Securing group communications

• US 9,654,288 B1
• Filed: 12/10/2015
• Issued: 05/16/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Wickr Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Howell, Christopher A., Leavy, Thomas Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Avery, Jeremiah
• Application Number:
  US14/965,775
• Time in Patent Office: 523 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/602 Providing cryptographic facilities or services
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/60 Digital content management, e.g. content distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0822 using key encryption key
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0825 using asymmetric-key encryption or public key infrastructure [PKI], e.g. key signature or public key certificates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0861 Generation of secret information including derivation or calculation of cryptographic keys or passwords
• 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 9/0891 Revocation or update of secret information, e.g. encryption key update or rekeying
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/14 using a plurality of keys or algorithms

Abstract

The secure messaging app described herein allows a user to create a secure social feed in order to share content with just a few friends or thousands of recipients. The user encrypts their content and then publishes the encrypted content to the secure social feed. Accordingly, only authorized recipients can decrypt and view the content. Furthermore, the user may administer the secure social feed to manage the addition and/or removal of users from the secure social feed. Further, the user periodically updates the parameters of the secure social feed to manage users'"'"' access to the feed.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a processor configured to;

generate a secure social feed by creating a feed file, wherein the feed file includes criteria that enables members of the secure social feed to decrypt encrypted published content;

obtain content for publication to the secure social feed;

generate a content key to encrypt the obtained content;

encrypt the obtained content using the content key; and

publish the encrypted content to the secure social feed, wherein a decoy image is posted to the secure social feed for users that are not authorized to view the encrypted content;

a memory coupled to the processor and configured to provide the processor with instructions.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:

generate a cache of key pairs to include in the feed file.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:

generate a feed key to encrypt the feed file; and

encrypt the feed file using the feed key.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the processor is configured to:

provide the encrypted feed file to a third party such that members of the secure social feed can obtain the encrypted feed file from the third party.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the third party is a secure messaging platform.

6. The system of claim 3, wherein the processor is configured to:

provide the encrypted feed file to each member of the secure social feed via a peer-to-peer communication.

7. The system of claim 3, wherein the processor is configured to:

provide the encrypted feed file to members of the secure social feed via a group communication.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to publish the content by:

generating a random message key;

encrypting at least the content key and the encrypted content using the random message key;

encrypt the random message key using a public key;

encapsulating at least the encrypted random message key, the encrypted content, the encrypted content key, and a reference value for the public key in a Digital Security Bubble; and

transmitting the Digital Security Bubble to members of the secure social feed.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the secure social feed is a social media account.

10. A method comprising:

generate a secure social feed by creating a feed file, wherein the feed file includes criteria that enables members of the secure social feed to decrypt encrypted published content;

obtain content for publication to the secure social feed;

generate a content key to encrypt the obtained content;

encrypt the obtained content using the content key; and

publish the encrypted content to the secure social feed, wherein a decoy image is posted to the secure social feed for users that are not authorized to view the encrypted content.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the secure social feed is a social media account.

12. A computer program product embodied in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:

generate a secure social feed by creating a feed file, wherein the feed file includes criteria that enables members of the secure social feed to decrypt encrypted published content;

obtain content for publication to the secure social feed;

generate a content key to encrypt the obtained content;

encrypt the obtained content using the content key; and

publish the encrypted content to the secure social feed, wherein a decoy image is posted to the secure social feed for users that are not authorized to view the encrypted content.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the secure social feed is a social media account.