Smart token system for secure electronic transactions and identification
AssigneeEntegrity Solutions Corporation
InventorSead Muftic
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Smart token technology, using a smart card, PCMCIA card or any other medium containing storage or processing capability is used to facilitate a variety of secure business transactions, including those which might occur over an unsecured network such as the Internet. Application programs can obtain a variety of smart token services using a common application programming interface. Applications of the smart token technology to electronic cash, banking, credit, computer and network access, software distribution, medical handling and issuance of credentials are presented.
Claims4
A method of obtaining access to computer or network resources using a smart token, comprising:
- a. opening an application domain of a smart token used for access to a computer or a network;
- b. encrypting a password read from the application domain, so as to obtain an electronic password;
- c. sending a logon identification and the encrypted password to the computer or network for which access is desired;
- and
- d. verifying and validating as to whether the logon identification and the encrypted password are such that the access to the computer or network is permitted,
- wherein the step of sending a logon identification to the computer or network for which access is desired comprises:
- a. sending a user public key certificate stored on the smart token together with a user identification and a user random number to the computer or network;
- b. receiving from the computer or network the identity of the computer or network, a public key certificate of a target resource, a signed copy of the user random number and a second random number generated by the computer or network;
- c. verifying the signed copy of the user random number;
- and
- d. signing the second random number using the public key of the computer or network obtained from a certificate and returning the second random number with signature to the computer or network.
A method of preventing use of software modified without authorization and unauthorized access to software without possession of a smart token, the method performed by software manufacture, author or owner, comprising:
- a. generating a pair of digital signature keys for each authorized user;
- b. personalizing a smart token for each authorized user of the software and storing the digital signature keys on said smart token;
- c. including a start-up routine within the software;
- d. producing a hash value for the software and encrypting the hash value to create an encrypted hash value using a user's public key to thereby create a digital seal;
- and
- e. appending the digital seal to the software before distribution;
- such that when the software is loaded and executed, the start-up routine calculates a hash value to create a calculated hash value from the loaded software, compares the calculated hash value with a hash value decrypted from the digital seal using a private key on the smart token, and when they are identical, permitting execution of the software.
A method of displaying a copyright notice on software or a digital document, comprising:
- a. applying a digital signature of a manufacturer, author or owner to the software or to the digital document at the time it is prepared for distribution;
- b. permitting execution of the software or access to the the digital document only after successful verification of the digital signature of the manufacturer, author or owner using a public key of the manufacturer, the author, or the owner of the software, respectively;
- and
- c. not permitting access to the public key without display of a copyright notice.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.