Method for producing a soft token, computer program product and service computer system

• US 9,647,840 B2
• Filed: 10/17/2013
• Issued: 05/09/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bundesdruckerei GmbH (Government of Germany)
• Original Assignee: Bundesdruckerei GmbH (Government of Germany)
• Inventors: Dietrich, Frank
• Primary Examiner(s): Arani, Taghi
• Assistant Examiner(s): LANE, GREGORY A
• Application Number:
  US14/437,906
• Publication Number:
  US 20150270971A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,300 Days
• Field of Search: 713168, 726 6
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/35 communicating wirelessly
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/42 using separate channels for security data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/602 Providing cryptographic facilities or services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/04 for providing a confidential data exchange among entities communicating through data packet networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0838 using one-time-passwords
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/12 Applying verification of the received information cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for data integrity or data verification H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3228 One-time or temporary data, i.e. information which is sent for every authentication or authorization, e.g. one-time-password, one-time-token or one-time-key

Abstract

The method relates to a method for generating a soft token, having the following: providing a secure element, wherein, in a protected storage area of the secure element, a secret key of a first asymmetric cryptographic key pair is stored, setting up a first cryptographically secured connection between an electronic device and a service computer system, transmitting a request for the generation of the soft token from the electronic device to the service computer system via the first connection, generating a one-time password on the basis of the reception of the request by the service computer system, registering the one-time password as an identifier of the first connection by the service computer system, transmitting the one-time password from the service computer system to the electronic device via the first connection, issuing the one-time password via a user interface of the electronic device, setting up a second cryptographically stored connection between a user computer system and the service computer system, entering the one-time password into the user computer system, transmitting the entered one-time password from the user computer system to the service computer system via the second connection, verifying, by means of the service computer system, whether the registered one-time password is in agreement with the one-time password received via the second connection, and only if this is the case, reading at least one attribute stored in an ID token, generating the soft token by signing the at least one attribute and the public key of the first cryptographic key pair, transmitting the soft token via the first connection to the electronic device and/or transmitting the soft token via the second connection to the user computer system.

Claims

1. A method for generating a soft token, the method comprising:

providing a secure element, wherein, in a protected storage area of the secure element, a secret key of a first asymmetric cryptographic key pair is stored and wherein the secure element is associated with a user, setting up a first cryptographically secured connection between an electronic device of the user and a service computer system;

transmitting a request for the generation of the soft token from the electronic device to the service computer system via the first connection;

generating, by the service computer system, a one-time password on the basis of a reception of the request by the service computer system, where the one-time password is generated without knowledge of the secret key of the first asymmetric cryptographic key pair;

registering the one-time password as an identifier of the first connection by the service computer system;

transmitting the one-time password from the service computer system to the electronic, device via the first connection;

issuing the one-time password via a user interface of the electronic device;

setting up a second cryptographically stored connection between a user computer system and the service computer system;

entering the one-time password into the user computer system;

transmitting the entered one-time password from the user computer system to the service computer system via the second connection;

verifying, by means of the service computer system, whether the registered one-time password is in agreement with the one-time password received via the second connection, and if successfully verified, reading at least one attribute stored in an ID token; and

generating the soft token by signing the at least one attribute and a public key of the first cryptographic key pair, transmitting the soft token via the first connection to the electronic device and/or transmitting the soft token via the second connection to the user computer system, wherein a local connection is set up between the user computer system and the secure element, wherein the local connection is a bidirectional ad hoc connection.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein a public key of the first key pair is stored in a freely readable memory area of the secure element, the method further comprising:

transmitting the public key from the secure element to the electronic device via the local connection;

transmitting the public key from the electronic device to the service computer system via the first cryptographically secured connection;

encoding the one-time password by means of the service computer system using the public key, wherein the encoded one-time password is transmitted from the service computer system to the electronic device via the first connection;

transmitting the encoded one-time password from the electronic device to the secure element via the local connection;

decoding the one-time password by mean of the secure element using the secret key of the first key pair; and

transmitting the decoded one-time password from the secure element to the electronic device via the local connection for output by the electronic device.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the service computer system has a first program component for generating the one-time password, for encoding the one-time password, and for generating the soft token, a second program component for receiving the one-time password from the user computer system, wherein the first connection is set up between the electronic device and the first program component, and the second connection is set up between the user computer system and the second program component, the method further comprising:

transmitting the one-time password from the first program component to the second program component, wherein the second program component performs the verification to determine whether the one-time password received from the first program component is in agreement with the one-time password received from the user computer system via the second connection;

receiving the at least one attribute read out of the ID-token, by the second program component; and

transmitting the at least one attribute from the second program component to the first program component.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the electronic device is a mobile terminal device, in particular a mobile radio device, a mobile telephone, a smartphone, a portable computer, or another mobile, battery-operated terminal device having a communication interface for setting up the local connection with the secure element.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the user computer system performs one or more functions of the electronic device or wherein the electronic device performs one or more functions of the user computer system.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein, in order to read out the at least one attribute from the ID token, the method further:

authenticating the user with respect to the ID token;

