Method and apparatus for encryption of communications over a network

• US 9,769,128 B2
• Filed: 09/28/2015
• Issued: 09/19/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gross, David, Lackey, Joshua, Levy, Donald E., Jover, Roger Piqueras, Ramachandran, Jayaraman, Serban, Cristina
• Primary Examiner(s): HO, DAO Q
• Application Number:
  US14/867,338
• Publication Number:
  US 20170093807A1
• Time in Patent Office: 722 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 3/52 Systems for transmission between fixed stations via waveguides
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 3/54 Systems for transmission via power distribution lines
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 3/56 Circuits for coupling, blocking, or by-passing of signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/006 involving public key infrastructure [PKI] trust models network architecture or network communication protocol for supporting authentication of entities using certificates in a packet data network H04L63/0823
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/085 Access point devices with remote components

Abstract

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, determining whether communications are encrypted, determining a communication type for the communications according to sensitivity criteria, encrypting the communications according to the communication type to generate encrypted communications, and transmitting to a second network device the encrypted communications. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A first waveguide system comprising:

a processing system including a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations, comprising;

receiving communications that comprise metadata;

determining whether the communications comply with an encryption requirement based on the metadata;

responsive to a determination that the communications do not comply with the encryption requirement, determining an encryption type;

encrypting the communications based on the encryption type to generate encrypted communications that comply with the encryption requirement, wherein the encrypting the communications comprises accessing an encryption database, wherein the encryption database includes public encryption keys and includes device information indicating a location and a device capability for network devices including the first waveguide system and a second waveguide system; and

transmitting electromagnetic waves to a physical interface of a transmission medium,

wherein the electromagnetic waves are directed to the second waveguide system coupled to the transmission medium,

wherein the electromagnetic waves propagate without requiring an electrical return path,

wherein the electromagnetic waves are guided by the transmission medium, and

wherein the electromagnetic waves convey the encrypted communications.

2. The first waveguide system of claim 1, wherein the determining whether the communications comply with the encryption requirement further comprises detecting one of a pattern or a lack of the pattern within the communications.

3. The first waveguide system of claim 2, wherein the receiving the communications comprises receiving the communications from a communication device,

wherein the communications are encrypted;

and

wherein the first waveguide system is a closest network device to the communication device.

4. The first waveguide system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving, from the second waveguide system, second electromagnetic waves from the physical interface of the transmission medium that propagate without requiring the electrical return path, wherein the second electromagnetic waves are guided by the transmission medium, wherein the second electromagnetic waves convey authentication information associated with the second waveguide system; and

authenticating the second waveguide system according to an authentication protocol based on the authentication information, wherein the transmitting of the electromagnetic waves to the second waveguide system is responsive to the authenticating.

5. The first waveguide system of claim 1, wherein the second waveguide system is an adjacent node in a wired network comprising power lines, and wherein the electromagnetic waves are within a non-optical frequency range.

6. The first waveguide system of claim 1, wherein the communications that are received are unencrypted communications.

7. The first waveguide system of claim 6, wherein the unencrypted communications are received from an end user device.

8. The first waveguide system of claim 6, wherein a third waveguide system has access to the encryption database for decrypting the encrypted communications, and

wherein the third waveguide system is a closest network device to a recipient communication device of the communications.

9. The first waveguide system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

monitoring previous communications to identify sensitivity criteria,

wherein the previous communications are unencrypted,

wherein the encrypting of the communications is based on a communication type, and

wherein a determining of the communication type for the communications is according to the sensitivity criteria.

10. A method comprising:

receiving, by a first network device, communications originated from a source communication device;

determining, by the first network device, whether the communications comply with an encryption requirement based on metadata of the communications;

responsive to a determination that the communications do not comply with the encryption requirement;

determining, by the first network device, an encryption type for the communications according to sensitivity criteria; and

encrypting, by the first network device, the communications according to the encryption type to generate encrypted communications that comply with the encryption requirement, wherein the encrypting the communications comprises accessing an encryption database, wherein the encryption database includes public encryption keys and includes device information indicating a location and a device capability for network devices including the first network device and a second network device; and

transmitting, by the first network device to the second network device, the encrypted communications as electromagnetic waves,

wherein the electromagnetic waves are directed to a waveguide system of the second network device coupled to a transmission medium,

wherein the electromagnetic waves propagate without requiring an electrical return path,

wherein the electromagnetic waves are guided by the transmission medium, and

wherein the electromagnetic waves convey the encrypted communications.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first network device is customer premises equipment that is located at a premises with the source communication device and is coupled with the source communication device, and further comprising:

detecting, by the first network device, sensitive words within the communications; and

determining, by the first network device, the sensitivity criteria based on the sensitive words.

12. The method of claim 11, comprising:

monitoring, by the first network device, previous communications to identify the sensitivity criteria, wherein the previous communications are unencrypted; and

storing, by the first network device in a memory of the first network device, information representative of the sensitivity criteria.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the communications originated from the source communication device are directed to a recipient communication device located at a recipient premises,

wherein the second network device is customer premises equipment that is located at the recipient premises and is coupled with the recipient communication device, and

wherein the transmitting of the encrypted communications to the second network device causes the second network device to decrypt the encrypted communications.

14. A machine-readable storage device comprising instructions, which when executed by a processing system including a processor of a first network device facilitate performance of operations comprising:

storing information representative of sensitivity criteria, wherein the sensitivity criteria is generated based on monitoring unencrypted communications;

receiving communications originated from a source communication device;

determining whether the communications comply with an encryption requirement based on metadata of the communications;

responsive to a determination that the communications do not comply with the encryption requirement;

determining an encryption type for the communications according to sensitivity criteria; and

encrypting the communications according to the encryption type to generate encrypted communications that comply with the encryption requirement, wherein the encrypting the communications comprises accessing an encryption database, wherein the encryption database includes public encryption keys and includes device information indicating a location and a device capability for network devices including the first network device and a second network device; and

transmitting, to the second network device, the encrypted communications as electromagnetic waves,

wherein the electromagnetic waves are directed to a second waveguide system of the second network device coupled to a transmission medium,

wherein the electromagnetic waves propagate without requiring an electrical return path,

wherein the electromagnetic waves are guided by the transmission medium, and

wherein the electromagnetic waves convey the encrypted communications.

15. The machine-readable storage device of claim 14, wherein the monitoring of the unencrypted communications is performed by the processor of the first network device.

16. The machine-readable storage device of claim 14, wherein the first network device is first customer premises equipment that is located at a source premises with the source communication device and is coupled with the source communication device,

wherein the communications originated from the source communication device are directed to a recipient communication device located at a recipient premises,

wherein the second network device is second customer premises equipment that is located at the recipient premises and is coupled with the recipient communication device, and

wherein the transmitting of the encrypted communications to the second network device causes the second network device to decrypt the encrypted communications.

17. The machine-readable storage device of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise determining a type of the source communication device, wherein the determining the encryption type is based on the type of the source communication device.

18. The machine-readable storage device of claim 17, wherein the source communication device is an end user device, and wherein the communications received from the source communication device are unencrypted.