Passcode verification using hardware secrets

• US 9,369,461 B1
• Filed: 01/07/2014
• Issued: 06/14/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/07/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Roth, Gregory Branchek, Rubin, Gregory Alan, Potlapally, Nachiketh Rao
• Primary Examiner(s): To, Baotran N
• Application Number:
  US14/149,698
• Time in Patent Office: 889 Days
• Field of Search: 726/7
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0838 using one-time-passwords

Abstract

A hardware secret is securely maintained in a computing device. The hardware secret is used to generate a hash of a passcode that is persistently stored for later use in verification. When a passcode is received as part of an authentication attempt, the hardware secret is used to generate a reference hash of the received passcode that is then compared with the persistently stored hash to determine whether there is a match.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

under the control of one or more computer systems configured with executable instructions,

receiving a request to verify a passcode for an identity, the passcode required for at least one method of obtaining access to a resource;

calculating a reference value based at least in part on the passcode and a hardware secret, the hardware secret comprising secret information maintained within a hardware device so as to be unobtainable without physical intrusion into the hardware device;

using a probabilistic data structure that contains a plurality of obtained values each verifiable based at least in part on the hardware secret to perform a comparison of the reference value with a stored value obtained from persistent data storage, separate from the hardware device, in which the stored value is stored in association with the identity; and

providing a response to the request based at least in part on the comparison, the response being configured to enable access to the resource when the comparison indicates that the calculated reference value matches the stored value.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein calculating the reference value includes iterative use of the hardware secret.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein:

the one or more computer systems includes a computing device;

the hardware secret is maintained within a hardware component of the computing device; and

calculating the reference value includes providing information based at least in part on the passcode to the hardware component.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the hardware component implements a physically unclonable function used to calculate the reference value.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein:

the passcode is a one-time passcode; and

performing the comparison includes selecting the stored value from a set of pre-generated values corresponding to pre-generated one-time passcodes stored in association with the identity.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein at least a subset of the pre-generated one-time passcodes correspond to codes that a security token corresponding to the identity is configured to generate in the future.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein:

the security token is configured to generate codes based at least in part on a seed value; and

the one or more computer systems lack access to the seed value.

8. A system, comprising at least one computing device configured to implement a verification server configured to:

obtain information based at least in part on a passcode;

cause a reference value to be calculated based at least in part on the obtained information and a hardware secret stored inside of a hardware device; and

provide information indicating whether the calculated reference value matches a persistently stored value by using the persistently stored value to determine matching of the obtained information by using a filter that contains a plurality of obtained values each verifiable based at least in part on the hardware secret to determine whether obtained information matches one of the plurality of obtained values, the stored value persistently stored outside of the hardware device and having been calculated based at least in part on the passcode.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the verification server is further configured to determine whether the calculated value matches the stored value and the provided information is dependent at least in part on whether the calculated value matches the stored value.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein:

the system further comprises a cryptographic hardware module configured to be unable to output the hardware secret; and

causing the reference value to be calculated includes causing the cryptographic hardware module to perform one or more cryptographic operations based at least in part on the hardware secret and the obtained information.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein:

the cryptographic hardware module implements a physically unclonable function based at least in part on the hardware secret; and

causing the reference value to be calculated is based at least in part on the physically unclonable function.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the obtained information is the passcode.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein:

the passcode is from a first set of possible passcodes having a first cardinality;

the hardware secret is from a second set of hardware secrets having a second cardinality; and

the first cardinality is smaller than the second cardinality.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein causing the reference value to be calculated includes performing multiple calls to a device configured to perform cryptographic operations using the hardware secret.

15. The system of claim 8, wherein:

the system includes a local user input device; and

obtaining the information includes receiving the passcode through the user input device.

16. The system of claim 8, wherein:

the system further comprises a passcode database storing, for each particular identity of a plurality of identities that include an identity associated with the passcode, a particular value generated based at least in part on a passcode for the particular identity and the hardware secret; and

the verification server is further configured to select the persistently stored value based at least in part on an association in the passcode database between the persistently stored value and the identity.

17. The system of claim 8, wherein the system further comprises a passcode database that, for each particular identity of a plurality of identities, stores multiple particular values each calculated based at least in part on a seed value and the hardware secret and corresponding to a one-time passcode that a security token of a corresponding user is configured to generate in the future.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a computer system, cause the computer system to:

obtain information based at least in part on a passcode of an identity;

obtain a value calculated based at least in part on the obtained information and a hardware secret stored within a hardware device;

read a persistently stored value from a data storage device different from the hardware device; and

use the persistently stored value and the obtained value to verify, based at least in part on whether the persistently stored value matches the obtained value, at least one authentication attempt, wherein

the persistently stored value is encoded in an enumerated plurality of obtained values each verifiable based at least in part on the hardware secret; and

using the persistently stored value to verify at least one authentication attempt includes, when received authentication information matches a particular value in the enumerated plurality of obtained values, causing one or more obtained values to be electronically marked as invalid based at least in part on the one or more obtained values'"'"' position(s) in the enumerated plurality of obtained values relative to the particular value.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the persistently stored value comprises is read from a database that associates each value of a plurality of values verifiable at least in part on the hardware secret with a corresponding identity.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the computer system lacks a persistently stored copy of the passcode.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein obtaining the value includes making multiple calls to the hardware device having the hardware secret to cause the hardware device perform one or more cryptographic operations using the hardware secret.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the persistently stored value is from a plurality of pre-generated passcodes each verifiable based at least in part on the hardware secret.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein using the persistently stored value to verify at least one authentication attempt includes using a Bloom filter that contains a plurality of obtained values each verifiable based at least in part on the hardware secret to determine whether received authentication information matches one of the plurality of obtained values.