Establishment of a trusted relationship between unknown communication parties
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method comprising:
- (i) performing the following at a first communication party of two communication parties between which a trusted relationship is to be established,creating a set of data comprising at least identities of the two communication parties and identifying a session between the two communicating parties;
performing a first set of cryptographic computations based on the created set of data relating to an identity of the first communication party to derive a first problem instance;
solving the first problem instance, where solving the first problem instance requires at least superpolynomial effort;
generating a proof-of-work for the solving of the first problem instance, wherein the proof-of-work is purpose-bound for establishing the trusted relationship; and
transmitting the set of data and the proof-of-work to the second communication party, and thereupon(ii) performing the following at the second communication party,receiving the set of data and the proof-of-work from the first communication party;
performing a second set of cryptographic computations based on the received set of data to derive a second problem instance,where the first problem instance is identical to the second problem instance;
verifying the proof-of-work for the solving of the second problem instance; and
generating and transmitting to the first communication party a session object for the trusted relationship based on the session identified in the set of data, when the verifying yields an affirmative result,where the session object comprises information for communicating between the two communication parties without an introduction protocol.
10 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention provides an establishment of a trusted relationship between two mutually unknown communication parties in a communication system without the use of a trusted third party. The invention is based on non-interactive proofs-of-work being purpose-bound for establishing the trusted relationship and cryptographically signing information to be transferred between the communication parties using such proofs-of-work for the solving of a problem instance along with verifying the proofs-of-work and generating a session object for a trusted relationship, when the verifying yields an affirmative result.
-
Citations
22 Claims
-
1. A method comprising:
-
(i) performing the following at a first communication party of two communication parties between which a trusted relationship is to be established, creating a set of data comprising at least identities of the two communication parties and identifying a session between the two communicating parties; performing a first set of cryptographic computations based on the created set of data relating to an identity of the first communication party to derive a first problem instance; solving the first problem instance, where solving the first problem instance requires at least superpolynomial effort; generating a proof-of-work for the solving of the first problem instance, wherein the proof-of-work is purpose-bound for establishing the trusted relationship; and transmitting the set of data and the proof-of-work to the second communication party, and thereupon (ii) performing the following at the second communication party, receiving the set of data and the proof-of-work from the first communication party; performing a second set of cryptographic computations based on the received set of data to derive a second problem instance, where the first problem instance is identical to the second problem instance; verifying the proof-of-work for the solving of the second problem instance; and generating and transmitting to the first communication party a session object for the trusted relationship based on the session identified in the set of data, when the verifying yields an affirmative result, where the session object comprises information for communicating between the two communication parties without an introduction protocol. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 21, 22)
-
-
2. A method comprising:
-
receiving a set of data and a proof-of-work from a first communication party, where the set of data comprises at least identities of two communication parties between which a trusted relationship is to be established and identifying a session between the two communicating parties; performing a set of cryptographic computations based on the received set of data to derive a problem instance, where the problem instance is identical to another problem instance used by the first communication party to generate the proof-of-work and where solving the problem instance requires at least superpolynomial effort; verifying the proof-of-work for solving the problem instance, wherein the proof-of-work is purpose-bound for establishing the trusted relationship; and generating and transmitting to the first communication party a session object for the trusted relationship based on the session identified in the set of data, when the verifying yields an affirmative result, where the session object comprises information for communicating between the two communication parties without an introduction protocol, wherein the performing of the set of cryptographic computations comprises performing a pseudo-random function on at least a part of the received set of data, and wherein the verifying the proof-of-work comprises; performing the set of cryptographic computations based on the set of data on which the set of cryptographic computations at the first communication party are based; and validating that the proof-of-work received corresponds to the performing of the set of cryptographic computations. - View Dependent Claims (5, 19, 20)
-
-
12. An apparatus comprising at least one processor;
- and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following;
to receive, from a first communication party, a proof-of-work for a solution to a problem instance together with a set of data comprising at least identities of two communication parties between which a trusted relationship is to be established and identifying a session between the two communicating parties, wherein the proof-of-work is purpose-bound to establish the trusted relationship; to perform a set of cryptographic computations based on the received set of data to derive a problem instance, where the problem instance is identical to another problem instance used by the first communication party to generate the proof-of-work and where solving the problem instance requires at least superpolynomial effort; to verify the proof-of-work received for solving the problem instance; to generate a session object for the trusted relationship based on the session identified in the set of data, when the verifier yields an affirmative result; and to transmit the session object generated to the first communication party, where the session object comprises information for communicating between the two communication parties without an introduction protocol, wherein the performing of the set of cryptographic computations comprises performing a pseudo-random function on at least a part of the received set of data, and wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to cause the apparatus; to perform the set of cryptographic computations based on the set of data on which the set of cryptographic computations at the first communication party are based; and to validate that the proof-of-work received corresponds to the performance of the set of cryptographic computations. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
- and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following;
-
13. An apparatus comprising:
-
means for receiving, from a first communication party, a proof-of-work for a solution to a problem instance together with a set of data comprising at least identities of two communication parties between which a trusted relationship is to be established and identifying a session between the two communicating parties, wherein the proof-of-work is purpose-bound for establishing the trusted relationship, means for performing a set of cryptographic computations based on the received set of data to derive a problem instance, where the problem instance is identical to another problem instance used by the first communication party to generate the proof-of-work and where solving the problem instance requires at least superpolynomial effort; means for verifying the proof-of-work received for solving the problem instance; means for generating a session object for the trusted relationship based on the session identified in the set of data, when the verifier yields an affirmative result; and means for transmitting the session object generated by the generator to the first communication party, where the session object comprises information for communicating between the two communication parties without an introduction protocol, wherein the performing means comprises means for performing a pseudo-random function on at least a part of the received set of data, and wherein the verifying means comprises; means for performing the set of cryptographic computations based on the set of data on which the set of cryptographic computations at the first communication party are based; and means for validating that the proof-of-work received corresponds to the performing of the set of cryptographic computations.
-
-
18. A non-transitory computer readable medium tangibly encoded with a computer program executable by a processor to perform the actions comprising:
-
receiving a set of data and a proof-of-work from a first communication party, where the set of data comprises at least identities of two communication parties between which a trusted relationship is to be established and identifying a session between the two communicating parties; performing a set of cryptographic computations based on the received set of data to derive a problem instance, where the problem instance is identical to another problem instance used by the first communication party to generate the proof-of-work and where solving the problem instance requires at least superpolynomial effort; verifying the proof-of-work for a solution to the problem instance, wherein the proof-of-work is purpose-bound for establishing a trusted relationship; and generating and transmitting to the first communication party a session object for the trusted relationship based on the session identified in the set of data, when the verifying yields an affirmative result, where the session object comprises information for communicating between the two communication parties without an introduction protocol, wherein the performing of the set of cryptographic computations comprises performing a pseudo-random function on at least a part of the received set of data, and wherein the verifying the proof-of-work comprises; performing the set of cryptographic computations based on the set of data on which the set of cryptographic computations at the first communication party are based; and validating that the proof-of-work received corresponds to the performing of the set of cryptographic computations.
-
Specification