ON DEVICE NUMBER LOCK DRIVEN KEY GENERATION FOR A WIRELESS ROUTER IN WIRELESS NETWORK SECURITY SYSTEMS

• US 20090154701A1
• Filed: 12/17/2007
• Published: 06/18/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: KOSARAJU, Ravi K., DANTAM, Krishnamohan
• Application Number:
  US11/957,681
• Publication Number:
  US 20090154701A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 380/270
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/033 of the user plane, e.g. user's traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/04 Key management, e.g. using generic bootstrapping architecture [GBA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

The present invention solve the problems in the prior art by a embedding a number lock system on the router which serves as a input mechanism for entering the shared key or a shared seed which generates a shared key. A combination of numbers and letters may be used on the dials of the number lock. There is a slider to set the security protocol in use or turn it off. Once the user sets his key combination using the number lock on the device and sets a security mechanism he can go to his computer or a PDA or any device that supports Wi-Fi he will use the same mechanism that he does today with existing technology to enter the shared key and select the security mechanism.

Claims

1. A method for a user, having a wireless computing device having a user interface, to set up an encryption scheme in a wireless access point, the wireless access point having a number lock system, the computing device being connected to the wireless access point, the method having the following steps:

providing the user on the user interface with a display with a section for selecting a key;

providing the user on the user interface with a display with a section for selecting a security type; and

providing, from the wireless computing device to the wireless access point, the selected key to the wireless access point.

2. The method of claim 1 further including the step of, at the wireless access point, receiving, at the number lock system, the selected key.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the key is a shared key and the method further comprises the step of the wireless computing device and the wireless access point agreeing on the selected key.

4. The method of claim 2 further including the step of providing the user a sliding mechanism, on the user interface, to set the security protocol in use or turn it off.

5. The method of claim 4 further including the step of providing the user, on the user interface, numbers or dials and alphanumeric characters on the dials to select the shared key and the security protocols selected and the step of allowing the numbers or dials and alphanumeric characters on the dials to vary depending on various security protocols supported.

6. The method of claim 1 further wherein the wireless access device is in a secure mode immediately after the wireless access device and wireless computing device agree on the shared key so that, once the shared key has been set, the communication is secure and never has to enter into a insecure mode.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the shared key is a WEP ASCII key.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the shared key is a WEP Hex key.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein the shared key is a WPA PSK key.

10. A computer program product in a computer readable medium for operating in a system comprising a network I/O, a CPU, and one or more databases, for implementing a method for easily securing a wireless network using number lock driven WEP key generation for the wireless router, the method comprising the steps of:

providing the user on the user interface with a display with a section for selecting a key;

providing the user on the user interface with a display with a section for selecting a security type; and

providing, from the wireless computing device to the wireless access point, the selected key to the wireless access point.

11. The computer program product of claim 10 wherein the method further comprises the step of, at the wireless access point, receiving, at the number lock system, the selected secret key.

12. The computer program product of claim 11 wherein the key is a shared key and the method further comprises the step of the wireless computing device and the wireless access point agreeing on the selected key.

13. The computer program product of claim 11 wherein the method further comprises the step of providing the user a sliding mechanism, on the user interface, to set the security protocol in use or turn it off.

14. The computer program product of claim 13 wherein the method further comprises the step of providing the user, on the user interface, numbers or dials and alphanumeric characters on the dials to select the shared secret key and the security protocols selected and the step of allowing the numbers or dials and alphanumeric characters on the dials to vary depending on various security protocols supported.

15. The computer program product of claim 10 further wherein the wireless access device is in a secure mode immediately after the wireless access device and wireless computing device agree on the shared key so that, once the shared key has been set, the communication is secure and never has to enter into a insecure mode.

16. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein the shared key is a WEP ASCII key.

17. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein the shared key is a WEP Hex key.

18. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein the shared key is a WPA PSK key.