Password encryption key

• US 20060156026A1
• Filed: 10/23/2003
• Published: 07/13/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mangas Gaming Malta Limited
• Original Assignee: Cambridge Interactive Development Corporation (Giga Media Limited)
• Inventors: Utin, Daniil
• Granted Patent: US 8,447,990 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/183
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/62 Protecting access to data via a platform, e.g. using keys or access control rules
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/56 Financial cryptography, e.g. electronic payment or e-cash
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0863 involving passwords or one-time passwords network architectures or network communication protocols for using one-time keys in a packet data network H04L63/067
• 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: H04L 9/14 using a plurality of keys or algorithms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/30 Public key, i.e. encryption algorithm being computationally infeasible to invert or user's encryption keys not requiring secrecy
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3226 using a predetermined code, e.g. password, passphrase or PIN network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using passwords in a packet data network H04L63/083

Abstract

A password-encrypted key (PEK) is generated from a user-supplied password or other identifyting data and then used to encrypt the user'"'"'s password. The encrypted password is stored in a user record on a server. At login a would-be user'"'"'s password is again used to make a key, which is then used to decrypt and compare the stored encrypted password with the would-be user'"'"'s password to complete the login. The successful PEK is stored in a temporary session record and can be used to decrypt other sensitive user information previously encrypted and stored in the user record as well as to encrypt new information for storage in the user record. A public/private key system can also be used to maintain limited access for the host to certain information in the user record.

Claims

1. A secure transaction process, comprising

generating a key from a user-supplied unencrypted password,

encrypting the user'"'"'s password with the key,

creating a user record,

storing the encrypted password in the user record.

2. The process of claim 1, further comprising

upon user login, generating a key from a would-be user'"'"'s password using the same algorithm used to generate the key from the originally supplied unencrypted password,

retrieving the corresponding user record,

decrypting the encrypted password in the user record using the key,

comparing the decrypted password with the would-be user-supplied password to see if they match.

3. The process of claim 2, further comprising

if the decrypted password and user-supplied password match, creating a temporary session record and storing the key in the session record, otherwise aborting the user login.

4. The process of claim 3, further comprising

encrypting other sensitive user data using the key and storing the encrypted data in the user record,

during a session wherein a session record has been created, using the key stored in the session record to decrypt other encrypted information stored in the user record for use in carrying out some desired action.

5. The process of claim 1, further comprising

generating a public/private key pair,

storing the public key on an application server and the mating private key only another server,

encrypting the original user-supplied unencrypted password with the public key and storing the public-key encrypted password on the application server,

fetching the private key from the other server and using it to decrypt selected information on the one server.

6. The process of claim 5, further wherein the other server is a secure off-site server.

7. A secure transaction process, comprising

generating an encryption key from user-supplied identification data,

encrypting the user'"'"'s identification data with the key,

creating a user record,

storing the encrypted identification data in the user record.

8. The process of claim 7, further comprising

upon user login, generating a key from a would-be user'"'"'s identification data supplied at login using the same algorithm used to generate the key from the originally supplied unencrypted identification data,

retrieving the corresponding user record,

decrypting the encrypted identification data in the user record using the key,

comparing the decrypted identification data with the would-be user-supplied identification data to see if they match.

9. The process of claim 8, further comprising

if the decrypted identification data and user-supplied identification data match, creating a temporary session record and storing the key in the session record, otherwise aborting the user login.

10. The process of claim 9, further comprising

encrypting other sensitive user data using the key and storing the encrypted data in the user record,

during a session wherein a session record has been created, using the key stored in the session record to decrypt other encrypted information stored in the user record for use in carrying out some desired action.