Method and apparatus for secure aggregated event reporting

• US 10,505,948 B2
• Filed: 11/02/2016
• Issued: 12/10/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Trilliant Networks Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Trilliant Networks Incorporated
• Inventors: Enns, Frederick, Veillette, Michel
• Primary Examiner(s): King, John B
• Application Number:
  US15/341,137
• Publication Number:
  US 20170134395A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,133 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/554 involving event detection and direct action
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2111 Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/622 Layer-2 addresses, e.g. medium access control [MAC] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0686 Additional information in the notification, e.g. enhancement of specific meta-data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/069 using logs of notifications; Post-processing of notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/28 Restricting access to network management systems or functions, e.g. using authorisation function to access network configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/065 related to network devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• 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 63/123 received data contents, e.g. message integrity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/126 the source of the received data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3242 involving keyed hash functions, e.g. message authentication codes [MACs], CBC-MAC or HMAC
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/71 Hardware identity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

A computer implemented method and system for secure aggregated event reports. The method comprises determining, by a device, that a status change has occurred at the device; receiving, by the device, a status change report from one or more child devices; generating, by the device, a device status change record; generating a record verification field, comprising: combining a nonce, an event type, and a unique device identifier; generating a message integrity check code for the combined nonce, event type and device identifier; and appending the message integrity check code to the device status change record; appending the device status change record to the received status change report; and transmitting, by the device, the status change report to one or more parent devices toward a head end system.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for generating a secure aggregated event report comprising:

determining, by a device of a plurality of devices, that a status change has occurred at the device, wherein the status change is one of a loss of power or a restoration of power, temperature, pressure drop, pressure surge, pipe failure, sound, motion, signal light outages, street light outages, or flood detection;

receiving, by the device, a status change report from one or more child devices;

generating, by the device, a device status change record, wherein the status change record comprises an event type, unique device identifier, and one or more time fields for a start time of the status change, an end time of the status change, or a duration of the status change;

generating, by the device, a record verification field, comprising;

combining a nonce, the event type, and the unique device identifier;

generating a message integrity check code for the combined nonce, event type and device identifier; and

appending the message integrity check code to the device status change record;

appending, by the device, the device status change record to the received status change report; and

transmitting, by the device, the status change report to one or more parent devices toward a head end system;

receiving, by the head end system, the status change report, wherein the status change report comprises at least one status change record from a device in a plurality of devices in a network;

retrieving, by the head end system, the device identifier, the event type, and the message integrity check code from the at least one record;

retrieving, by the head end system, an encryption key associated with the device identifier;

performing, by the head end system, a keyed hash function on a combination of the nonce, the event type, and the unique device identifier using the encryption key associated with the device identifier;

comparing, by the head end system, a result of the keyed hash function to the message integrity check code retrieved from the at least one record;

determining, by the head end system, the record is from the device associated with the device identifier when the result of the keyed hash function matches the message integrity check code retrieved from the at least one record; and

discarding, by the head end system, the record when the result of the keyed hash function does not match the message integrity check code retrieved from the at least one record.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the nonce is a first report time of a first status change.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the unique device identifier is a Media Access Control address of the device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the message integrity check comprises performing a keyed hash function on the combined nonce, the event type, and device identifier using a pre-defined encryption key associated with the device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the device status change record of the device includes additional information about the event.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the message integrity check comprises performing a keyed hash function on the combined nonce, the event type, the device identifier, and the other information about the event.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein each record of the status change report comprises an event type associated with a type of the status change at the device, and wherein an event type of a first record of the status change report is different from an event type of a second record of the status change report.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the status change report comprises a common event type that is used by each record.

9. A system for verifying records in a secure aggregated event report, comprising:

a plurality of devices, wherein each device comprises;

a) at least one processor;

b) at least one input device; and

c) at least one storage device storing processor executable instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, perform a method including;

determining, by a device, that a status change has occurred at the device, wherein the status change is one of a loss of power or a restoration of power, temperature, pressure drop, pressure surge, pipe failure, sound, motion, signal light outages, street light outages, or flood detection;

receiving, by the device, a status change report from one or more child devices;

generating, by the device, a device status change record, wherein the status change record comprises an event type, unique device identifier, and one or more time fields for a start time of the status change, an end time of the status change, or a duration of the status change;

generating a record verification field, comprising;

combining a nonce, the event type, and the unique device identifier;

generating a message integrity check code for the combined nonce, event type and device identifier; and

appending the message integrity check code to the device status change record;

appending the device status change record to the received status change report; and

transmitting, by the device, the status change report to one or more parent devices toward a head end system; and

a server comprising;

a) at least one processor;

b) at least one input device; and

c) at least one storage device storing processor executable instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, perform a method including;

receiving the status change report, wherein the status change report comprises at least one status change record from a device in a plurality of devices in a network;

retrieving the device identifier, the event type, and the message integrity check code from the at least one record;

retrieving an encryption key associated with the device identifier;

performing a keyed hash function on a combination of the nonce, the event type, and the unique device identifier using the encryption key associated with the device identifier;

comparing a result of the keyed hash function to the message integrity check code retrieved from the at least one record;

determining the record is from the device associated with the device identifier when the result of the keyed hash function matches the message integrity check code retrieved from the at least one record; and

discarding the record when the result of the keyed hash function does not match the message integrity check code retrieved from the at least one record.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the nonce is a first report time of a first status change.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the unique device identifier is a Media Access Control address of the device.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein generating the message integrity check comprises performing a keyed hash function on the combined nonce, the event type, and device identifier using a pre-defined encryption key associated with the device.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the device status change record of the device includes additional information about the event.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the message integrity check comprises performing a keyed hash function on the combined nonce, the event type, the device identifier, and the other information about the event.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein each record of the status change report comprises an event type associated with a type of the status change at the device, and wherein an event type of a first record of the status change report is different from an event type of a second record of the status change report.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the status change report comprises a common event type that is used by each record.

17. A non-transitory computer readable medium for storing computer instructions that, when executed by at least one processor causes the at least one processor to perform a method for verifying records in a secure aggregated event report, comprising:

determining, by a device of a plurality of devices, that a status change has occurred at the device, wherein the status change is one of a loss of power or a restoration of power, temperature, pressure drop, pressure surge, pipe failure, sound, motion, signal light outages, street light outages, or flood detection;

receiving, by the device, a status change report from one or more child devices;

generating, by the device, a device status change record, wherein the status change record comprises an event type, unique device identifier, and one or more time fields for a start time of the status change, an end time of the status change, or a duration of the status change;

generating, by the device, a record verification field, comprising;

combining a nonce, the event type, and the unique device identifier;

generating a message integrity check code for the combined nonce, event type and device identifier; and

appending the message integrity check code to the device status change record;

appending, by the device, the device status change record to the received status change report; and

transmitting, by the device, the status change report to one or more parent devices toward a head end system;

receiving, by the head end system, the status change report, wherein the status change report comprises at least one status change record from a device in a plurality of devices in a network;

retrieving, by the head end system, the unique device identifier, the event type, and a message integrity check code from the at least one record, wherein the device identifier is unique to the device;

retrieving, by the head end system, an encryption key associated with the device identifier;

performing, by the head end system, a keyed hash function on a combination of a nonce, the event type, and the unique device identifier using the encryption key associated with the device identifier;

comparing a result of the keyed hash function to the message integrity check code retrieved from at least one record;

determining, by the head end system, the record is from the device associated with the device identifier when the result of the keyed hash function matches the message integrity check code retrieved from at least one record; and

discarding, by the head end system, the record when the result of the keyed hash function does not match the message integrity check code retrieved from at least one record.