Encryption Data Integrity Check With Dual Parallel Encryption Engines

• US 20090132802A1
• Filed: 11/15/2007
• Published: 05/21/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Banzhaf, Gerhard, Amann, Stefan, Yudenfriend, Harry M., Flanagan, John R., Casper, Daniel F., Palm, Jeffrey W., Boyd, Kenneth W.
• Granted Patent: US 8,171,282 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/150
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/125 Parallelization or pipelining, e.g. for accelerating processing of cryptographic operations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/004 for fault attacks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0643 Hash functions, e.g. MD5, SHA, HMAC or f9 MAC

Abstract

An encryption method encrypts a clear text twice using a first encryption engine to produce a first cipher text and a second encryption engine to produce a second cipher text. The method compares the first cipher text with the second cipher text, or compares a checksum of the first cipher text with a checksum of the second cipher text. If the comparison succeeds, the method transmits the data. In some embodiments, the method uses a first instance of an encryption key to produce the first cipher text and a second instance of the encryption key to produce the second cipher text.

Claims

1. A method of encrypting data, comprising:

encrypting a clear text using a first encryption engine to produce a first cipher text;

encrypting said clear text using a second encryption engine to produce a second cipher text; and

,

comparing said first cipher text with said second cipher text.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

storing one of said cipher texts if said cipher text matches said second cipher text;

reading said stored cipher text; and

,

decrypting said read cipher text.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

using a first instance of an encryption key to encrypt said clear text using said first encryption engine to produce said first cipher text; and

,

using a second instance of said encryption key to encrypt said clear text using said second encryption engine to produce said second cipher text.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said comparing comprises:

generating a first checksum of said first cipher text;

generating a second checksum of said second cipher text; and

,

comparing said first and second checksums

3. The method as claimed in 2, further comprising:

generating a first checksum on said clear text prior to said encrypting steps; and

,

checking said first checksum after said decrypting step.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3, further comprising:

transmitting said one of said cipher texts prior to said storing step.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4, further comprising:

generating a second checksum on said one of said cipher texts prior to said transmitting step; and

,

checking said second checksum prior to said storing step.

8. A method of encrypting data, comprising:

using a first instance of an encryption key to encrypt a clear text using a first encryption engine to produce said first cipher text;

using a second instance of said encryption key to encrypt said clear text using a second encryption engine to produce said second cipher text;

comparing said first cipher text with said second cipher text;

storing one of said cipher texts if said first cipher text matches said second cipher text.

9. The method as claimed in claim 8, further comprising:

storing one of said cipher texts if said cipher text matches said second cipher text;

reading said stored cipher text; and

,

decrypting said read cipher text.

13. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein said comparing comprises:

generating a checksum of said first cipher text;

generating a checksum of said second cipher text; and

,

comparing said check checksum of said first cipher text with said checksum of said second cipher text.

10. The method as claimed in 9, further comprising:

generating a first checksum on said clear text prior to said encrypting steps; and

,

checking said first checksum after said decrypting step.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10, further comprising:

transmitting said one of said cipher texts prior to said storing step.

12. The method as claimed in claim 11, further comprising:

generating a second checksum on said one of said cipher texts prior to said transmitting step; and

,

checking said second checksum prior to said storing step.

14. An encryption method, which comprises:

encrypting a clear text using a first encryption engine to produce a first cipher text;

encrypting said clear text using a second encryption engine to produce a second cipher text;

comparing said first cipher text with said second cipher text; and

,

transmitting one of said cipher texts if said first cipher text and said second cipher text match.

15. The method as claimed in claim 14, further comprising:

using a first instance of an encryption key to encrypt said clear text using said first encryption engine to produce said first cipher text; and

,

using a second instance of said encryption key to encrypt said clear text using said second encryption engine to produce said second cipher text.

16. The method as claimed in claim 15, wherein said comparing comprises:

generating a checksum of said first cipher text;

generating a checksum of said second cipher text; and

,

comparing said checksum of said first cipher text with said checksum of said second cipher text.

17. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein transmitting comprises:

transmitting one of said cipher texts if said checksum of said first cipher text and said checksum of said second cipher text match.

18. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein said comparing comprises:

generating a checksum of said first cipher text;

generating a checksum of said second cipher text; and

,

comparing said checksum of said first cipher text with said checksum of said second cipher text.

19. The method as claimed in claim 18, wherein transmitting comprises:

transmitting one of said cipher texts if said checksum of said first cipher text and said checksum of said second cipher text match.