Encapsulating the complexity of cryptographic authentication in black-boxes

A method of authenticating a computing device to a back-end subsystem, comprising:

• a prover black-box in the computing device authenticating cryptographically to a verifier black-box in the back-end subsystem by proving possession of a cryptographic credential;
• the verifier black-box sending an authentication token to the prover black-box as verifiable confirmation of the cryptographic authentication;
• the prover black-box sending the authentication token to an application front-end in the computing device;
• the application front-end sending the authentication token to an application back-end in the back-end subsystem;
• and
• the application back-end verifying the authentication token.

A prover black-box included in a computing device and used in authenticating the device to a back-end subsystem, configured to:

• receive a request from an application front-end running on the device to perform a cryptographic authentication to the back-end subsystem;
• authenticate cryptographically to the back-end subsystem by proving possession of a credential;
• receive an authentication token from the back-end subsystem as confirmation of the cryptographic authentication;
• and
• send the authentication token to the application front-end.

A verifier black-box configured to:

• authenticate cryptographically a computing device by verifying possession of a cryptographic credential by the device;
• return an authentication token to the device as verifiable confirmation of the cryptographic authentication;
• receive the authentication token from an application back-end;
• and
• send authentication data to the application back-end.