Method and system for verifying the authenticity of a first communication participants in a communications network

• US 6,980,796 B1
• Filed: 05/31/2000
• Issued: 12/27/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Munitech IP S.a.r.l. (Marathon Patent Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Siemens AG
• Inventors: Horn, Guenther, Cuellar, Jorge
• Primary Examiner(s): Trost, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): RAMPURIA, SHARAD K
• Application Number:
  US10/009,975
• Time in Patent Office: 2,036 Days
• Field of Search: 455410-411, 380/247, 380270-271
• US Class Current: 455/410
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/126 the source of the received data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/108 Source integrity

Abstract

Method and arrangement for checking the authenticity of a first communication subscriber in a communications network

In the method and the arrangement for checking the authenticity of a first communication subscriber in a communications network, a first fault information item is formed in the first communication subscriber using a fault detection data item of the first communication subscriber and an information item relating to a random data item. In a second communication subscriber in the communications network, a second fault information item is formed using a fault detection data item of the second communication subscriber and the information relating to the random data item. The authenticity of the first communication subscriber is checked using the first fault information and the second fault information.

Claims

1. A method for checking the authenticity of a first communication subscriber in a communications network, comprising:

forming a first fault information item in the first communication subscriber using a fault detection data item of the first communication subscriber and an information item relating to a random data item which has been transmitted to the first communication subscriber by a second communication subscriber in the communications network;

transmitting the first fault information to the second communication subscriber by the first communication subscriber,

forming a second fault information item in the second communication subscriber using a fault detection data item of the second communication subscriber and the information item relating to the random data item;

checking the authenticity of the first communication subscriber in the second communication subscriber using the first fault information item and the second fault information item.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein a difference is determined between the fault detection data item of the first communication subscriber and the fault detection data item of the second communication subscriber.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the difference is limited.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first and second communication subscribers are part of a mobile phone system.

5. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the first and second communication subscribers are part of a mobile phone system.

6. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the first and second communication subscribers are part of a mobile phone system.

7. A system for checking authenticity in a communications network, comprising:

a first communication subscriber to form a first fault information using a fault detection data item of the first communication subscriber and an information item relating to a random data item which has been transmitted to the first communication subscriber, and to transmit the first fault information;

a second communication subscriber to transmit the information relating to the random data item to the first communication subscriber, to receive the first fault information from the first communication subscriber, to form a second fault information using a fault detection data item of the second communication subscriber and the information relating to the random data item, and to check the authenticity of the first communication subscriber using the first fault information and the second fault information.

8. The system as claimed in claim 7, wherein the first communication subscriber is a service provider and the second communication subscriber is a service user in the communications network.

9. The system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the service provider is a mobile phone operator and the service user is a mobile phone.

10. The system as claimed in claim 7, wherein the fault detection data items are sequential numbers.

11. The system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the information relating to the random data item is a random number.

12. The system as claimed in claim 7, wherein the first and second communication subscribers are part of a mobile phone system.

13. The system as claimed in claim 10, wherein the first communication subscriber is a service provider and the second communication subscriber is a service user in the communications network.

14. The system as claimed in claim 13, wherein the service provider is a mobile phone operator and the service user is a mobile phone.

15. The system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the first communication subscriber is a service provider and the second communication subscriber is a service user in the communications network.

16. The system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the service provider is a mobile phone operator and the service user is a mobile phone.

17. The system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the fault detection data items are sequential numbers.

18. The system as claimed in claim 17, wherein the information relating to the random data item is a random number.

19. The system as claimed in claim 18, wherein the service provider is a mobile phone operator and the service user is a mobile phone.