Dongles and method for providing a digital signature
AssigneeRiddle & Code GmbH
InventorThomas Fuerstner
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Set of two or more dongles for providing a digital signature, wherein each dongle holds a secret key, wherein each dongle is configured to receive a message, to compute a digital signature of the received message using the secret key, and to transmit the computed digital signature, wherein at least one of the dongles is configured to, before computing the digital signature, verify the presence of at least one other dongle belonging to the set, and to compute the digital signature only upon successful verification of the presence of one or more other dongles.
Claims19
A set of dongles for providing a digital signature,
- wherein the set comprises a first dongle and at least one other dongle,
- wherein the first dongle and the at least one other dongle each hold a secret key,
- wherein the first dongle and the at least one other dongle are each configured to receive a message, to compute a digital signature of the received message using the secret key, and to transmit the computed digital signature,
- wherein the first dongle is configured to, before computing the digital signature, verify the presence of the at least one other dongle,
- wherein the first dongle is configured to compute the digital signature responsive to a successful verification by the first dongle of the presence of the at least one other dongle, and
- wherein the first dongle stores a lower limit of the number of other dongles, the presence of which must be proven, before computing the digital signature.
A method for providing a digital signature with a first dongle belonging to a set of dongles for providing a digital signature,
- wherein the set comprises the first dongle and at least one other dongle, and
- wherein the first dongle and the at least one other dongle each hold a secret key, the method comprising the following steps carried out by the first dongle:
- receiving a message to be signed;
- verifying the presence of a total number of the at least one other dongle, the total number being greater or equal to a predefined lower limit;
- computing a digital signature of the message using the secret key responsive to a successful verification of the presence of as many of the at least one other dongle as defined by the predefined lower limit;
- and
- transmitting the computed digital signature.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.