as a result of being executed by the one or more processors of the computer system, further cause the computer system to at least transmit the first indication as part of a handshake of a protocol for cryptographically protected communications.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the handshake is in accordance with a Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the executable instructions that, as a result of being executed by the one or more processors of the computer system, further cause the computer system to at least:

obtain, at the computer system, the second data in response to a second request to verify the second association; and

transmit, from the computer system and to the first entity, a second indication that the second data is valid.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein:

a shared secret is derivable from the first public key and a second private key corresponding to the second public key;

the shared secret is also derivable from the second public key and a first private key corresponding to the first public key; and

the shared secret is unavailable to the computer system and is used by the first entity and the second entity to communicate via the cryptographically protected communications session.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the executable instructions that, as a result of being executed by the one or more processors of the computer system, further cause the computer system to at least:

generate the first data to indicate the first association using a master key;

generate the second data to indicate the second association using the same master key;

verify the first association, in response to the first request, using the master key; and

verify the second association, in response to the second request, using the master key.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the first data to indicate the first association between the first entity and the first public key comprises a nonce.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the nonce is provided by the first entity.