Secure File Drawer and Safe

• US 20130198521A1
• Filed: 01/28/2012
• Published: 08/01/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Jianqing Wu
• Original Assignee: Jianqing Wu
• Inventors: Wu, Jianqing
• Granted Patent: US 9,449,183 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/175
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/122 using management policies backup systems G06F11/1446; file migration policies for HSM systems G06F16/185
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/182 Distributed file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6209 to a single file or object, e.g. in a secure envelope, encrypted and accessed using a key, or with access control rules appended to the object itself
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/645 using a third party
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2107 File encryption
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0894 Escrow, recovery or storing of secret information, e.g. secret key escrow or cryptographic key storage
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/14 using a plurality of keys or algorithms
• 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

Abstract

An online file storage system having secure file drawer and safe is disclosed for securely storing and sharing confidential files. The system comprises a web-based user interface, tools for setting up server-side encryption method and client-side encryption method, tools for synchronizing encryption between different computers, tools for uploading files, tools for tracking files, tools for granting the right of access to files to the owner of other safes, and tools for generating authenticity certificate for proving the upload time and the substance of the files in a future time.

Claims

1. A file storing system, comprising a server having a network interface, and at least one client computer having a network interface, both the server and the at least one client computer being connected to the Internet, the system comprising:

means for creating a user account as a safe by a first user by using safe name and password;

means for encrypting a mark with an encryption key and saving the encrypted mark, known as E-mark, on the server;

means for determining if an encryption algorithm and a key are compatible with the algorithm and the key used to encrypt the encrypted mark;

means for generating a file-uploading form;

means for uploading a file in the safe of the first user;

means for encrypting the file on the server or the client computer by using one or two encryption keys;

means for saving the uploaded and encrypted file along with tracking information on the server;

means for showing the file among other files in the secure file drawer or the safe of the first user;

means for showing any of the files and deleting any of the files in the secure file drawer and safe of the first user; and

means for generating a file-downloading page for a selected file, decrypting the selected file on the server or the client computer by using user-provided key, and downloading the selected file to the client computer of the first user.

2. The system of claim 1 comprising means for selecting an encryption machine and means for saving the location information of the encryption key on the server so the server is able to generate a proper script for getting the encryption key on the client computer.

3. The system of claim 1 further comprising means for allowing the first user to get an authenticity certificate for each of the files in the safe of the first user, the authenticity certificate containing file uploading time, file size, and file description.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising means for authorizing the safe of the second user to retrieve from the server an authenticity certificate for the at least one file of the safe of the first user or the means for sending an authenticity certificate to the second user by email.

5. The system of claim 1 further comprising means for making a file in the first safe to be globally accessible so that any user of the system can access it and any user having proper encryption key can decrypt and download the file.

6. The system of claim 2 further comprising means for granting right of access to at least one file in the safe of the first user to a safe of a second user, means for the second user to select a file from the at least one file of the safe of the first user, means for allowing the second user to provide proper encryption keys, means for decrypting the selected file on the server or the client computer, and means for downloading the selected file to the client computer of the second user.

7. The system of claim 6 further comprising means for allowing the second user to get an authenticity certificate for each of the files of the first user from the safe of the second user, the authenticity certificate containing file uploading time, file size, and file description.

8. The system of claim 1 further comprising means for downloading a program using an encryption algorithm for decrypting standalone files that have been encrypted using the same algorithm and encryption keys in uploading the files to the server.

9. The system of claim 1 further comprising means for ordering at least one hard copy file together with an authenticity certificate certifying the file description, uploading time, and file size.

10. A method of storing confidential files on a server and client system for future proof of the substance and creation time of the files, the method comprising the steps of:

creating a user account as a safe by a first user using a safe name and safe password;

encrypting a mark with an encryption key and saving the encrypted mark, known as E-mark, on the server;

determining if an encryption algorithm and a key are compatible with the algorithm and the key used to encrypt the encrypted mark;

generating an uploading form by the server containing one or two input boxes for accepting an encryption key;

uploading a file from the client computer of the first user;

encrypting the file by using the one or two encryption keys that the first user has provided;

saving the uploaded and encrypted file along with tracking information on the server;

