Security for wireless broadcasts
AssigneeGoogle Inc.
InventorsAlon Ziv, Marcel M.M. Yung, Avinatan Hassidim
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods and systems are provided for concealing identifying data that may be used to identify a beacon or device in broadcasts unless an observer device is able to directly or indirectly, via an authorized resolver device, translate an encrypted broadcast into the identifiable information. The wireless security scheme disclosed herein also pertains to resolving the concealed data messages to obtain the identifiable information.
Claims20
An electronic device, comprising:
- a wireless network interface;
- a processor;
- memory having stored thereon instructions that when executed are configured to cause the processor to:
- receive, from a broadcasting device via the wireless network interface, a message with an ephemeral identifier, wherein the ephemeral identifier is a temporary identifier that replaces identifiable information about the broadcasting device in the message to conceal which device sent the message with an authorized resolution of the ephemeral identifier;
- determine whether the processor can resolve the ephemeral identifier locally to obtain information about the broadcasting device;
- if the processor can resolve the ephemeral identifier locally, determine the information about the broadcasting device;
- and
- if the processor cannot resolve the ephemeral identifier, send the message to a remote resolver.
A method for generating an ephemeral identifier comprising
- using a pre-shared key to generate a ciphertext using time as a variable input to the ciphertext generation;
- truncate the ciphertext to form the ephemeral identifier having a transmission length if the ciphertext is longer than the transmission length, wherein the transmission length is based at least upon security strength and transmission medium;
- transmit the ephemeral identifier;
- determine whether a timer has elapsed for generation of a new ephemeral identifier;
- and
- if the timer has elapsed, generate the new ephemeral identifier.
A non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing instructions thereon, which when executed are configured to cause a processor to:
- receive a message with an ephemeral identifier from a remote observer that directly received the message, wherein the ephemeral identifier conceals identifiable information from the remote observer;
- receive information about the remote observer from the remote observer;
- looking up the ephemeral identifier in a lookup table to determine information about the broadcasting device;
- send at least a portion of the information about the broadcasting device to the remote observer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.