Agile OTP generation

• US 9,306,942 B1
• Filed: 05/13/2015
• Issued: 04/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RSA Security LLC (Symphony Technology Group LLC)
• Original Assignee: EMC Corporation (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Bailey, Daniel Vernon, Brainard, John G, Duane, William M, O'Malley, Michael J, Philpott, Robert S
• Primary Examiner(s): Mehrmanesh, Amir
• Application Number:
  US14/710,768
• Time in Patent Office: 328 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0435 wherein the sending and receiving network entities apply symmetric encryption, i.e. same key used for encryption and decryption cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for symmetric key encryption H04L9/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0823 using certificates cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving certificates H04L9/3263
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0838 using one-time-passwords
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/003 for power analysis, e.g. differential power analysis [DPA] or simple power analysis [SPA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3228 One-time or temporary data, i.e. information which is sent for every authentication or authorization, e.g. one-time-password, one-time-token or one-time-key
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3234 involving additional secure or trusted devices, e.g. TPM, smartcard, USB or software token network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using an additional device in a packet data network H04L63/0853

Abstract

A method, system, and apparatus for agile generation of one time passcodes (OTPs) in a security environment, the security environment having a token generator comprising a token generator algorithm and a validator, the method comprising generating a OTP at the token generator according to a variance technique; wherein the variance technique is selected from a set of variance techniques, receiving the OTP at a validator, determining, at the validator, the variance technique used by the token generator to generate the OTP, and determining whether to validate the OTP based on the OTP and variance technique.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for provisioning an OTP generator, the method comprising:

selecting one or more variance techniques from a set of variance techniques, wherein the variance technique is given by the function OTP=H(F(SKC, SKPC),InputSet), wherein the InputSet is a set comprising K and Time, wherein H is a Hash;

wherein K is a key, wherein SKC is a Symmetric Key certificate, F is a function for use in a variance technique for OTP generation, and wherein SKPC is a Symmetric Key Policy Certificate;

provisioning the OTP generator with the one or more variance techniques; and

enabling a validator to determine which authentication technique is used by the OTP generator.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the validator comprises an information file denoting the one or more variance technique used by the OTP generator.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the validator is enabled to decode the variance technique from an OTP generated by the OTP generator.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the information file is a certificate.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the variance technique is obtained from variances within the OTP generator.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the variance technique is obtained from an environment of the OTP generator.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein multiple variance techniques are selected from the set of variance techniques.

8. A computer program product for provisioning an OTP generator, the computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with computer-executable program code for provisioning the OTP generator, the code configured to enable the execution of;

selecting one or more variance techniques from a set of variance techniques, wherein the variance technique is given by the function OTP=H(F(SKC, SKPC),InputSet), wherein the InputSet is a set comprising K and Time, wherein H is a Hash;

wherein K is a key, wherein SKC is a Symmetric Key certificate, F is a function for use in a variance technique for OTP generation, and wherein SKPC is a Symmetric Key Policy Certificate;

provisioning the OTP generator with the one or more variance techniques; and

enabling a validator to determine which authentication technique is used by the OTP generator.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the validator comprises an information file denoting the one or more variance technique used by the OTP generator.

10. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the validator is enabled to decode the variance technique from an OTP generated by the OTP generator.

11. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the information file is a certificate.

12. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the variance technique is obtained from variances within the OTP generator.

13. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the variance technique is obtained from an environment of the OTP generator.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein multiple variance techniques are selected from the set of variance techniques.

15. A system for provisioning an OTP generator, the system comprising:

a validator;

computer-executable program code operating in memory, wherein the computer-executable program code is configured to enable execution of;

selecting one or more variance techniques from a set of variance techniques, wherein the variance technique is given by the function OTP=H(F(SKC, SKPC),InputSet), wherein the InputSet is a set comprising K and Time, wherein H is a Hash;

wherein K is a key, wherein SKC is a Symmetric Key certificate, F is a function for use in a variance technique for OTP generation, and wherein SKPC is a Symmetric Key Policy Certificate;

provisioning the OTP generator with the one or more variance techniques; and

enabling the validator to determine which authentication technique is used by the OTP generator.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the validator comprises an information file denoting the one or more variance technique used by the OTP generator.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the validator is enabled to decode the variance technique from an OTP generated by the OTP generator.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the information file is a certificate.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the variance technique is obtained from variances within the OTP generator.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the variance technique is obtained from an environment of the OTP generator.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein multiple variance techniques are selected from the set of variance techniques.