Method for interacting with a memory device in cryptographic operations

• US 20080072061A1
• Filed: 08/28/2006
• Published: 03/20/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SanDisk Technologies LLC (Western Digital Corporation)
• Original Assignee: SanDisk Corporation (Western Digital Corporation)
• Inventors: Lewis, Kevin, Cannon, Susan
• Granted Patent: US 7,743,258 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/185
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/34 involving the use of external additional devices, e.g. dongles or smart cards
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2119 Authenticating web pages, e.g. with suspicious links
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0853 using an additional device, e.g. smartcard, SIM or a different communication terminal cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving additional secure or trusted devices H04L9/3234
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/168 above the transport layer

Abstract

A method for interacting with a memory device is provided. In this method, a cryptographic communication application is registered to be associated with a protocol type in a web browser. A message encapsulated in the protocol type from the web browser is received and thereafter transmitted to the memory device. Here, the message is associated with a cryptographic operation.

Claims

1. A method for interacting with a memory device, comprising:

registering a cryptographic communication application to be associated with a protocol type in a web browser;

receiving a message encapsulated in the protocol type from the web browser, the message being associated with a cryptographic operation; and

transmitting the message to the memory device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying the protocol type associated with the message; and

routing the message to a protocol module, the protocol module being configured to interface with the protocol type.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the cryptographic operation is associated with a retrieval of a one-time password from the memory device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the cryptographic operation is associated with a retrieval of a shared secret, the shared secret being used to generate a one-time password.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the message is encapsulated in a Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) protocol.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising unregistering the cryptographic communication application to be associated with the protocol type in the web browser.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the memory device is a Universal Serial Bus device.

8. A computer program product embodied in a computer readable medium and comprising computer instructions for:

receiving a request for a one-time password from a first computing device through a web browser, the request being encapsulated in a Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) protocol; and

transmitting the request to a Universal Serial Bus (USB) device.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, further comprising computer instructions for:

receiving the one-time password from the USB device; and

transmitting the one-time password to the web browser.

10. The computer program product of claim 8, further comprising computer instructions for receiving a connectivity information from the first computing device through the web browser, the connectivity information being encapsulated in the MIME protocol.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, further comprising computer instructions for establishing a communication channel with a second computing device based on the connectivity information to retrieve a shared secret from the second computing device.

12. The computer program product of claim 8, further comprising computer instructions for transmitting the one-time password to the first computing device through the web browser.

13. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the request is further encapsulated in a secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol.

14. A method for interacting with a memory device, comprising:

receiving a plurality of messages that are transmitted to a web browser;

extracting a message associated with a protocol type from the plurality of messages, the message being associated with a cryptographic operation; and

transmitting the message to the memory device.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

identifying the protocol type associated with the message; and

routing the message to a protocol module, the protocol module being configured to process the message associated with the protocol type.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the cryptographic operation is associated with a retrieval of a one-time password from the memory device.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the protocol type is a Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) protocol.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the memory device is a Universal Serial Bus device.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the plurality of messages are transmitted to the web browser from a computing device.

20. A computer program product embodied in a computer readable medium and comprising computer instructions for:

receiving a plurality of secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) messages transmitted to a web browser;

extracting a Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) message from the plurality of secure HTTP messages, the MIME message comprising a request for a one-time password; and

transmitting the MIME message to a Universal Serial Bus (USB) device.

21. The computer program product of claim 20, further comprising computer instructions for:

receiving the one-time password from the USB device; and

transmitting the one-time password to the web browser.

22. The computer program product of claim 20, further comprising computer instructions for transmitting the one-time password to a computing device through the web browser.

23. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the request is transmitted to the web browser by the computing device.