Method and system for configuring highly available online certificate status protocol responders

• US 7,318,155 B2
• Filed: 12/06/2002
• Issued: 01/08/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ServiceNow Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Yellepeddy, Krishna K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu; Kim
• Assistant Examiner(s): PATEL, NIRAV B
• Application Number:
  US10/314,477
• Publication Number:
  US 20040111607A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,859 Days
• Field of Search: 713155-158, 713/175, 713/153, 713/176, 380277-279, 380/286, 380/283, 726/10, 709/220, 709/223, 709/230, 709224-226, 705/50, 705/75
• US Class Current: 713/158
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/56 Financial cryptography, e.g. electronic payment or e-cash
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/76 Proxy, i.e. using intermediary entity to perform cryptographic operations network architectures or network communication protocols using hop-by-hop encryption H04L63/0464
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/805 Lightweight hardware, e.g. radio-frequency identification [RFID] or sensor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0823 using certificates cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving certificates H04L9/3263
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/104 Grouping of entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/321 involving a third party or a trusted authority
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3255 using group based signatures, e.g. ring or threshold signatures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3268 using certificate validation, registration, distribution or revocation, e.g. certificate revocation list [CRL]

Abstract

A method and system is presented for configuring a group of OCSP (Online Certificate Status Protocol) responders so that they are highly available. Each of the grouped OCSP responders share a common public key. When responding to an OCSP request, an OCSP responder generates an OCSP response that is signed with a group digital signature; the certificate for the common or group public key can be attached to the OCSP response. An OCSP client uses the group public key to verify the group digital signature on an OCSP response from any of the OCSP responders. For an OCSP client, the availability of this group of responders is greater than the availability of any one member of the group.

Claims

1. A method for providing certificate status from a distributed computing environment, wherein the distributed computing environment comprises a set of Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) responders, the method comprising:

configuring the OCSP responders to dynamically determine and designate one of the OSCP responders in the set as a master OCSP responder responsible for managing the set of OCSP responders;

dispersing from the master OCSP responder to each OCSP responder in the set of OCSP responders a copy of a public key certificate, wherein an asymmetric cryptographic public key is stored within the public key certificate;

setting an expiration period of the public key certificate to be equal to an earliest expiration date among public key certificates associated with OCSP responders in the set of OCSP responders;

configuring each OCSP responder in the set of OCSP responders so that each OCSP responder can generate a group digital signature;

receiving from an OCSP client an OCSP request message at an OCSP responder in the set of OCSP responders; and

returning to the OCSP client an OCSP response message comprising the group digital signature.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

obtaining one asymmetric cryptographic public key and an associated set of unique asymmetric cryptographic keys, wherein the asymmetric cryptographic public key is able to verify a group digital signature that is generated by using any key in the associated set of unique asymmetric cryptographic keys;

configuring each OCSP responder in the set of OCSP responders with a unique asymmetric cryptographic key; and

generating the OCSP response message comprising the group digital signature that is generated by the OCSP responder using its unique asymmetric cryptographic key.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

attaching a copy of a public key certificate to the OCSP response message.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

generating the asymmetric cryptographic public key at the master OCSP responder.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

managing a life-cycle of the asymmetric cryptographic public key at the master OCSP responder.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

revoking the public key certificate for the asymmetric cryptographic public key when a public key certificate associated with an OCSP responder in the set of OCSP responders expires or is revoked.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

distributing additional OCSP request messages across the set of OCSP responders according to a load balancing scheme.

8. A data processing system for providing certificate status, wherein the data processing system comprises a set of Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP) responders, the data processing system comprising:

means for configuring the OCSP responders to dynamically determine and designate one of the OCSP responders in the set as a master OCSP responder responsible for managing the set of OCSP responders;

means for dispersing from the master OCSP responder to each OCSP responder in the setof OCSP responders a copy of a public key certificate, wherein an asymmetric cryptographic public key is stored within the public key certificate;

means for setting an expiration period of the public key certificate to be equal to an earliest expiration date among public key certificates associated with OCSP responders in the set of OCSP responders;

means for configuring each OCSP responder in the set of OCSP responders so that each OCSP responder can generate a group digital signature;

means for receiving from an OCSP client an OCSP request message at an OCSP responder in the set of OCSP responders; and

means for returning to the OCSP client an OCSP response message comprising the group digital signature.

9. The data processing system of claim 8 further comprising:

means for obtaining one asymmetric cryptographic public key and an associated set of unique asymmetric cryptographic keys, wherein the asymmetric cryptographic public key is able to verify a group digital signature that is generated by using any key in the associated set of unique asymmetric cryptographic keys;

means for configuring each OCSP responder in the set of OCSP responders with a unique asymmetric cryptographic key; and

means for generating the OCSP response message comprising the group digital signature that is generated by the OCSP responder using its unique asymmetric cryptographic key.

10. The data processing system of claim 8 further comprising:

means for attaching a copy of a public key certificate to the OCSP response message.

11. The data processing system of claim 8 further comprising:

means for generating the asymmetric cryptographic public key at the master OCSP responder.

12. The data processing system of claim 8 further comprising:

means for managing a life-cycle of the asymmetric cryptographic public key at the master OCSP responder.

13. The data processing system of claim 8 further comprising:

means for revoking the public key certificate for the asymmetric cryptographic public key when a public key certificate associated with an OCSP responder in the set of OCSP responders expires or is revoked.

14. The data processing system of claim 8 further comprising:

means for distributing additional OCSP request messages across the set of OSCP responders according to a load balancing scheme.