Cryptographic Device with Detachable Data Planes

• US 20170048214A1
• Filed: 10/31/2016
• Published: 02/16/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: L3 Technologies, Inc. (L3Harris Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: L-3 Communications Corporation (L3Harris Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Winslow, Richard Norman, Costantini, Frank A.
• Granted Patent: US 9,942,033 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18506 Communications with or from aircraft, i.e. aeronautical mobile service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/061 for key exchange, e.g. in peer-to-peer networks cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key agreement H04L9/0838
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/062 for key distribution, e.g. centrally by trusted party cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key distribution involving a central third party H04L9/0819
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0618 Block ciphers, i.e. encrypting groups of characters of a plain text message using fixed encryption transformation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/083 involving central third party, e.g. key distribution center [KDC] or trusted third party [TTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0869 involving random numbers or seeds
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0891 Revocation or update of secret information, e.g. encryption key update or rekeying
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0897 involving additional devices, e.g. trusted platform module [TPM], smartcard or USB
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/04 Key management, e.g. using generic bootstrapping architecture [GBA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/0431 Key distribution or pre-distribution; Key agreement

Abstract

A system for performing encryption and/or decryption may include a parent cryptographic device. The parent cryptographic device may be configured to receive a first cryptographic key. The parent cryptographic device may be configured to determine one or more session keys based on the first cryptographic key and/or internally generated random data bits. The parent cryptographic device may be configured to insert the one or more session keys onto one or more child cryptographic devices that are operably connected to the parent cryptographic device. The one or more child cryptographic devices may be configured to receive the one or more session keys from the parent cryptographic device, and perform one or more of encryption or decryption of communications exchanged with another child cryptographic device of the one or more child cryptographic devices. The one or more child cryptographic devices may perform encryption/decryption after separation from the parent cryptographic device.

Claims

1. A cryptographic configuration device configured to load one or more cryptographic keys onto one or more configurable encryption/decryption (E/D) devices, the cryptographic configuration device comprising:

one or more child interfaces, wherein each child interface is configured to interface with a respective configurable E/D device;

secure tamper memory, wherein the secure tamper memory is configured to store one or more secret keys, and clear memory contents based on operating without power for more than a configured amount of time; and

a microprocessor configured to;

perform fail-safe key management for the one or more secret keys,

derive one or more session keys based on the one or more secrets keys using a one-way function or by using internally generated random data bits, and

load the one or more session keys onto at least one of the one or more configurable E/D devices using the one or more child interfaces.

2. The cryptographic configuration device as in claim 1, further comprising an operator interface configured to receive inputs and present outputs, wherein the microprocessor is configured to configure the one or more configurable E/D devices based on inputs received from the operator interface.

3. The cryptographic configuration device as in claim 2, wherein the operator interface is configured to receive an input that is indicative of a type of encryption to be performed by the at least one of the one or more configurable E/D devices, and the microprocessor is configured to configure the at least one of the one or more configurable E/D devices to implement the type of encryption indicated.

4. The cryptographic configuration device as in claim 1, further comprising a serial interface configured to be operably connected to a deployed configurable E/D device while the deployed configurable E/D device is operably connected to a communication system for performing at least one of encryption or decryption.

5. The cryptographic configuration device as in claim 4, wherein the microprocessor is configured to rekey the deployed configurable E/D device using the serial interface while the deployed configurable E/D device is operably connected to the communication system.

6. The cryptographic configuration device as in claim 5, wherein the microprocessor is configured to rekey a second configurable E/D device via the deployed configurable E/D device using the serial interface, wherein the cryptographic configuration device is configured to use the deployed configurable E/D device as a relay for configuring the second configurable E/D device over the air.

7. The cryptographic configuration device as in claim 1, wherein the microprocessor is configured to generated at least one session key using a random number generator.

