Secure message transport using message segmentation

• US 8,064,599 B2
• Filed: 08/29/2007
• Issued: 11/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Little, Mark Cameron
• Primary Examiner(s): Zand; Kambiz
• Assistant Examiner(s): POWERS, WILLIAM S
• Application Number:
  US11/897,418
• Publication Number:
  US 20090060198A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,546 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 380/255
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/30 Compression, e.g. Merkle-Damgard construction
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/34 Bits, or blocks of bits, of the telegraphic message being interchanged in time for speech signals H04K1/06

Abstract

Data is divided into a plurality of blocks. A unique identifier is assigned to each of the plurality of blocks. A key is generated that identifies how to reconstruct the data from the plurality of blocks. The key and each of the plurality of blocks are transmitted to a recipient.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method comprising:

dividing data into a plurality of blocks;

assigning a unique identifier to each of the plurality of blocks;

generating a key that identifies how to reconstruct the data from the plurality of blocks; and

transmitting the key and each of the plurality of blocks to a recipient, wherein a first block of the plurality of blocks is transmitted using a first transport mechanism selected from a group consisting of hypertext transport protocol (HTTP), file transport protocol (FTP), email, java message service (JMS), instant message (IM) and short message service (SMS), and wherein a second block of the plurality of blocks is transmitted separately from the first block using a second transport mechanism that is different from the first transport mechanism.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing at least one of encrypting the data, encrypting the plurality of blocks, compressing the data, and compressing the plurality of blocks.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a notification from the recipient that the first block of the plurality of blocks was not received; and

retransmitting the first block to the recipient via a different transport mechanism than was originally used to transmit the first block to the recipient.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a user selection of a block size; and

determining a number of blocks to divide the data into based on a size of the data and based on the block size, wherein the plurality of blocks consists of the determined number of blocks.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a user selection of a number of blocks to divide the data into; and

determining a block size based on the number of blocks and based on a size of the data.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the unique identifier includes a total blocks value.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the data is divided into the plurality of blocks on at least one of sentence boundaries or word boundaries.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

dividing the key into a plurality of key segments;

generating a second key that identifies how to reconstruct the key from the plurality of key segments; and

transmitting the second key and the plurality of key segments to the recipient.

9. A computer implemented method comprising:

receiving a first plurality of blocks via a first transport mechanism selected from a group consisting of hypertext transport protocol (HTTP), file transport protocol (FTP), email, java message service (JMS), instant message (IM) and short message service (SMS), each block of the first plurality of blocks having a unique identifier and being received independently of others of the plurality of blocks;

receiving a second plurality of blocks via a second transport mechanism that is different from the first transport mechanism;

receiving a key that identifies how to reconstruct data from the first plurality of blocks and the second plurality of blocks; and

reconstructing the data from the first plurality of blocks and the second plurality of blocks using the key.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

decompressing the data if the data is compressed;

decrypting the data if the data is encrypted;

decompressing the first plurality of blocks and the second plurality of blocks if the first plurality of blocks and the second plurality of blocks are compressed; and

decrypting the first plurality of blocks and the second plurality of blocks if the first plurality of blocks and the second plurality of blocks are encrypted.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

requesting that at least one block of the first plurality of blocks and the second plurality of blocks be retransmitted using a third transport mechanism that is different from the first transport mechanism and the second transport mechanism.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

monitoring at least one of a first port or a first network application to detect blocks transmitted using the first transport mechanism; and

monitoring at least one of a second port or a second network application to detect blocks transmitted using the second transport mechanism.

13. A non-transitory computer readable medium including instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method comprising:

dividing data into a plurality of blocks;

assigning a unique identifier to each of the plurality of blocks;

generating a key that identifies how to reconstruct the data from the plurality of blocks; and

transmitting the key and each of the plurality of blocks to a recipient, wherein a first block of the plurality of blocks is transmitted using a first transport mechanism selected from a group consisting of hypertext transport protocol (HTTP), file transport protocol (FTP), email, java message service (JMS), instant message (IM) and short message service (SMS), and wherein a second block of the plurality of blocks is transmitted separately from the first block using a second transport mechanism that is different from the first transport mechanism.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, the method further comprising:

performing at least one of encrypting the data, encrypting the plurality of blocks, compressing the data, and compressing the plurality of blocks.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, the method further comprising:

receiving a notification from the recipient that the first block of the plurality of blocks was not received; and

retransmitting the first block to the recipient via a different transport mechanism than was originally used to transmit the first block to the recipient.

16. A non-transitory computer readable medium including instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method comprising:

receiving a first plurality of blocks via a first transport mechanism selected from a group consisting of hypertext transport protocol (HTTP), file transport protocol (FTP), email, java message service (JMS), instant message (IM) and short message service (SMS), each block of the first plurality of blocks having a unique identifier and being received independently of others of the plurality of blocks;

receiving a second plurality of blocks via a second transport mechanism that is different from the first transport mechanism;

receiving a key that identifies how to reconstruct data from the first plurality of blocks and the second plurality of blocks; and

reconstructing the data from the first plurality of blocks and the second plurality of blocks using the key.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, the method further comprising:

decompressing the data if the data is compressed;

decrypting the data if the data is encrypted;

decompressing the first plurality of blocks and the second plurality of blocks if the first plurality of blocks and the second plurality of blocks are compressed; and

decrypting the first plurality of blocks and the second plurality of blocks if the first plurality of blocks and the second plurality of blocks are encrypted.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, the method further comprising:

requesting that at least one block of the first plurality of blocks and the second plurality of blocks be retransmitted using a third transport mechanism that is different from the first transport mechanism and the second transport mechanism.

19. A computing apparatus comprising:

a splitter to divide data into a plurality of blocks, to assign a unique identifier to each of the plurality of blocks, and to generate a key that identifies how to reconstruct the data from the plurality of blocks, and

a transmitter connected with the splitter to transmit the key and a first block of the plurality of blocks to a recipient using a first transport mechanism selected from a group consisting of hypertext transport protocol (HTTP), file transport protocol (FTP), email, java message service (JMS), instant message (IM) and short message service (SMS), and to transmit a second block of the plurality of blocks to the recipient separately from the first block using a second transport mechanism that is different from the first transport mechanism.

20. The computing apparatus of claim 19, further comprising:

at least one of an encrypter connected with the splitter to encrypt at least one of the data and the plurality of blocks and a compressor connected with the splitter to compress at least one of the data and the plurality of blocks.

21. The computing apparatus of claim 19, further comprising:

a receiver to receive an additional plurality of blocks and an additional key, wherein each of the additional plurality of blocks has a unique identifier and the additional key identifies how to reconstruct additional data from the additional plurality of blocks;

the splitter to reconstruct the additional data by combining the additional plurality of blocks using the additional key; and

at least one of an encrypter, connected with the splitter to decrypt at least one of the additional data and the additional plurality of blocks, and a compressor, connected with the splitter to decompress at least one of the additional data and the additional plurality of blocks.