Authentication method for an electronic document and verification method of a document thus authenticated

• US 8,756,428 B2
• Filed: 02/12/2008
• Issued: 06/17/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/13/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Airbus Operations SAS (Airbus SE)
• Original Assignee: Airbus Operations SAS (Airbus SE)
• Inventors: Touzeau, Julien, Bastien, Olivier
• Primary Examiner(s): Goldberg, Andrew
• Assistant Examiner(s): GRACIA, GARY S
• Application Number:
  US12/029,907
• Publication Number:
  US 20080250247A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,317 Days
• Field of Search: 713/178
• US Class Current: 713/178
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/68 Special signature format, e.g. XML format
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 involving digital signatures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3297 involving time stamps, e.g. generation of time stamps

Abstract

A computerized authentication method of an electronic document, in particular a file designed to be on-board an aircraft. The method includes generating a digital signature of the electronic document using a private key corresponding to a public key certified by a certifying authority, and sending via the Internet a time stamp request of the electronic document to a time stamping authority and receiving in response thereto a time-stamp signed by the certifying authority. The method includes sending via the Internet a request to an Online Certificate Statute Protocol (OCSP) server and receiving in response thereto a statute of the certificate of the public key, and adding to the electronic document of the digital signature, the time-stamp and the statute of the certificate to create an authenticated electronic document.

Claims

1. A computerized authentication method for authentication of an electronic document designed to be sent on-board an aircraft, comprising:

generating a digital signature of said electronic document, said electronic document including at least one program or data file to be sent to the aircraft, using a private key corresponding to a public key certified by a certifying authority;

sending via the Internet a time stamp request of said electronic document to a time stamping authority and receiving in response thereto a time-stamp signed by the time stamping authority;

sending via the Internet a verification request to an Online Certificate Statute Protocol (OCSP) server and receiving in response thereto a statute of a certificate of said public key, following on from said time stamp request;

adding to said electronic document the digital signature, the certificate of said public key, the time-stamp, and the statute of said certificate to create an authenticated electronic document including said at least one program or data file and said digital signature, the certificate of said public key, the time-stamp signed by the time stamping authority, and the statute of said certificate of said public key;

uploading to the aircraft the authenticated electronic document including said at least one program or data file to be sent to the aircraft,

wherein said document comprises a plurality of files and that the digital signature of the document is obtained by,

generating an individual digital fingerprint for each of said files,

generating a collective digital fingerprint for all of said files from their individual digital fingerprints, and

encoding the collective digital fingerprint from said private key.

2. The computerized authentication method according to claim 1, wherein the document comprises a file and the signature of the document is obtained by encoding a digital fingerprint of said file with said private key.

3. The computerized authentication method according to claim 1, wherein the document is of the XML type and that the signature of the document is provided in the XMLDsig format.

4. The computerized authentication method according to claim 3, wherein the document complies with the format of the ARINC 665 standard.

5. The computerized authentication method according to claim 1, wherein said certificate of the public key complies with the format of the X.509 standard.

6. A computerized verification method for verifying the validity of an electronic document authenticated by a computerized authentication method according to any one of claims 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, comprising:

a verification step of the digital signature of said electronic document;

a verification step of the time-stamp signed by the time stamping authority;

a verification step of the statute of the certificate of the public key;

a step for determining the validity of the electronic document, wherein the document is declared to be valid if the previous verifications are positive.

7. The computerized verification method according to claim 6, wherein where the document comprises several files, the verification steps of said digital signature and of said time-stamp use a collective digital fingerprint of said files, wherein said digital fingerprint is obtained by means of individual digital fingerprints of each of these files.