8. A configurable encryption/decryption (E/D) device comprising:

an interface connector configured to interface with a cryptographic configuration device and a host communication system bus; and

a programmable logic device comprising one or more logical processing cores and volatile memory, wherein the one or more logical processing cores are configured to;

communicate with the cryptographic configuration device via the interface connector, wherein communicating with the cryptographic configuration device comprises receiving one or more session keys to be used for at least one of encryption or decryption from the cryptographic configuration device,

communicate with a host communication system via the interface connector, wherein communicating with the host communication system comprises at least one of transmitting or receiving data over the host communication system bus using the interface connector,

encrypt data that is received from a processing unit of the host communication system via a plaintext traffic interface of the interface connector using the one or more session keys, and

send encrypted data to a radio of the host communication system for transmission via a ciphertext traffic interface of the interface connector.

9. The configurable E/D device as in claim 8, wherein the one or more logical processing cores are further configured to:

decrypt data that is received from the radio of the host communication system via the ciphertext traffic interface of the interface connector using the one or more session keys; and

send decrypted data to the processing unit of the host communication system for processing via the plaintext interface of the interface connector.

10. The configurable E/D device as in claim 8, further comprising one or more of a battery or a capacitor configured to act as a temporary power supply for a volatile memory region of the programmable logic device, wherein the volatile memory region is configured to erase data stored in the volatile memory region upon loss of power and the one or more of the battery or the capacitor is configured to provide power to the volatile memory region for a limited period of time.

11. The configurable E/D device as in claim 8, further comprising a serial interface, wherein the configurable E/D device is configured to communicate with the cryptographic configuration device via the serial interface while being operably connected to the host communication system via the first interface.

12. The configurable E/D device as in claim 11, wherein the configurable E/D device is configured to receive one or more new session keys via the serial interface while operably connected to the host communication system via the first interface and decrypt the one or more new session keys using a re-keying key provisioned by the cryptographic configuration device.

13. The configurable E/D device as in claim 12, wherein the configurable E/D device is configured to communicate the one or more new session keys to another configurable E/D device via the radio of the host communication system, and to encrypt a message including the one or more new sessions keys using the one or more old session keys.

14. A method implemented by a configurable encryption/decryption (E/D) device, the method comprising:

the configurable E/D device interfacing with a cryptographic configuration device;

the configurable E/D device communicating with the cryptographic configuration device, wherein communicating with the cryptographic configuration device comprises receiving one or more session keys from the cryptographic configuration device to be used for at least one of encryption or decryption;

the configurable E/D device communicating with a host communication system, wherein communicating with the host communication system comprises at least one of transmitting or receiving data over a host communication system bus;

the configurable E/D device encrypting data that is received from a processing unit of the host communication system via a plaintext traffic interface using the one or more session keys; and

the configurable E/D device sending the encrypted data to a radio via a ciphertext traffic interface of the host communication system for transmission.

15. The method as in claim 14, further comprising:

the configurable E/D device decrypting data that is received from the radio of the host communication system via the ciphertext traffic interface using the one or more session keys; and

the configurable E/D device sending decrypted data to the processing unit of the host communication system for processing via the plaintext interface.

16. The method as in claim 14, wherein the configurable E/D device stores the one or more session keys in a volatile memory region, and the configurable E/D device erases data stored in the volatile memory region based on a loss of power.

17. The method as in claim 14, wherein the configurable E/D device communicates with the cryptographic configuration device via a serial interface while being operably connected to the host communication system via a different interface.

18. The method as in claim 17, wherein the configurable E/D device receives one or more new session keys via the serial interface while operably connected to the host communication system via the different interface, and the configurable E/D device decrypts the one or more new session keys using a re-keying key provisioned by the cryptographic configuration device.

19. The method as in claim 18, wherein the configurable E/D device communicates the one or more new session keys to another configurable E/D device via the radio of the host communication system, and the configurable E/D device encrypts a message including the one or more new sessions keys using the one or more old session keys.