Automated peer authentication

The present invention relates to security, in particular to peer authentication.

Peer authentication means that the first user authenticates the second user. (In peer-to-peer communication, the term "peer" generally has no meaning regarding a user's professional or social position.) An example of peer authentication is shown with the following example. Suppose an employee in the lobby of a company building happens to forget his company's batch at home and is not allowed to enter the building because there is no other means of authentication. The employee approaches the guard in the lobby and tells him that he is an employee but does not have a batch.

Then, the guard (A) Ask the employee for his name, (B) Look up the employee's name in the company's computer database and (C) Record the employee number of the employee and (D) Query the database to determine who the employee's colleagues are. (E) Call the colleague and call the colleague into the lobby to confirm the identity (ID) of the suspected employee.

The colleague does one in the lobby. (F) Prove that the suspected employee is an employee of the company (G) Tell the guard that he does not know the suspected employee. In the former case, the guard allows both employees to pass through the lobby, while in the latter case, the guard stops the suspected employee from passing through the lobby and takes further action (eg,). Call the police, etc.).

In a variant of the above example, the guard does not ask the colleague to come to the lobby, but asks the colleague to talk on the phone with the suspected employee. A colleague talks to a suspected employee over the phone and decides from the phone talk whether the employee is a legitimate employee (eg, based on the voice of the suspected employee). Or based on the answer to the question). The colleague then tells the guard that the suspected colleague may pass through the lobby.

<p> An object of the present invention is to provide a method for automatically performing peer authentication.</p>

Means to solve problems

According to the present invention, peer authentication can be performed automatically, that is, without the human guard doing the following: (A) Select a peer, (B) Contact the peer to authenticate the user, (C) Deny / grant access to a particular resource or function based on the peer's "testimony." Further, according to an embodiment of the present invention, a data processing system (eg, server, desktop computer, etc.) dynamically selects a peer at the time of authentication. It does not a priori select peers as in the past. In particular, peers are selected from a set of candidates based on the following dynamic characteristics: (A) The current geo-location of user U to be authenticated (suspected), (B) Current geolocation of the candidate to be authenticated, (C) Current time, (D) Contents of one or more telephone numbers (eg, telephone numbers, organization numbers, etc.), (E) Contents of one or more call logs, (F) Schedule of candidates to be authenticated.

For example, the data processing system selects a candidate who is physically close to User U, or who is not attending the meeting (indicated by the current date and time and the candidate's schedule). It is programmed to do. As another example, a data processing system queries one or more phone numbers to ask someone in the same department (eg, a department head, a direct subordinate of user U, a member of the same rank as user U, etc.). It is programmed to select as user U. As another example, the data processing system can tell which candidate knows the user U best in one or more call logs (eg, the number of calls between the candidate and the user U and the number of these calls. Show based on duration) and select the candidate as a peer (based on the theory that a candidate who knows User U is the best peer to authenticate User U).

In the first embodiment of the present invention, an input device (keypad, magnetic card reader, etc.) controls access to an electrically locked door. A person trying to pass through the door passes the user U identifier (for example, an employee number, an office telephone number, etc.) through the device (for example, by passing a magnetic card in which the identifier U is registered) to the identifier U. Provide (by keying to). The input device sends the identifier U to the data processing system, which in turn selects peers based on the properties of one or more entities (candidates to authenticate). The data processing system then sends a message (eg, a phone call or an instant message). (IM))) etc.) to the selected peer. This message indicates that an individual claiming to be User U is in front of an electrically locked door, waiting to be allowed in. The peer then authenticates the individual (the suspected employee) and, if correct, allows the individual to pass through the door. In another embodiment, the peer performs interview authentication to allow the individual to physically unlock the door and enter. In another embodiment, the peer performs authentication remotely, for example by an intercom or video camera, and an individual (a suspected employee) enters with a buzzer. If the selected peer does not respond to a message sent within a given amount of time (eg, 30 seconds), the data processing system will authenticate the individual (the suspected employee). Select another peer.