authenticating an ID-provider computer system with respect to the ID token; and

after successful authentication of the user and the ID-provider computer system with respect to the ID token, read accessing of the ID-provider computer system to the at least one attribute stored in the ID token via a third connection and transmitting the at least one attribute from the ID-provider computer system to the service computer system, wherein the third connection is set up between the ID token and the ID-provider computer system via the user computer system with end-to-end encryption.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the at least one attribute is signed by the ID-provider computer system and is transmitted to the service computer system via the user computer system.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the ID-provider computer system transmits the at least one attribute to the service computer system in the form of a Security Assurance Markup Language (SAML) object.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the soft token is generated by the service computer system by means of a blind signature or as a U-Prove token.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein a second asymmetric cryptographic key pair is assigned to the soft token, wherein the secret key of the second key pair, encoded with the public key of the first key pair, is stored in a memory of the electronic device.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the ID token is a document having an electronic memory integrated in the document body, wherein the at least one attribute is stored in the electronic memory.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the electronic device is designed as a computer system, in particular as a PC, and wherein the user computer system is designed as a mobile computer, in particular as a smartphone, wherein a public key of the first key pair is stored in a freely readable memory area of the secure element, the method further comprising:

transmitting the public key from the secure element to the mobile computer via the local connection, and

transmitting the public key and the entered one-time password from the mobile computer to the service computer system via the second cryptographically secured connection.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the one-time password is output via display of a machine-readable optical pattern on a display, and wherein the optical pattern comprises a QR code.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the local connection is a wireless radio connection, and wherein the communication between the user computer system and the secure element takes place via the local connection with end-to-end encryption.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the wireless radio connection is set up in a frequency band between 2.402 GHz and 2.480 GHz.

16. The method according to claim 14, wherein the radio connection is set up according to a Bluetooth or NFC standard.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein pairing is carried out between the user computer system and the secure element in order to set up the wireless radio connection according to the Bluetooth standard.

18. A computer program product, in particular a digital storage medium, having executable program instructions for carrying out a method according to claim 1.

19. A service computer system for generating a soft token linked to a secure element associated with a user, comprising:

means for setting up a first cryptographically secured connection to an electronic device associated with the user;

means for receiving a request for the generation of the soft token from the electronic device via the first connection;

means for generating a one-time password on the basis of the receipt of the request;

means for transmitting the one-time password to the electronic device via the first connection;

means for setting up a second cryptographically secured connection to a user computer system, wherein the user computer system is physically distinct from the electronic device associated with the user;

means for receiving the one-time password from the user computer system via the second connection;

means for verifying whether the generated one-time password is in agreement with the received one-time password;

means for generating the soft token by signing at least one attribute, which has been read out of an ID token, and a public key assigned to the secure element, and for transmitting the soft token to the electronic device via the first connection and/or to the user computer system via the second connection under the condition that the verification has confirmed that there is agreement between the generated one-time password and the received one-time password;

and having the secure element, wherein the secure element and the user computer system are designed to set up a local connection between the user computer system and the secure element, wherein the local connection is a bidirectional ad hoc connection.

20. A data processing system comprising a service computer system according to claim 19 and an ID-provider computer system, wherein the ID-provider computer system further comprises:

means for receiving an attribute specification from the service computer system, wherein the attribute specification specifies at least one attribute;

means for authentication with respect to the ID token; and

means for reading out the at least one attribute from the ID token via a protected connection having end-to-end encryption;

wherein, before the at least one attribute can be read, a user assigned to the ID token and the ID-provider computer system have been authenticated with respect to the ID token.

21. The data processing system according to claim 19, comprising the secure element, wherein the secure element has a protected memory are, in which a secret key of the first key pair is stored.

22. A service computer system for generating a soft token linked to a secure element associated with a user, having:

a hardware processor, a first program component and a network interface in cooperative arrangement configured to set up a first cryptographically secured connection to an electronic device associated with the user by which a request for generation of the soft token is received from the electronic device, wherein a one-time password is generated by the hardware processor and the first program component upon receipt of the request by the first connection and wherein the hardware processor, the first program component and the network interface are configured in cooperative arrangement to transmit the one-time password to the electronic device via the first connection;

a network interface and a second program component in cooperative arrangement with the hardware processor to set up a second cryptographically secured connection to a user computer system and to receive the one-time password from the user computer system via the second connection, wherein the hardware processor and the second program component are operable to verify whether the generated one-time password is in agreement with the received one-time password, and wherein the user computer system is physically distinct from the electronic device associated with the user;

one or more of the first program component and the second program component further operable in cooperation with the hardware processor to generate the soft token by signing at least one attribute, which has been read out of an ID token, and a public key assigned to the secure element, and to transmit the soft token to the electronic device via the first connection and/or to the user computer system via the second connection under the condition that the verification has confirmed that there is agreement between the generated one-time password and the received one-time password; and

the secure element, wherein the secure element and the user computer system are configured to set up a local connection between the user computer system and the secure element, wherein the local connection is a bidirectional ad hoc connection.

23. A data processing system comprising a service computer system according to claim 22 and an ID-provider computer system, wherein the ID-provider computer system further comprises:

a network interface operable to receive an attribute specification from the service computer system, wherein the attribute specification specifies at least one attribute;

a private key, a certificate, a hardware processor and first program instructions in cooperative arrangement configured for authentication with respect to the ID token; and

second program instructions in cooperative arrangement with the hardware processor configured to read out the at least one attribute from the ID token via a protected connection having end-to-end encryption wherein, before the at least one attribute can be read, a user assigned to the ID token and the ID-provider computer system have been authenticated with respect to the ID token.

24. The data processing system of claim 23, wherein the first program instructions are a cryptographic protocol and the second program instructions are end-to-end encryption instructions.