WAGERING GAME WITH ENCRYPTION AND AUTHENTICATION

• US 20110183748A1
• Filed: 04/08/2011
• Published: 07/28/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/20/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sg Gaming, Inc. (Scientific Games Corporation)
• Original Assignee: WMS Gaming Incorporated (Scientific Games Corporation)
• Inventors: Wilson, Timothy D., Gagner, Mark B., Smith, Jason A., Liber, Nevin J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,775,316 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/25
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/32 for games, toys, sports, or amusements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3241 Security aspects of a gaming system, e.g. detecting cheating, device integrity, surveillance computer security G06F21/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0838 Key agreement, i.e. key establishment technique in which a shared key is derived by parties as a function of information contributed by, or associated with, each of these network architectures or network communication protocols for key exchange in a packet data network H04L63/061
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3236 using cryptographic hash functions

Abstract

A computerized wagering game system includes a gaming module comprising gaming code which is operable when executed on to conduct a wagering game on which monetary value can be wagered, and a security module operable to perform at least one encryption function on information communicated via a network connection. The encryption functions include in various embodiments key management, authentication, or other encryption functions such as symmetric, asymmetric, hash, or message authentication code functions.

Claims

1. A method of configuring a security mechanism at a wagering game machine, the method comprising:

accessing, from the wagering game machine, a wagering game server certificate;

determining, at the wagering game machine, a hash value of the wagering game server certificate;

presenting the hash value to a wagering game machine operator;

presenting a prompt to confirm that the hash value matches a hash value previously calculated by the wagering game server;

receiving a confirmation that the hash value matches the hash value previously calculated by a wagering game server; and

authenticating the wagering game server certificate based on the confirmation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the hash value of the wagering game server certificate is performed using an MD5 hash algorithm.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the hash value of the wagering game server certificate is performed using an SHA hash algorithm.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the wagering game server certificate is issued by a publicly available certificate authority.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the wagering game server certificate is issued by a gaming authority.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the wagering game server certificate is issued by the wagering game server.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the wagering game server certificate comprises a wagering game server public encryption key, and wherein the method further comprises using the wagering game server public encryption key to securely communicate with the wagering game server after authenticating the wagering game server certificate based on the confirmation.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a wagering game machine certificate to the wagering game server; and

using a Diffie-Hellman Internet Key Exchange protocol to cross-authenticate the wagering game server certificate and the wagering game machine certificate.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein accessing the wagering game server certificate comprises:

accessing a domain name server; and

retrieving the wagering game server certificate from the domain name server.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions, which when executed by a wagering game machine, cause the wagering game machine to:

access a wagering game server certificate;

calculate a hash value of the wagering game server certificate;

present at least a portion of the hash value to a wagering game machine operator;

present a prompt to confirm that the presented portion of the hash value matches a corresponding portion of a hash value calculated by the wagering game server;

receive a confirmation that the presented portion of the hash value matches the corresponding portion of the hash value previously calculated by a wagering game server; and

authenticate the wagering game server certificate based on the confirmation.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the instructions that cause the wagering game machine to calculate the hash value of the wagering game certificate comprise instructions to use an MD5 hash algorithm to calculate the hash value.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the wagering game server certificate is issued by a gaming authority.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the wagering game server certificate is issued by a publicly available certificate authority.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the wagering game server certificate is issued by the wagering game server.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the wagering game server certificate comprises a wagering game server public encryption key, and wherein the instructions further comprise instructions to use the wagering game server public encryption key to securely communicate with the wagering game server after authenticating the wagering game server certificate based on the confirmation.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising instructions to:

transmit a wagering game machine certificate to the wagering game server; and

use a Diffie-Hellman Internet Key Exchange protocol to cross-authenticate the wagering game server certificate and the wagering game machine certificate.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the instructions to access the wagering game server certificate comprise instructions to:

access a domain name server; and

retrieve the wagering game server certificate from the domain name server.

18. A wagering game system comprising:

a wagering game server; and

a wagering game client device comprising a display device,

wherein the wagering game server is configured to;

store a wagering game server security certificate;

calculate a first hash value of the wagering game server security certificate;

provide the first hash value to a technician; and

transmit the wagering game server security certificate to the wagering game client device,

and wherein the wagering game client device is configured to;

receive the wagering game server security certificate from a wagering game server;

calculate a second hash value of the wagering game server certificate;

display the second hash value on the display device; and

receive a confirmation that the first hash value matches the second hash value.

19. The wagering game system of claim 18, wherein the wagering game server is further configured to provide the first has value to the technician by displaying the first hash value on a display associated with the wagering game server.

20. The wagering game system of claim 19, wherein the first hash value is displayed on the display associated with the wagering game sever and the second hash value is displayed on the display device of the wagering game client device concurrently.

21. The wagering game system of claim 18, wherein the wagering game server is further configured to provide the first hash value to the technician by printing the wagering game server security certificate.

22. The wagering game system of claim 18, wherein the wagering game client device is further configured to prompt a wagering game client device operator to compare the first hash value with the displayed second hash value.

23. The wagering game system of claim 18, wherein the wagering game server security certificate is issued by the wagering game server.

24. The wagering game system of claim 18, wherein the wagering game server is further configured to serve a wagering game on which monetary value can be wagered to the wagering game client device.

25. The wagering game system of claim 18, wherein the wagering game client device is further configured to:

store the wagering game server security certificate when second hash value is confirmed as matching the first hash value.