Methods and apparatus for providing private expression protection against impersonation risks

• US 9,881,143 B2
• Filed: 12/06/2012
• Issued: 01/30/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Vanderveen, Michaela, Park, Vincent D., Tsirtsis, Georgios
• Primary Examiner(s): GIDDINS, NELSON S
• Application Number:
  US13/706,849
• Publication Number:
  US 20140165214A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,881 Days
• Field of Search: 726 30
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/12 Protecting executable software
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/33 using certificates
• 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 63/1466 Active attacks involving interception, injection, modification, spoofing of data unit addresses, e.g. hijacking, packet injection or TCP sequence number attacks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1068 Discovery involving direct consultation or announcement among potential requesting and potential source peers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/106 Packet or message integrity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/14 Direct-mode setup

Abstract

A method, an apparatus, and a computer program product for wireless communication are provided in connection with providing private expression protection in a wireless communications network. In one example, a UE is equipped to internally receive a request (e.g., from an application running on the UE) to announce a private expression and/or at least a reference to an expression-code associated with the private expression, and determine whether the reference to the expression-code and/or the expression-code matches a stored instance of the expression-code. In an aspect, the UE may be equipped to announce the at least one of the private expression or the expression-code when stored instance of the expression-code corresponds to the expression-code received with the request. In another aspect, the UE may be equipped to prohibit announcement of any information associated with the private expression when stored expression-code does not correspond to the expression-code received with the request.

Claims

1. A method of wireless communications of a user equipment (UE), comprising:

generating, by an expression verification manager (EVM) of the UE, an instance of an expression-code as part of a configuration process for an application to be executed by a processor of the UE, wherein the EVM is associated with a modem of the UE;

storing the instance of the expression-code in a secure memory store;

receiving, at the processor of the UE, a request from the application to announce a private expression over a device-to-device communication channel, wherein the request includes at least a reference to an expression-code associated with the private expression and the application;

determining, by the EVM, whether the at least the reference to the expression-code corresponds to the previously generated and stored instance of the expression-code associated with the application;

announcing, using long term evolution (LTE) based wireless wide area network (WWAN) spectrum or unlicensed spectrum, the expression-code associated with the private expression and the application over the device-to-device communication channel to one or more other authorized peer devices upon a determination that the at least the reference to the expression-code corresponds to the stored instance of the expression-code; and

prohibiting announcement of information associated with the private expression upon a determination that the at least the reference to the expression-code does not correspond to the stored instance of the expression-code.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the secure memory store is a non-volatile memory (NVM) associated with a user equipment (UE).

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting opaque device to device (D2D) information associated with the expression-code.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the opaque D2D information is transmitted securely to one or more authorized devices.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the opaque D2D information is transmitted to an application server associated with the application.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the opaque D2D information includes at least one of:

the private expression, the expression-code, a name of the application, a counter, a time of generation, a previously generated expression-code, an expiration date, or a certificate of an announcing user equipment (UE).

7. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

generating a digital signature indicating authenticity of the opaque D2D information, and wherein the opaque D2D information is transmitted with the generated digital signature.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the digital signature may also include at least one of:

an operator signed key, a temporary device identifier, or a time to live (TTL) value.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the instance of the expression code comprises:

obtaining the instance of the expression-code securely from a trusted server.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the EVM is configured as an intermediary layer between an application interface and a modem interface of the UE.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein a first portion of the EVM is associated with the modem of the UE, and wherein a second portion of the EVM is configured as the intermediary layer between the application interface and the modem interface of the UE.

12. A user equipment (UE) for wireless communication, comprising:

means for generating, by an expression verification manager (EVM) of the UE, an instance of an expression-code as part of a configuration process for an application to be executed by a processor of the UE, wherein the EVM is associated with a modem of the UE;

means for storing the instance of the expression-code in a secure memory store;

means for receiving, at the processor of the UE, a request from the application to announce a private expression over a device-to-device communication channel, wherein the request includes at least a reference to an expression-code associated with the private expression;

means for determining, by the EVM, whether the at least the reference to the expression-code corresponds to a previously generated and stored instance of the expression-code associated with the application;

means for announcing, using long term evolution (LTE) based wireless wide area network (WWAN) spectrum or unlicensed spectrum, the expression-code associated with the private expression and the application over the device-to-device communication channel to one or more other authorized peer devices upon a determination that the at least the reference to the expression-code corresponds to the stored instance of the expression-code; and

means for prohibiting announcement of information associated with the private expression upon a determination that the at least the reference to the expression-code does not correspond to the stored instance of the expression-code.

13. The UE of claim 12, wherein the secure memory store is a non-volatile memory (NVM) associated with the UE.

14. The UE of claim 12, wherein the means for announcing is configured to:

transmit opaque device to device (D2D) information associated with the expression-code.

15. The UE of claim 14, wherein the opaque D2D information is transmitted securely to one or more authorized devices.

16. The UE of claim 14, wherein the opaque D2D information is transmitted to an application server associated with the application that distributes private expression-codes to applications on the one or more other authorized peer devices.

17. The UE of claim 14, wherein the opaque D2D information includes at least one of:

the private expression, the expression-code, a name of the application, a counter, a time of generation, a previously generated expression-code, an expiration date, or a certificate of an announcing UE.

