Decentralized authoritative messaging

• US 9,673,973 B1
• Filed: 08/25/2016
• Issued: 06/06/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Wickr Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Leavy, Thomas Michael, Ryan, Gerard
• Primary Examiner(s): Schwartz, Darren B
• Application Number:
  US15/247,815
• Time in Patent Office: 285 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/602 Providing cryptographic facilities or services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/10 Multimedia information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/224 providing notification on incoming messages, e.g. pushed notifications of received messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0471 applying encryption by an intermediary, e.g. receiving clear information at the intermediary and encrypting the received information at the intermediary before forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/06 for supporting key management in a packet data network cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key management H04L9/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/061 for key exchange, e.g. in peer-to-peer networks cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key agreement H04L9/0838
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/065 for group communications cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key management involving conference or group key H04L9/0833
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/104 Grouping of entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/146 Markers for unambiguous identification of a particular session, e.g. session cookie or URL-encoding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0637 Modes of operation, e.g. cipher block chaining [CBC], electronic codebook [ECB] or Galois/counter mode [GCM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0643 Hash functions, e.g. MD5, SHA, HMAC or f9 MAC
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0822 using key encryption key
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0861 Generation of secret information including derivation or calculation of cryptographic keys or passwords
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0894 Escrow, recovery or storing of secret information, e.g. secret key escrow or cryptographic key storage
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/041 Key generation or derivation

Abstract

A secure chat client is described that allows users to exchange encrypted communications via secure chat rooms, as well as one-to-one communications. In particular, the secure chat client allows users to create, configure, and manage secure chat rooms. Furthermore, the secure chat client provides users with the ability to recover secure messages when they obtain a new device or otherwise lose communications.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a processor configured to;

participate, on a sender device, in a secure chat room with a plurality of participants, wherein the secure chat room is managed in a distributed manner by the plurality of participants;

receive, on the sender device, a request from a first participant included in the plurality of participants regarding a first encrypted message transmitted by the sender, wherein the request includes information identifying for which secure chat room the first encrypted message is intended;

extract, on the sender device, the identifying information from the received request;

retrieve, on the sender device, secure chat room information from a local database on the sender'"'"'s device in response to extracting the identifying information, wherein the secure chat room information is stored in a block chain in the local database;

encrypt, on the sender device, the secure chat room information retrieved from the sender'"'"'s local database with a first encryption key; and

transmit, from the sender device, the encrypted secure chat room information to the first participant; and

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

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the secure chat room information includes at least one of metadata, a second message identifier, and a message encryption key.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the information identifying the secure chat room is at least one of a group identifier and a first message identifier.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the secure chat room information includes state information of the secure chat room.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the secure chat room information includes both control messages and communications associated with the secure chat room.

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

encrypt the sender'"'"'s local database with a local storage key.

7. A method, comprising:

participating, on a sender device, in a secure chat room with a plurality of participants, wherein the secure chat room is managed in a distributed manner by the plurality of recipients;

receiving, on the sender device, a request from a first participant included in the plurality of participants regarding a first encrypted message transmitted by the sender, wherein the request includes information identifying for which secure chat room the first encrypted message is intended;

extracting, on the sender device, the identifying information from the received request;

retrieving, on the sender device, secure chat room information from a local database on the sender'"'"'s device in response to extracting the identifying information, wherein the secure chat room information is stored in a block chain in the local database;

encrypting, on the sender device, the secure chat room information with a first encryption key; and

transmitting, from the sender device, the encrypted secure chat room information to the first participant.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the secure chat room information includes at least one of metadata, a second message identifier, and a message encryption key.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the information identifying the secure chat room is at least one of a group identifier and a first message identifier.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the secure chat room information includes state information of the secure chat room.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the secure chat room information includes both control messages and communications associated with the secure chat room.

12. The method of claim 7, further comprising encrypting the sender'"'"'s local database with a local storage key.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that when, executed by at least one processor, perform the steps of:

participating, on a sender device, in a secure chat room with a plurality of participants, wherein the secure chat room is managed in a distributed manner by the plurality of recipients;

receiving, on the sender device, a request from a first participant included in the plurality of participants regarding a first encrypted message transmitted by the sender, wherein the request includes information identifying for which secure chat room the first encrypted message is intended;

extracting, on the sender device, the identifying information from the received request;

retrieving, on the sender device, secure chat room information from a local database on the sender'"'"'s device in response to extracting the identifying information, wherein the secure chat room information is stored in a block chain in the local database;

encrypting, on the sender device, the secure chat room information with a first encryption key; and

transmitting, from the sender device, the encrypted secure chat room information to the first participant.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the secure chat room information includes at least one of metadata, a second message identifier, and a message encryption key.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the information identifying the secure chat room is at least one of a group identifier and a first message identifier.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the secure chat room information includes state information of the secure chat room.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the secure chat room information includes both control messages and communications associated with the secure chat room.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions further comprise:

encrypting the sender'"'"'s local database with a local storage key.