Methods and apparatus for secure personal identification number and data encryption

A secure apparatus for encrypting data comprising:

• a touch screen device, the screen layout of said touch screen comprising a protected data entry screen area and an unprotected data entry screen area;
• a first processor, said first processor being affixed to a circuit board, said first processor being further operative to communicate with an encryption device and a touch screen device, and the first processor being further operative to determine whether a touch input detected by the touch screen device originated in the protected data entry screen area or the unprotected data entry screen area;
• a second processor, said second processor being affixed to the circuit board, said second processor being further operative to communicate with the first processor and the touch screen device;
• an encryption device operative to encrypt touch inputs that originated in the protected data entry screen area;
• and
• a tamper detection mechanism.

A system for encrypting data comprising:

• a display device comprising an LCD flat panel display and a touch panel device;
• a first processor connected to said touch panel overlay device, said first processor being operative to decode touch input signals from said touch panel overlay device;
• a second processor, said second processor being operative to execute application software for controlling the images displayed on the LCD flat panel display;
• a cryptographic smart card operable to encrypt data;
• and
• a tamper detection device, said tamper detection device being operative to signal said cryptographic smart card if the tamper detection device detects tampering.

A method of encrypting data, the method comprising the steps of:

• detecting touch input signals from a touch screen;
• determining whether said touch input signals originated in a protected data entry portion of said touch screen or in a non protected data entry portion of said touch screen;
• translating only the touch input signals that originated in the protected data entry portion of the touch screen into data;
• sending the data to a cryptographic smart card;
• and
• encrypting the data.

A method of encrypting PIN data, the PIN data comprising one or more data elements, the method comprising the steps of:

• detecting a first touch input signal from a touch screen;
• determining whether said first touch input signal originated in a protected PIN data entry portion of said touch screen;
• translating the first touch input signal into a first data element if the first detected touch input signal originated in the protected PIN data entry portion of the touch screen;
• determining if the first data element is an alphanumeric character or a command;
• and
• storing said first data element that is an alphanumeric character as a first PIN data element or executing said first data element that is a command.

A method of generating a master key storage (MSK) key for a device, the method comprising the steps of:

• generating a first random seed;
• sending the first random seed to a cryptographic smart card;
• generating a second random seed;
• combining said second random seed with a cryptographic smart card serial number and a device serial number thereby generating an intermediate data key;
• encrypting said data key with the first random seed, thereby generating the MSK key;
• and
• storing the MSK key within the cryptographic smart card.

A method for maintaining the integrity of data keys stored within a cryptographic smart card, the method comprising the steps of:

• monitoring a tamper detection signal, the absence of the tamper detection signal indicating that the cryptographic smart card has not been tampered with;
• monitoring a power supply input and a battery input, the presence of the power supply input and the battery input indicating that the supply of electrical power to the cryptographic smart card is uninterrupted;
• and
• clearing a data erasure byte upon the detection of the presence of the tamper detection signal, or upon the absence of both the power supply input and the battery input, thereby putting the cryptographic smart card into a data erasure state.