Cascading key encryption

• US 20060265595A1
• Filed: 03/30/2004
• Published: 11/23/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Pathfire, Inc. (Extreme Reach, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Pathfire, Inc. (Extreme Reach, Inc.)
• Inventors: Scottodiluzio, Salvatore E.
• Application Number:
  US10/551,397
• Publication Number:
  US 20060265595A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/180
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/603 Digital right managament [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/12 Transmitting and receiving encryption devices synchronised or initially set up in a particular manner
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/16 the keys or algorithms being changed during operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3236 using cryptographic hash functions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 involving digital signatures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/50 using hash chains, e.g. blockchains or hash trees

Abstract

A method for securely transmitting data involves generating keys depending on previous keys and additional information, such as a password, in order to create a pseudo one-time pad. The data is encrypted using the pseudo one-time pad prior to transmission. Only the initial key and minimal additional data are transferred between the sender and receiver in order to synchronize the keys.

Claims

1. A method for secure data transmission using multiple encryption keys comprising:

dividing a message object to be encrypted into a plurality of portions, each portion being associated with a shift point;

utilizing a first key to encode a first portion of the message object;

when a first shift point occurs, generating a second key by executing a function that uses the first key and additional information;

utilizing the second key to encode a second portion of the message object;

upon completion of encoding of all of the plurality of portions of the message object, transmitting the encrypted message object to a receiver and destroying the keys.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

when each subsequent shift point occurs, generating a subsequent key by executing the function using a current key and additional information; and

utilizing the subsequent keys to encode subsequent portions of the message object.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting at least a portion of the additional information to the receiver for decoding of the encrypted message, wherein the portion of the additional information comprises a password and shift points.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the additional information comprises a password, an iteration value, and a symbol value, and the function executed is a hash algorithm.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first key is a piece of digital media.