AUTHENTICATION MECHANISMS FOR WIRELESS NETWORKS

• US 20090214036A1
• Filed: 02/22/2008
• Published: 08/27/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/22/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Wu, Deyun, Kuehnel, Thomas W., Shen, Hui, Baron, Andrew T., Hassan, Amer A., Lu, Yi
• Granted Patent: US 9,105,031 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 380/270
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/56 Financial cryptography, e.g. electronic payment or e-cash
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/60 Digital content management, e.g. content distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/805 Lightweight hardware, e.g. radio-frequency identification [RFID] or sensor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0442 wherein the sending and receiving network entities apply asymmetric encryption, i.e. different keys for encryption and decryption cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for public-key encryption H04L9/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0823 using certificates cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving certificates H04L9/3263
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/123 received data contents, e.g. message integrity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/126 the source of the received data
• 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 9/3263 involving certificates, e.g. public key certificate [PKC] or attribute certificate [AC]; Public key infrastructure [PKI] arrangements network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using certificates in a packet data network H04L63/0823
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3271 using challenge-response
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/04 Key management, e.g. using generic bootstrapping architecture [GBA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/10 Integrity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/12 Detection or prevention of fraud
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/122 Counter-measures against attacks; Protection against rogue devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/63 : Location-dependent; Proximity-dependent
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 : Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 : Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 : Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/08 : Access restriction or access information delivery, e.g. discovery data delivery signalling during connection H04W76/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 : Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 : WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

Security techniques and security mechanisms for wireless networks that transmit content such as advertisements. According to exemplary techniques, control messages comprising unrequested content (e.g., advertisement data) may be transmitted in response to a request from a client device, while in other exemplary techniques the control messages may be transmitted without any request from a client device. In some exemplary implementations, security mechanisms such as public key cryptography algorithms may be used to secure transmissions. In some of these techniques which implement public key cryptography, a user may be required to retrieve a public key from a source other than the wireless access point transmitting encrypted advertisements (e.g., a sign or terminal in a commercial entity transmitting such advertisements, or from a web service), such that the user may confirm that the encrypted content is from a source matching the retrieved public key and thus confirm the authenticity of a wireless access point.

Claims

1. A method of operating a client device to display advertisement information relating to a commercial service, the method comprising:

(A) obtaining trust information for a wireless access point;

(B) verifying, based on the trust information, the authenticity of a control transmission from the wireless access point; and

(C) selectively displaying to a user an advertisement for at least one commercial service contained within the control message based at least in part on the act of verifying.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of verifying comprises transmitting at least one message to the wireless access point.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the commercial entity is a mall or shopping center, and the trust information is one or more pieces of trust information for the mall and/or a business within the mall.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the at least one message comprises device trust information for a device executing the method, and the act of verifying further comprises receiving at least one response to the at least one message from the wireless access point and examining the at least one response using the device trust information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of verifying comprises decrypting at least a portion of the control transmission using the trust information.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the trust information comprises obtaining the trust information from a device implementing Near-Field Communication associated with the commercial entity.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the trust information comprises obtaining the trust information from a web service acting as a repository of trust information.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of obtaining the trust information comprises a user inputting the trust information after obtaining it from a directory.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the trust information is a public key of a public key cryptography algorithm implemented by the wireless access point.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the control transmission comprises environment information for the control transmission,

the method further comprises verifying the environment information, and

selectively displaying the advertisement to the user is based at least in part on a result of verifying the environment information.

11. The method of claim 11, wherein the environment information is a location for the wireless access point transmitting the control transmission and/or a time the control transmission was transmitted.

12. At least one computer-readable medium encoded with computer-executable instructions which, when executed, cause a computer to execute a method for confirming authenticity of a control transmission from a wireless access point associated with an entity, the method comprising:

(A) obtaining trust information for the entity;

(B) verifying, using the trust information, the authenticity of a control transmission from the wireless access point; and

(C) selectively using contents of the control transmission based at least in part on the act of verifying.

13. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the trust information is a public key for a public key encryption algorithm used to encrypt at least a portion of the control transmission.

14. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the content is location data for the wireless access point and using the contents comprises determining a current location for a client device.

15. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein obtaining the trust information comprises obtaining the trust information from a kiosk associated with the entity.

16. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the control transmission comprises environment information for the control transmission,

the method further comprises verifying the environment information, and

selectively using the contents is based at least in part on a result of verifying the environment information.

17. An apparatus for transmitting control messages in a wireless network, the apparatus comprising:

at least one data store storing trust information and contents;

at least one processor adapted to construct a control transmission comprising the contents and to encrypt at least a portion of the control transmission using the trust information; and

a communication circuit to transmit the control transmission.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the trust information is a private key of a public key encryption algorithm.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the communication circuit is adapted to transmit a responsive test control message constructed by the at least one processor in response to a test control message received from a client device, the test control message comprising at least one nonce.

20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the content is location data describing a location of the apparatus.