Method and apparatus for the secure processing of sensitive information

A method for the secure processing, handling, and/or transmitting of information with the aid of a system comprising:

• a) transmitting information by means of an information transmission unit from a first mobile passive storage unit into a processing device of a system,
• wherein said system comprises:
• a mobile, passive first storage unit for retrievably storing first information, with an unambiguous identification number IDSi, wherein the index i specifies the number of first storage units belonging to the system;
• a processing device which is adapted for interacting with the first storage unit in order to process information, comprising:
• i) an unambiguous identification number IDVn, wherein the index n specifies the number of processing devices belonging to the system;
• ii) a manipulation-protected second storage unit, which cannot be accessed from the outside, for securely storing second information corresponding to the first information;
• iii) a computing unit for processing information, wherein the computing unit is constructed to be integrated in the second storage unit in a manner of a smart card or chip card;
• and
• iv) an information transmission unit for transmitting information from the first and/or the second storage unit to the computing unit and for transmitting information between the processing device and connected peripheral;
• wherein at least one of the storage units is constructed as an optical storage unit and at least one of the information transmission units is constructed as an optical information transmission unit in order to transmit information via at least one beam path, and
• wherein for a group of at least two processing devices and/or components of the connected peripheral, there is a group certificate <G> with the corresponding secret key g which is stored in the processing device or component belonging to the group, and for each of the processing devices and/or components of the connected peripheral, belonging to the group, there is a certificate <IDVn, An>g which is signed with the secret key g and is stored in each processing device and/or component belonging to the group, wherein An represents attributes which can provide information about characteristics of the processing device and/or component, and
• in each of the processing devices and/or component of the connected peripheral belonging to the group, a list of revoked certificates is stored, the list being signed with a global certificate <TC> and this signature also being stored in each processing device and/or component belonging to the group, and
• wherein the processing device and the peripheral, before exchanging sensitive information, first:
• exchange their certificates <IDVn, An>g, and verify said certificates by application of the group certificate <G>, and
• check the validity of other certificates in each case by means of said list of revoked certificates;
• b) optionally decrypting the transmitted information if it is encrypted, with the aid of the key K stored in the manipulation-protected second storage unit;
• c) optionally deriving a certificate <IDSi>t from a global certificate <TC>;
• d) optionally checking certificate <IDSi>t if it exists, with the aid of a certificate <TC> stored in the manipulation-protected second storage unit;
• e) optionally checking the signature S:=Sig(m, ki) if it exists, with the aid of the certificate <IDSi>t;
• f) optionally checking the signature S:=Sig(m, t) if it exists, with the aid of the certificate <TC>;
• and
• g) transmitting information from the system to the connected peripheral by means of an information transmission unit.

A method for securing cryptographic processing, handling, and/or transmission of information with a system, comprising:

• a) reading and/or storing first encrypted information on a first passive mobile memory storage unit;
• b) reading and/or storing second information corresponding to the first information on a manipulation-protected second storage unit;
• c) transmitting the first encrypted information to a computing unit by means of an information transmission unit;
• d) transmitting the second information to the computing unit by means of an information transmission unit;
• e) cryptographically processing the first information by means of the second information in the computer computing unit;
• and
• wherein steps a-e are performed by a system comprising:
• a mobile, passive first storage unit for retrievably storing first information, with an unambiguous identification number IDSi, wherein the index i specifies the number of first storage units belonging to the system;
• a processing device which is adapted for interacting with the first storage unit in order to process information, comprising:
• i) an unambiguous identification number IDVn, wherein the index n specifies the number of processing devices belonging to the system;
• ii) a manipulation-protected second storage unit, which cannot be accessed from the outside, for securely storing second information corresponding to the first information;
• iii) a computing unit for processing information, wherein the computing unit is constructed to be integrated in the second storage unit in a manner of a smart card or chip card;
• and
• iv) an information transmission unit for transmitting information from the first and/or the second storage unit to the computing unit and for transmitting information between the processing device and connected peripheral;
• wherein at least one of the storage units is constructed as an optical storage unit and at least one of the information transmission units is constructed as an optical information transmission unit in order to transmit information via at least one beam path
• wherein for a group of at least two processing devices and/or components of the connected peripheral, there is a group certificate <G> with the corresponding secret key g which is stored in the processing device or component belonging to the group, and for each of the processing devices and/or components of the connected peripheral, belonging to the group, there is a certificate <IDVn, An>g which is signed with the secret key g and is stored in each processing device and/or component belonging to the group, wherein An represents attributes which can provide information about characteristics of the processing device and/or component, and
• in each of the processing devices and/or component of the connected peripheral belonging to the group, a list of revoked certificates is stored, the list being signed with a global certificate <TC> and this signature also being stored in each processing device and/or component belonging to the group, and
• wherein the processing device and the peripheral, before exchanging sensitive information, first:
• exchange their certificates <IDVn, An>g, and verify said certificates by the application of the group certificate <G>, and
• check the validity of other certificates in each case by means of said list of revoked certificates, and
• wherein the step of reading and/or storing the first encrypted information and/or the step of transmitting the first encrypted information is performed at least partially in a non-electronic manner, and
• wherein the first encrypted information is decrypted with the aid of the computing unit and the second information.