Identity-based certificate management

• US 9,882,728 B2
• Filed: 09/28/2016
• Issued: 01/30/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SecureAuth Incorporated
• Original Assignee: SecureAuth Incorporated
• Inventors: Grajek, Garret Florian, Lo, Jeffrey Chiwai, Lambiase, Mark V.
• Primary Examiner(s): ABEDIN, SHANTO
• Application Number:
  US15/279,191
• Publication Number:
  US 20170019260A1
• Time in Patent Office: 489 Days
• Field of Search: 713156, 713158, 713175
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/56 Financial cryptography, e.g. electronic payment or e-cash
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/805 Lightweight hardware, e.g. radio-frequency identification [RFID] or sensor
• 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 63/0823 using certificates cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving certificates H04L9/3263
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/14 using a plurality of keys or algorithms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/30 Public key, i.e. encryption algorithm being computationally infeasible to invert or user's encryption keys not requiring secrecy
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3252 using DSA or related signature schemes, e.g. elliptic based signatures, ElGamal or Schnorr schemes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3263 involving certificates, e.g. public key certificate [PKC] or attribute certificate [AC]; Public key infrastructure [PKI] arrangements network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using certificates in a packet data network H04L63/0823
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3268 using certificate validation, registration, distribution or revocation, e.g. certificate revocation list [CRL]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3271 using challenge-response
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3297 involving time stamps, e.g. generation of time stamps

Abstract

Methods for managing digital certificates, including issuance, validation, and revocation are disclosed. Various embodiments involve querying a directory service with entries that correspond to a particular client identity and have attributes including certificate issuance limits and certificate validity time values. The validity time values are adjustable to revoke selectively the certificates based upon time intervals set forth in validity identifiers included therein.

Claims

1. A method performed by a computer system for validating a digital certificate issued to a client system and associated with a specific client identity, the method comprising:

receiving the digital certificate from the client system, the digital certificate including a user identifier and a certificate validity period identifier, the user identifier corresponding to the specific client identity;

generating a first query to a directory service which includes a request for a first entry associated with the specific client identity, the first entry including a directory validity time value for the specific client identity;

receiving the directory validity time value for the specific client identity returned by the directory service in response to the first query;

validating the digital certificate, wherein validating the digital certificate comprises determining that a certificate validity period specified by the certificate validity period identifier is later than the received directory validity time value; and

revoking the digital certificate in response to a modification of the directory validity time value to a value associated with the current date and time.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the certificate validity period is defined by a validity start time and a validity end time.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the certificate validity period is later than the directory validity time value only if the validity start time is later than the directory validity time value.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising rejecting the digital certificate if the validity start time is prior to the received directory validity time value for the specific client identity.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising rejecting the digital certificate if the validity end time is prior to the received directory validity time value for the specific client identity.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising removing access restrictions to a network application resource upon validating the digital certificate.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising revoking the digital certificate in response to a modification to the directory validity time value to be later than the certificate validity period of the digital certificate.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the directory service is a Standard Query Language (SQL) database.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the directory validity time value comprises a dynamic certificate validation date.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the dynamic certificate validation date of a directory validity time value stored on a directory service may be modified through an administration panel user interface.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the directory validity time value comprises a set of date values that identify a specific year, month, and day, and a set of time values that identify a specific hour and minute.

12. A system for validating a digital certificate issued to a client system and associated with a specific client identity, the system comprising:

a computing system comprising one or more computing devices, said computing system programmed via executable instructions to at least;

receive the digital certificate from the client system, the digital certificate including a user identifier and a certificate validity period indicator, the user identifier corresponding to the specific client identity;

generate a first query to a directory service which includes a request for a first entry associated with the specific client identity, the first entry including a directory validity time value for the specific client identity;

receive the directory validity time value for the specific client identity returned by the directory service in response to the first query; and

validate the digital certificate, wherein the computing system is programmed via executable instructions to at least validate the digital certificate by determining that a certificate validity period specified by the certificate validity period identifier is later than the received directory validity time value, and wherein the directory validity time value is editable to revoke the digital certificate that includes the user identifier.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the certificate validity period is defined by a validity start time and a validity end time.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the computing system is further programmed via executable instructions to reject the digital certificate if the validity start time or the validity end time is prior to the received directory validity time value for the specific client identity.

15. A non-transitory computer storage medium that comprises executable instructions that when executed by a computing system, directs the computing system to at least:

receive a digital certificate from the client system, the digital certificate including a user identifier and a certificate validity period indicator, the user identifier corresponding to the specific client identity;

generate a first query to a directory service which includes a request for a first entry associated with the specific client identity, the first entry including a directory validity time value for the specific client identity;

receive the directory validity time value for the specific client identity returned by the directory service in response to the first query; and

validate the digital certificate, wherein validating the digital certificate comprises determining that a certificate validity period specified by the certificate validity period identifier is later than the received directory validity time value, and wherein the directory validity time value is editable to revoke the digital certificates that includes the user identifier.

16. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 15, wherein the certificate validity period is defined by a validity start time and a validity end time.

17. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 16, wherein the executable instructions, when executed by a computing system, further directs the computing system to reject the digital certificate if the validity start time or the validity end time is prior to the received directory validity time value for the specific client identity.