In a second embodiment of the invention, when a user of a wireless terminal attempts to perform a function that requires authentication, the terminal sends a message to the data processing system. This message indicates that the current user of the terminal requires peer authentication. In response, the data processing system selects a peer based on the properties of the entity and sends a message to that selected peer. This message indicates that the peer must verify that the current user of the terminal is the correct user (ie, the user registered on the terminal). The peer then authenticates the current user of the terminal (eg, visually, in conversation, by visual results from a remote location, by conversation from a remote location) and the results are a data processing system. Send to. The data processing system transfers this result to the terminal, which allows or denies the current user's access depending on the result. As in the first embodiment, if the selected peer does not respond to the transmitted message within a predetermined time, the data processing system selects another peer for authentication.

A device that authenticates a peer according to an embodiment of the present invention includes (A) a receiver that receives a signal indicating that there is a user to be authenticated, and (B) a processor that selects a peer that authenticates the user. Have. The peer selection is based on one or more characteristics of one or more entities, at least one of the characteristics changing for N minutes of time. Here, N is a positive number.

Next, in the present specification, the term "calendar time" means a time specified by, for example, seconds, minutes, hours, date and time, day of the week, month, year and the like.

As used herein, the term "peer" is defined as a user.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of components of the first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, in the first embodiment of the present invention, the input device 101, the network 105, the data processing system 120, the terminal / user mapping storage device 130, the geographical position information storage device 140 of the terminal, and the like. It has a telephone number storage device 150, a call log storage device 160, and a user schedule storage device 170. They are connected as shown in the figure. In this embodiment, the components of FIG. 1 are owned and managed by a particular company (eg, company, non-profit organization, hospital, etc.), but not necessarily in other embodiments. ..

The input device 101 (eg, keypad, magnetic card reader, etc.) receives an input signal from the user and transmits and receives this signal to and from the network 105. According to one embodiment of the invention, the input device 101 controls access to an electrically locked door (not shown).

The network 105 sends and receives signals to and from a data processing system, an input device, an output device, and the like. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the network 105 is a LAN. In another embodiment of the present invention, the network 105 may be another type of network, such as a MAN (metropolitan are network), a WAN (wide-area network), or the like.

The data processing system 120 sends and receives signals to and from the network 105, stores and programs data, and executes this program. The details of the data processing system 120 are shown in FIG.

The terminal / user mapping storage device 130 is a memory (eg, disk drive, RAM, flash memory, etc.) that associates each of the plurality of wireless communication terminals with the user (that is, the owner of the terminal) to which the terminal is registered. is there.

The geolocation information storage device 140 of the terminal stores the current geolocation information of one or more wireless terminals belonging to a member of the company (eg, employee, contractor, officer, etc.). In an embodiment of the invention, the geolocation storage device 140 of the terminal stores the current geolocation information of only a group of corporate employees (eg, members in the same building as the input device 101). However, in another embodiment, the geolocation storage device 140 of the terminal stores the current geolocation information of each employee of the enterprise.

The telephone number storage device 150 is a memory for storing telephone numbers (staff telephone numbers, organizational charts / organization telephone numbers, etc.). According to an embodiment of the present invention, the telephone number storage device 150 uses an office telephone number, a mobile phone number, a building and office telephone number, a department telephone number, an e-mail address, and an instant message chat. Includes employee information including names, etc., employee relationships (hierarchical relationships), and organizational information (eg, organizational charts of departments, department head names).

The call log storage device 160 is a memory for storing incoming and outgoing calls of a telephone that has arrived at a corporate telephone number and a telephone that has been called from the corporate telephone number. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the call log storage device 160 is left with a call start time, a call time, a person / organization involved in the call, an indication of whether or not the call has been answered, and an answering machine. Information including whether or not it is stored is stored.

