System and method of hiding cryptographic private keys
First Claim
1. A method for blind use of private cryptographic keys comprising the steps of:
- splitting said private key up into parts; and
obfuscating at least one of said parts of said private key;
whereby said private key is restructured so that it can be used without being revealed to an observer.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention relates to a system and method of hiding cryptographic private keys. While public/private key encryption systems are considered to be secure, the private keys ultimately must be stored in some location—in fact, in some digital commerce systems the private key is sent to the end user as part of an executable file such as an audio player and audio file. Thus, attackers can obtain access to the private key. The broad concept of the invention is to split the private key up into parts which are obfuscated, but still kept in a form that allows the encrypted data to be decrypted. One technique for obfuscating the private key uses modulo arithmetic.
87 Citations
53 Claims
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1. A method for blind use of private cryptographic keys comprising the steps of:
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splitting said private key up into parts; and
obfuscating at least one of said parts of said private key;
whereby said private key is restructured so that it can be used without being revealed to an observer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51)
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30. A method of hiding a private key comprising the steps of:
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generating a private and public key pair;
splitting said private key into a first part and a second part;
providing to a client;
said public key;
said first part of said private key; and
a program for decrypting messages;
using said public key and said modulus to encrypt a message into a cipher;
obfuscating said second part of said private key; and
providing said cipher and said obfuscated second part of said private key to said client;
whereby said client can decipher said cipher using said first part of said private key and said obfuscated second part of said private key. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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52. A system for secure communication comprising:
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a first computer;
a second computer;
a communication network for interconnecting said first computer with said second computer;
said first computer being operable to;
generate a private and public key pair;
split said private key into a first part and a second part;
encrypt a message using said public key;
transmit to said second computer;
said public key;
said first part of said private key;
a program for decrypting messages;
obfuscate said second part of said private key; and
transmit said encrypted message and said obfuscated second part of said private key to said second computer;
whereby said second computer can decipher said cipher using said first part of said private key and said obfuscated second part of said private key.
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53. A computer readable memory for storing software code executable to perform the method of hiding a private key comprising the steps of:
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splitting said private key up into parts; and
obfuscating at least one of said parts of said private key.
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Specification