Secure multi-party protocol

• US 11,038,853 B2
• Filed: 06/28/2019
• Issued: 06/15/2021
• Est. Priority Date: 11/25/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Visa International Service Association (Visa, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Visa International Service Association (Visa, Inc.)
• Inventors: Mansour, Rasta A., Law, Simon
• Primary Examiner(s): Waliullah, Mohammed
• Application Number:
  US16/457,639
• Publication Number:
  US 20190327210A1
• Time in Patent Office: 718 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/045 wherein the sending and receiving network entities apply hybrid encryption, i.e. combination of symmetric and asymmetric encryption cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements using a plurality of keys or algorithms H04L9/14
• 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 9/0822 using key encryption key
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0825 using asymmetric-key encryption or public key infrastructure [PKI], e.g. key signature or public key certificates

Abstract

A requestor and a responder may conduct secure communication by making API calls based on a secure multi-party protocol. The requestor may send a request data packet sent in a API request to the responder, where the request data packet can include at least a control block that is asymmetrically encrypted and a data block that is symmetrically encrypted. The responder may return a response data packet to the requestor, where the response data packet can include at least a control block and a data block that are both symmetrically encrypted. The requestor and the responder may derive the keys for decrypting the encrypted portions of the request and response data packets based on some information only known to the requestor and the responder. The secure multi-party protocol forgoes the need to store and manage keys in a hardware security module.

Claims

1. A method for securing communications between a first computer and a second computer, the method comprising:

securing a communication connection over a communications network at least in part by;

encrypting, by the first computer, a first data block with a first symmetric key;

generating, by the first computer, a first control block comprising the first symmetric key;

generating, by the first computer, a request data packet of the communication connection, the request data packet including the first control block and the encrypted first data block;

sending, by the first computer, the request data packet to the second computer over the communications network, wherein the second computer generates a response data packet comprising an encrypted second control block and an encrypted second data block;

receiving, by the first computer, the response data packet of the communication connection from the second computer over the communications network;

generating, by the first computer, a second symmetric key using a predetermined algorithm;

decrypting, by the first computer, the encrypted second control block with the generated second symmetric key to obtain a second control block;

extracting, by the first computer, the first symmetric key from the second control block; and

decrypting, by the first computer, the encrypted second data block with the extracted first symmetric key.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first symmetric key is an ephemeral key.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first symmetric key is generated using a shared secret and a variable datum previously supplied by the second computer.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the variable datum is a salt.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the encrypted second data block is formed by encrypting a second data block with the first symmetric key, the second control block is encrypted with the second symmetric key, and the second symmetric key is different from the first symmetric key.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the data utilized to generate the second symmetric key is in a leader block in the response data packet.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the first computer is an authorization entity computer and the second computer is a token service computer.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the request data packet further comprises a first leader block and a first signature block, and the response data packet further comprises a second leader block and a second signature block.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first leader block includes information indicating an encryption algorithm utilized to obtain a key for decrypting the first control block, and wherein the second leader block includes information indicating an encryption algorithm utilized to obtain a key for decrypting the second control block.

10. A computer system comprising:

a processor; and

a computer readable medium coupled with the processor, the computer readable medium comprising code executable to perform a method for securing communications between a first computer and a second computer, the method comprising;

securing a communication connection over a communications network at least in part by;

encrypting, by the first computer, a first data block with a first symmetric key;

generating, by the first computer, a first control block comprising the first symmetric key;

generating, by the first computer, a request data packet of the communication connection, the request data packet including the first control block and the encrypted first data block;

sending, by the first computer, the request data packet to the second computer over the communications network, wherein the second computer generates a response data packet comprising an encrypted second control block and an encrypted second data block;

receiving, by the first computer, the response data packet of the communication connection from the second computer over the communications network;

generating, by the first computer, a second symmetric key using a predetermined algorithm;

decrypting, by the first computer, the encrypted second control block with the generated second symmetric key to obtain a second control block;

extracting, by the first computer, the first symmetric key from the second control block; and

decrypting, by the first computer, the encrypted second data block with the extracted first symmetric key.

11. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the first symmetric key is an ephemeral key.

12. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the first symmetric key is generated using a shared secret and a variable datum previously supplied by the second computer.

13. The computer system of claim 12, wherein the variable datum is a salt.

14. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the encrypted second data block is formed by encrypting a second data block with the first symmetric key, the second control block is encrypted with the second symmetric key, and the second symmetric key is different from the first symmetric key.

15. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the data utilized to generate the second symmetric key is in a leader block in the response data packet.

16. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the first computer is an authorization entity computer and the second computer is a token service computer.

17. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the request data packet further comprises a first leader block and a first signature block, and the response data packet further comprises a second leader block and a second signature block.

18. The computer system of claim 17, wherein the first leader block includes information indicating an encryption algorithm utilized to obtain a key for decrypting the first control block, and wherein the second leader block includes information indicating an encryption algorithm utilized to obtain the key for decrypting the second control block.

19. One or more non-transient computer-readable media having collectively stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed with one or more computers, collectively perform a method comprising:

securing a communication connection over a communications network at least in part by;

encrypting, by a first computer, a first data block with a first symmetric key;

generating, by the first computer, a first control block comprising the first symmetric key;

generating, by the first computer, a request data packet of the communication connection, the request data packet including the first control block and the encrypted first data block;

sending, by the first computer, the request data packet to a second computer over the communications network, wherein the second computer generates a response data packet comprising an encrypted second control block and an encrypted second data block;

receiving, by the first computer, the response data packet of the communication connection from the second computer over the communications network;

generating, by the first computer, a second symmetric key using a predetermined algorithm;

decrypting, by the first computer, the encrypted second control block with the generated second symmetric key to obtain a second control block;

extracting, by the first computer, the first symmetric key from the second control block; and

decrypting, by the first computer, the encrypted second data block with the extracted first symmetric key.

20. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 19, wherein the encrypted second data block is formed by encrypting a second data block with the first symmetric key, the second control block is encrypted with the second symmetric key, and the second symmetric key is different from the first symmetric key.