Decentralized authoritative messaging

• US 9,935,924 B1
• Filed: 05/05/2017
• Issued: 04/03/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wickr 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:
  US15/587,553
• Time in Patent Office: 333 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 first device, in a secure communication session with at least one second device;

store, on the first device, information about the secure communication session in a block chain on the first device, wherein the information includes state information of the secure communication session and at least one control message that updates a state of the secure communication session; and

exchange, by the first device, encrypted communications with at least one second device during the secure communication session, wherein a record of each encrypted communication exchanged during the secure communication session is maintained in the block chain on the first device; and

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

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the secure communication session is a secure chat room.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the secure communication session is a one-to-one communication with the second device.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the block chain is stored in a local database on the first device.

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

encrypt, by the first device, the local database with a local storage key.

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

generate, by the first device, a first random message key for encrypting a first message; and

encrypt, by the first device, the first message with the first random message key.

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

derive, by the first device, a key-encrypting key to encrypt the first random message key;

encrypt, by the first device, the first random message key with the key-encrypting key; and

transmit, from the first device, a first encrypted communication to the at least one second device, wherein the first encrypted communication includes at least one of the first encrypted message and the first encrypted random message key.

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

receive, at the first device, a first encrypted communication from the at least one second device, wherein the first encrypted communication includes at least one of a first encrypted message and a first encrypted random message key;

derive, by the first device, a key-encrypting key;

decrypt, by the first device, the first encrypted random message key with the derived key-encrypting key to obtain the first random message key;

decrypt, by the first device, the first encrypted message with the first random message key to obtain the first message; and

provide, by the first device, the first message to a user of the first device.

9. A method, comprising:

participating, on a first device, in a secure communication session with at least one second device;

storing, on the first device, information about the secure communication session in a block chain on the first device, wherein the information includes state information of the secure communication session and at least one control message that updates a state of the secure communication session; and

exchanging, by the first device, encrypted communications with at least one second device during the secure communication session, wherein a record of each encrypted communication exchanged during the secure communication session is maintained in the block chain on the first device.

10. The method of claim 9, comprising:

verifying, by the first device, the record with at least one second device prior to storing the record in the block chain.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the block chain is stored in a local database on the first device.

12. The method of claim 10, comprising:

encrypting, by the first device, the 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 in a secure communication session with at least one second device;

storing information about the secure communication session in a block chain on the first device; and

exchanging encrypted communications with at least one second device during the secure communication session, wherein a record of each encrypted communication exchanged during the secure communication session is maintained in the block chain on the first device.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, comprising instructions for:

generating a first random message key for encrypting a first message; and

encrypting the first message with the first random message key.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, comprising instructions for:

deriving a key-encrypting key to encrypt the first random message key;

encrypting the first random message key with the key-encrypting key; and

transmitting a first encrypted communication to the at least one second device, wherein the first encrypted communication includes at least one of the first encrypted message and the first encrypted random message key.

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

participating in a secure communication session with at least one second device;

storing information about the secure communication session in a block chain on the first device, wherein the information includes state information of the secure communication session and at least one control message that updates a state of the secure communication session; and

exchanging encrypted communications with at least one second device during the secure communication session, wherein a record of each encrypted communication exchanged during the secure communication session is maintained in the block chain on the first device.