Method and apparatus for verifiable generation of public keys
AssigneeCerticom Corp.
InventorDaniel R. Brown
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention provides a method of verifiable generation of public keys. According to the method, a self-signed signature is first generated and then used as input to the generation of a pair of private and public keys. Verification of the signature proves that the keys are generated from a key generation process utilizing the signature. A certification authority can validate and verify a public key generated from a verifiable key generation process.
Claims19
A computer implemented method of generating a private key of a computing device in a communication system, the computing device having a cryptographic unit, the method comprising:
- the cryptographic unit generating a pair of signature components, one of the pair of signature components generated from an ephemeral private key, the pair of signature components representing a digital signature of a self-signed signature message to bind the computing device to the self-signed signature message;
- the computing device obtaining message data;
- the cryptographic unit generating the self-signed signature message based upon the message data and the digital signature;
- the cryptographic unit computing the private key based upon the self-signed signature message;
- and
- the cryptographic unit computing a public key based upon the private key such that verification of the self-signed signature message proves that the public key and private key were generated from a key generation process utilizing the self-signed signature message.
A non-transitory computer readable medium for generating a private key of a computing device in a communication system, the computing device having a cryptographic unit, the non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions for:
- the cryptographic unit generating a pair of signature components, one of the pair of signature components generated from an ephemeral private key, the pair of signature components representing a digital signature of a self-signed signature message to bind the computing device to the self-signed signature message;
- the computing device obtaining message data;
- the cryptographic unit generating the self-signed signature message based upon the message data and the digital signature;
- the cryptographic unit computing the private key based upon the self-signed signature message;
- and
- the cryptographic unit computing a public key based upon the private key such that verification of the self-signed signature message proves that the public key and private key were generated from a key generation process utilizing the self-signed signature message.
A computing device comprising a cryptographic unit, the computing device configured to perform a method comprising:
- the cryptographic unit generating a pair of signature components, one of the pair of signature components generated from an ephemeral private key, the pair of signature components representing a digital signature of a self-signed signature message to bind the computing device to the self-signed signature message;
- the computing device obtaining message data;
- the cryptographic unit generating the self-signed signature message based upon the message data and the digital signature;
- the cryptographic unit computing the private key based upon the self-signed signature message;
- and
- the cryptographic unit computing a public key based upon the private key such that verification of the self-signed signature message proves that the public key and private key were generated from a key generation process utilizing the self-signed signature message.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.