sending a file summary page to the client computer of the first user to display file information about the files in the safe of the first user, the file summary page containing file descriptions, uploading times and file sizes;

displaying any of the files, and deleting any of the files in the safe of the first user; and

generating a file-downloading page containing one or two input boxes for accepting an encryption key for a selected file, sending to the server proper encryption keys correspondent to the encryption keys used in encrypting the selected file during uploading, decrypting the selected file on the server or on the client computer using user-provided encryption keys, and downloading the selected file to the client computer of the first user.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising the steps of granting right of access to at least one file of the safe of the first user to a safe of a second user, enabling the second user to access the file of the first user, decrypt the file, and download the file to the client computer of the second user.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising a step of allowing the first user to get an authenticity certificate for any of the encrypted files in the safe of the first user, wherein the authenticity certificate contains file uploading time, file size, and file description.

13. The method of claim 11 further comprising a step of authorizing the safe of the second user to retrieve an authenticity certificate for the files of the first user or a step of sending the authenticity to the second user by email.

14. The method of claim 10 further comprising a step of making a file in the safe of the first user to be globally accessible so that any user of the system can access the file and any user having proper encryption keys can decrypt and download the file.

15. The method of claim 10 further comprising the means for setting client-side encryption method, means for encrypting a copy of the mark by an account password, saving the encrypted mark, which is known as R-mark, on the server, and means for determining if the client computer'"'"'s encryption algorithm is common with the server'"'"'s encryption algorithm by comparing a first mark decrypted from the E-mark with a second mark decrypted from the R-mark.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising the steps of sending a verification page for verifying the encrypted file, prompting the first user to enter one or two encryption keys corresponding to the one or two encryption keys used in encrypting the file in uploading, sending the encryption keys to the server and decrypting the uploaded file on the server by using the received encryption keys, downloading the decrypted file to the client computer of the first user for inspection, and marking the uploaded file as a verified file upon successful verification feedback.

17. The method of claim 10 wherein the uploading form contains an input box for accepting a hint for each of the one or two encryption keys and the file-downloading page displays each hint that has been entered for each of the encryption keys and has been saved on the server.

18. The method of claim 10 further comprising a step of ordering by the second user hard copy files granted to the second user, together with an authenticity certificate certifying to? the file descriptions, uploading times, and file sizes.

19. A computer program product for use in operating file storage system comprising a server and at least one client computer, the computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable code embodied on the medium, the computer program code further comprising:

program code for creating a user account as a safe by using a safe name or account number and safe password;

program code for encrypting a mark with an encryption key and saving the encrypted mark on the server;

program code for determining if an encryption algorithm and a user-provided key are compatible with the algorithm and the key that have been used to encrypt the encrypted mark;

program code for generating an uploading form;

program code for uploading files to the server;

program code for encrypting files on the server or on the client computer by using one or two encryption keys that the first user has provided;

program code for saving the uploaded file with tracking information on the server;

program code for sending a page for displaying the files, and deleting the files in any safe on the server; and

program code for generating a file-downloading page containing one or two input boxes for accepting an encryption key for a selected file, decrypting the selected file using the encryption keys the first user has provided, and downloading the selected file to the client computer of the first user.

20. A computer program product of claim 19 further comprising program code for using an encryption algorithm for decrypting standalone files that have been encrypted using the same algorithm and encryption keys in uploading the files to the server.

21. A computer program product of claim 19 further comprising program code for using client-side encryption method, program code for creating a reference encrypted mark, and program code for determining if a client-side encryption algorithm is common as the encryption algorithm used by the server in creating the encrypted mark and the reference encrypted mark.

22. A computer program product of claim 20 further comprising program code for sending a verification page for testing an encrypted file, prompting the first user to enter one or two encryption keys correspondent to the keys used in uploading the file, sending the user-entered encryption keys to the server, downloading the decrypted file to the client computer of the first user for inspection, decrypting the uploaded file, prompting the first user to indicate if the uploaded file is good, and marking the uploaded file as a verified file upon successful verification feedback.

23. A computer program product of claim 19 further comprising program code for granting right of access to at least one file of the first user to a safe of a second user and program code for decrypting the file by the second user by using encryption keys, and downloading the at least one file to the client computer of the second user.