Secure storage of private keys

Patent 6950523 Issued on September 27, 2005. Estimated Expiration Date:

September 29, 2020. Estimated Expiration Date is calculated based on simple USPTO term provisions. It does not account for terminal disclaimers, term adjustments, failure to pay maintenance fees, or other factors which might affect the term of a patent.

Abstract Claims Description Full Text

Patent References

Method and apparatus for protecting the confidentiality of passwords in a distributed data processing system
Patent #: 5418854
Issued on: 05/23/1995
Inventor: Kaufman, et al.

Public key data communications system under control of a portable security device
Patent #: 5604801
Issued on: 02/18/1997
Inventor: Dolan, et al.

Method and apparatus for retrieving X.509 certificates from an X.500 directory
Patent #: 5774552
Issued on: 06/30/1998
Inventor: Grimmer

Distributed authentication system and method Patent #: 6230269
Issued on: 05/08/2001
Inventor: Spies, et al.

Inventors

Assignee

Intel Corporation

Application

No. 09672496 filed on 09/29/2000

US Classes:

380/286, Key escrow or recovery380/281, Using master key (e.g., key-encrypting-key)380/277, KEY MANAGEMENT713/194, Tamper resistant707/9, Privileged access713/156, By certificate713/159, Including intelligent token713/182, SYSTEM ACCESS CONTROL BASED ON USER IDENTIFICATION BY CRYPTOGRAPHY713/189DATA PROCESSING PROTECTION USING CRYPTOGRAPHY

Examiners

Primary: Rimell, Sam
Assistant: Betit, Jacob F.

Attorney, Agent or Firm

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

International Class

H04L009/00

Abstract

To protect a private cryptographic key, two values are derived. The two values together can reconstruct the key. One value is sent to a server and deleted from the local machine. The other value is held by the local machine. To use the key, the user will enter a password, which will be used to authenticate the user to the server, and retrieve the value from the server. The password is also used to unlock the value held by the local machine. The private cryptographic key is thus protected against brute force password attacks without changing the behavior of the user.