Access control

• US 20140040619A1
• Filed: 04/18/2011
• Published: 02/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/18/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Viswanathan, Kapaleeswaran, Saxena, Amitabh
• Granted Patent: US 9,294,447 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/168
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0869 involving random numbers or seeds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/02 Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/033 of the user plane, e.g. user's traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security

Abstract

A communication access control system (100) includes at least one access control cell (160), implemented on a computing entity, for computing random input addresses (205) and random output addresses (210) upon a request of a system user (105). The input and output addresses are based on a cryptographic key (165) held by a service facility (115) associated with the at least one access control cell (160).

Claims

1. A communication access control system (100), comprising:

at least one access control cell (160), implemented on a computing entity, for computing random input addresses (205) and random output addresses (210) upon a request of a system user (105);

wherein said input and output addresses are based on a cryptographic key (165) held by a service facility (115) associated with said at least one access control cell (160).

2. The system (100) of claim 1, wherein said service facility (115) dynamically creates access control cells (160) upon request of a system user (105).

3. The system (100) of claim 1, in which the access control cell (160) receives a message from a first user (305) containing an input address (205) and routes that message to a second users (105) after converting the input address (205) into corresponding output address (210) using the cryptography key (165).

4. The system (100) of claim 3, in which the message is a communication from one human user to another.

5. The system (100) of claim 3, in which the message is an operational command to a computing entity in a distributed computing environment.

6. The system of claim 1, in which the at least one access control cell (160) is stored on a user'"'"'s (105) computing device (110) to control access to that user'"'"'s computing device (110).

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a number of access control cells (160) each residing on a different computing entity within a distributed computing environment.

8. A method for operating a distributed messaging system (100), comprising, with a programmed processor (125):

receiving (Block 705) at a group message web service (GMWS) facility (115) a query (315, 515, 615) from a user (105) to receive an input address (205) and output address (210);

generating (710) a random input address (205) and random output address (210);

providing (715) the user (105) with the input address (205) and output address (210);

receiving (Block 720) a message containing an input address (205);

computing (Block 725) the output address (210) using a cryptography key;

routing (Block 730) the message based on the output address computed.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising dynamically creating an access control cell (160) associated with the group message web service (GMWS) facility (115), the access control cell computing the random input address (205) and random output address (210) upon the request of the system users (105).

10. The method of claim 9, in which the access control cells (160) are stored on the user'"'"'s (105) computing devices (110).

11. The method of claim 8, in which the cryptography key (165) is not accessible by users (105, 305) of the system (100).

12. The method of claim 8, in which the system (100) is implemented on a distributed computing environment.

13. The method of claim 8, in which the random input address (205) and random output addresses (210) are 256-bit cryptographic numbers.

14. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code, when executed by a processor of a group message web facility, causes that processor to:

receive a message containing an input address (205);

compute an output address (210) using a cryptography key;

route the message based on the output address computed.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, further comprising

computer usable program code, when executed by a processor of a group message web facility, causes that processor to store the input address (205) and output address (210) on a users'"'"' (105) computing device (110).