18. The UE of claim 14, wherein the means for determining are further configured to:

generate a digital signature indicating authenticity of the opaque D2D information, and wherein the opaque D2D information is transmitted with the generated digital signature.

19. The UE of claim 18, wherein the digital signature may also include at least one of:

an operator signed key, a temporary device identifier, or a time to live (TTL) value.

20. The UE of claim 12, wherein the means for obtaining the instance of the expression-code are configured to obtain the instance of the expression-code securely from a trusted server.

21. The UE of claim 12, wherein the EVM is configured as an intermediary layer between an application interface and a modem interface of the UE.

22. The UE of claim 21, wherein a first portion of the EVM is associated with the modem of the UE, and wherein a second portion of the EVM is configured as the intermediary layer between the application interface and the modem interface of the UE.

23. A user equipment (UE) for wireless communication, comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to;

generate, by an expression verification manager (EVM) of the UE, an instance of an expression-code as part of a configuration process for an application to be executed by the at least one processor of the UE, wherein the EVM is associated with a modem of the UE;

store the instance of the expression-code in a secure memory store;

receive, at the at least one processor of the UE, a request from an application to announce a private expression over a device-to-device communication channel, wherein the request includes at least a reference to an expression-code associated with the private expression and the application;

determine, by the EVM, whether the at least the reference to the expression-code corresponds to the previously generated and stored instance of the expression-code associated with the application;

announce, using long term evolution (LTE) based wireless wide area network (WWAN) spectrum or unlicensed spectrum, the expression-code associated with the private expression and the application over the device-to-device communication channel to one or more other authorized peer devices upon a determination that the at least the reference to the expression-code corresponds to the stored instance of the expression-code; and

prohibit announcement of information associated with the private expression upon a determination that the at least the reference to the expression-code does not correspond to the stored instance of the expression-code.

24. The UE of claim 23, wherein the secure memory store is a non-volatile memory (NVM) associated with the UE.

25. The UE of claim 23, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

transmit opaque device to device (D2D) information associated with the expression-code.

26. The UE of claim 25, wherein the opaque D2D information is transmitted securely to one or more authorized devices.

27. The UE of claim 25, wherein the opaque D2D information is transmitted to an application server associated with the application.

28. The UE of claim 25, wherein the opaque D2D information includes at least one of:

the private expression, the expression-code, a name of the application, a counter, a time of generation, a previously generated expression-code, an expiration date, or a certificate of an announcing UE.

29. The UE of claim 25, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

generate a digital signature indicating authenticity of the opaque D2D information, and wherein the opaque D2D information is transmitted with the generated digital signature.

30. The UE of claim 29, wherein the digital signature includes at least one of:

an operator signed key, a temporary device identifier, or a time to live (TTL) value.

31. The UE of claim 23, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

obtain the instance of the expression-code securely from a trusted server.

32. The UE of claim 23, wherein the EVM is configured as an intermediary layer between an application interface and a modem interface of the UE.

33. The UE of claim 32, wherein a first portion of the EVM is associated with the modem of the UE, and wherein a second portion of the EVM is configured as the intermediary layer between the application interface and the modem interface of the UE.

34. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer executable code for wireless communication, comprising code for:

generating, by an expression verification manager (EVM) of a user equipment (UE), an instance of an expression-code as part of a configuration process for an application to be executed by a processor of the UE, wherein the EVM is associated with a LTE based WWAN modem of the UE;

storing the instance of the expression-code in a secure memory store

receiving, at the processor of the UE, a request from the application to announce a private expression over a device-to-device communication channel, wherein the request includes at least a reference to an expression-code associated with the private expression and the application;

determining, by the EVM, whether the at least the reference to the expression-code corresponds to a previously generated and stored instance of the expression-code;

announcing, using long term evolution (LTE) based wireless wide area network (WWAN) spectrum or unlicensed spectrum, the expression-code associated with the private expression and the application over the device-to-device communication channel to one or more other authorized peer devices upon a determination that the at least the reference to the expression-code corresponds to the stored instance of the expression-code; and

prohibiting announcement of information associated with the private expression upon a determination that the at least the reference to the expression-code does not correspond to the stored instance of the expression-code.

35. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 34, wherein the secure memory store is a non-volatile memory (NVM) associated with the UE.

36. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 34, further comprising code for:

transmitting opaque device to device (D2D) information associated with the expression-code.

37. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 36, wherein the opaque D2D information is transmitted securely to one or more authorized devices.

38. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 36, wherein the opaque D2D information is transmitted to an application server associated with the application.

39. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 36, wherein the opaque D2D information includes at least one of:

the private expression, the expression-code, a name of the application, a counter, a time of generation, a previously generated expression-code, an expiration date, or a certificate of an announcing user equipment (UE).

40. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 36, further comprising code for:

generating a digital signature indicating authenticity of the opaque D2D information, and wherein the opaque D2D information is transmitted with the generated digital signature.

41. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 40, wherein the digital signature may also include at least one of:

an operator signed key, a temporary device identifier, or a time to live (TTL) value.

42. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 34, wherein the code for obtaining the instance of the expression-code includes code for securely obtaining the instance of the expression-code from a trusted server.

43. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 34, wherein the EVM is configured as an intermediary layer between an application interface and a modem interface of the UE.

44. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 43, wherein a first portion of the EVM is associated with the modem of the UE, and wherein a second portion of the EVM is configured as the intermediary layer between the application interface and the modem interface of the UE.