Mobile data vault

• US 9,146,881 B2
• Filed: 06/01/2012
• Issued: 09/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Perkaus & Farley, LLC
• Original Assignee: Commandhub Inc.
• Inventors: Cousins, Richard, Henderson, Linton, Matthews, Graham
• Primary Examiner(s): TURCHEN, JAMES R
• Application Number:
  US13/486,360
• Publication Number:
  US 20130166920A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,215 Days
• Field of Search: 713/189
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/1408 by using cryptography for digital transmission H04L9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6209 to a single file or object, e.g. in a secure envelope, encrypted and accessed using a key, or with access control rules appended to the object itself
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2107 File encryption
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0822 using key encryption key
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0866 involving user or device identifiers, e.g. serial number, physical or biometrical information, DNA, hand-signature or measurable physical characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0869 involving random numbers or seeds
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3226 using a predetermined code, e.g. password, passphrase or PIN network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using passwords in a packet data network H04L63/083

Abstract

A portable electronic device is provided. The portable electronic device includes a data interface module that processes files associated with a user, the data interface module receives and validates a password from a user of the portable electronic device before the user is allowed access to files processed by the data interface module, an encryption key formed by the data interface module upon validation of the password, the encryption key further comprising the password, a hard coded private string and a serial number of the portable electronic device and a data storage area that stores files received from the data interface module the stored files are encrypted using the encryption key and where neither the encryption key or the password are stored in an unencrypted format anyplace within the portable electronic device.

Claims

1. A portable electronic device comprising:

a hardware processor;

a memory;

an encrypted data structure area associated with a user on the portable electronic device that contains individual file encryption keys;

a file storage area that stores files associated with a user on the portable electronic device, each file encrypted using a unique random encryption key that is stored in the encrypted data structure area;

a user interface module that receives a password from a user of the portable electronic device and derives from the user-provided password, a serial number of the portable electronic device, and a hard coded private string an encryption key to the data structure area which is used to decrypt the data structure area, and where neither the user-provided password or the encryption key to the data structure area based upon the user-provided password are stored anyplace within the portable electronic device or anywhere else;

a data structure interface module that, provided the data structure area has been successfully decrypted by the encryption key to the data structure area, generates random encryption keys for each file, encrypts each file, and stores the file encryption keys in the data structure area; and

a file storage interface module, wherein the data structure interface module passes the encrypted files to the file storage interface module, the file storage interface module stores files received from the data structure interface module in the file storage area and retrieves files from the file storage area and passes them to the data structure interface module, the data structure interface module only being able to provide or accept such files after the data structure area has been successfully decrypted with the data structure area encryption key.

2. The portable electronic device as in claim 1 further comprising a tracking module that erases the data structure area and all content within it when a number of incorrectly entered passwords exceeds a predetermined threshold value.

3. The portable electronic device as in claim 1 further comprising a data structure area that is encrypted using AES-256.

4. The portable electronic device as in claim 1 wherein the file storage area further comprises an AES-256 encrypted database.

5. The portable electronic device as in claim 1 wherein the password further comprises at least eight characters including at least two non-alphanumeric characters.

6. The portable electronic device as in claim 1 further comprising a communication module that downloads files from a remote server.

7. A portable electronic device comprising:

a hardware processor;

a memory;

an encrypted data structure area associated with a user on the portable electronic device that contains individual file encryption keys;

a file storage area that stores files associated with a user on the portable electronic device, each file encrypted using a unique random encryption key that is stored in the encrypted data structure area;

a user interface module that receives a password from the user of the portable electronic device, the received password is used to derive an encryption key where the encryption key is used to decrypt the data structure area and where neither the user-provided password or the encryption key to the data structure area based upon the user-provided password are stored anyplace within the portable electronic device or anywhere else;

an encryption key processor that forms the data structure area encryption key from a combination of the password, a hard coded private string and a serial number of the portable electronic device;

a data structure interface module that, provided the data structure area has been successfully decrypted by the data structure area encryption key, generates random encryption keys for each file, encrypts each file, and stores the file encryption keys in the data structure area; and

a file storage interface module, wherein the data structure interface module passes the encrypted files to the file storage interface module, the file storage interface module stores files received from the data structure interface module in the file storage area and retrieves files from the file storage area and passes them to the data structure interface module, the data structure interface module only being able to provide or accept such files after the data structure area has been successfully decrypted with the data structure area encryption key.

8. The portable electronic device as in claim 7 further comprising a tracking module that erases the data structure area and all content within it when a number of incorrectly entered passwords exceeds a predetermined threshold value.

9. The portable electronic device as in claim 7 further comprising a data structure area that is encrypted using AES-256.

10. The portable electronic device as in claim 7 wherein the file storage area further comprises an AES-256 encrypted database.

11. The portable electronic device as in claim 7 further comprising a password processor that authenticates a user communicating through a remote server.

12. A non-transitory computer readable medium of a portable electronic device having an encrypted data structure area associated with a user on the portable electronic device that contains individual file encryption keys, a file storage area of a memory that stores files associated with a user on the portable electronic device, each file encrypted using a unique random encryption key that is stored in the encrypted data structure area, a data structure interface module and a file storage interface module, the non-transitory computer readable medium having a computer program executing on a hardware processor of the portable device to perform a set of steps comprising:

receiving a password from the user of the portable electronic device;

forming an encryption key from a combination of the user-provided password, a hard coded private string and a serial number of the portable electronic device;

unlocking the encrypted data structure area using the encryption key;

upon the successful unlocking of the encrypted data structure area, the data structure interface module generating random encryption keys for each file, encrypting each file, and storing the random file encryption keys in the data structure area; and

the data structure interface module passing the encrypted files to the file storage interface module, the file storage interface module storing the files received from the data structure interface module in the file storage area and retrieving files from the file storage area and passing them to the data structure interface module, the data structure interface module retrieving a corresponding randomly generated key and decrypting the received file, the data structure interface module only being able to provide or accept such files after the data structure area has been successfully decrypted with the data structure area encryption key.

13. The portable electronic device as in claim 12 further comprising erasing the data structure area and all content within it when a number of incorrectly entered passwords exceeds a predetermined threshold value.

14. The portable electronic device as in claim 12 further comprising a data structure area that is encrypted using AES-256.

15. The portable electronic device as in claim 12 wherein the file storage area further comprises an AES-256 encrypted database.

16. The portable electronic device as in claim 12 wherein the password further comprises at least eight characters including at least two non-alphanumeric characters.

17. The portable electronic device as in claim 12 further comprising downloading files from a remote user to the file storage area through the data security system.