Similar to the geolocation storage device 140 of the terminal, in one embodiment of the invention, the call log storage device 160 stores incoming and outgoing call information for only some groups of corporate employees. May be good. According to another practice of the present invention, the call log storage device 160 may store this information for each employee. further. In another embodiment of the invention, the call log storage device 160 may store information in other communication means, such as e-mail, instant messages, and the like.

According to the first embodiment of the present invention, the user schedule storage device 170 is a memory for storing information on schedules (meetings, vacations, etc.) of employees and the like.

FIG. 2 represents a component of the data processing system 120 of the first embodiment of the present invention. According to the first embodiment of the present invention, the data processing system 120 includes a receiver 201, a processor 202, a memory 203, and a transmitter 204. The connection form is as shown in the figure.

The receiver 201 receives the signal from the network 105 and sends the information encoded in this signal to the processor 203. Methods of manufacture and use of receiver 201 will be apparent to those skilled in the art by reference to this specification.

The processor 202 is a general-purpose processor that can write and read data to and from the memory 202 and can perform the tasks shown in FIG. In another embodiment, the processor 203 may be a dedicated processor instead of a general purpose processor. In any case, by referring to the present specification, a method of manufacturing and a method of using the processor 203 will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Memory 203 can store data and executable instructions. This may be a combination of RAM, flash memory, disk drive, and the like. By referring to this specification, those skilled in the art will know how to manufacture / use the memory 203.

The transmitter 204 receives the signal from the processor 202 and transmits the signal encoded with this information to the network 105. Those skilled in the art can easily understand how to manufacture / use the transmitter 204 by referring to the present specification.

Clock 205 transmits the current time, date, and day of the week to processor 203.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the tasks of the data processing system 120 and the input device 101 of FIG. 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that by referring to this specification, the tasks shown in FIG. 3 can be performed simultaneously or in a different order than those shown in the figure.

In task 310, the input device 101 receives information including the user identifier U (eg, employee number, etc.) by a known method (eg, by keypad input, swiping a magnetic card, etc.).

In task 320, the input device 101 transmits the following data to the data processing system 120 via the network 105. (I) A request for peer authentication of an individual in the input device 101 and (Ii) User identifier U.

In task 330, the data processing system 120 receives the peer authentication request and the user identifier U via the network 105.

In task 340, the data processing system 120 selects a peer to authenticate the "suspected" user U based on: (A) Geolocation information of the input device 101 (usually fixed in the embodiment), (B) The current geolocation information of another terminal (essentially another user) obtained from the geolocation storage device 140 of the terminal. (C) Employee and organization information obtained from the telephone number storage device 150, (D) User U call log entry obtained from call log storage device 160, (E) Calendar time provided by clock 205, (F) The user's schedule obtained from the user schedule storage device 170, (G) Terminal / user mapping storage device 130, By the terminal / user mapping storage device 130, the data processing system 120 navigates the geographical location information storage device 140, the telephone number storage device 150, the call log storage device 160, and the user schedule storage device 170 of the terminal as needed. An entry in gated (ie, one storage device (eg, user schedule storage device 170) identifies the user's identifier, and an entry in another storage device (eg, call log storage device 160) identifies the terminal identifier. To do).

The exact criteria and method by which the data processing system 120 selects peer authentication will differ from embodiment to embodiment depending on the security department of the company, its management department, and the like. The plurality of possible selection criteria described above are (A) selecting the peer closest to the input device 101, and (B) selecting the peer that best knows the user U suggested by the call log storage device 160. , (C) Select the peer closest to the input device 101 that has not attended the meeting indicated by the user schedule storage device 170. A method of implementing these selection criteria and a method of implementing another selection criterion based on the above selection criteria will be apparent to those skilled in the art by reference herein.

In task 350, the data processing system 120 sends a message to the selected peer, which (i) authenticates the suspected user, and (ii) the suspected user is the actual user U. Require access to electrically locked doors only at certain times. As mentioned above, in some embodiments, the peer can enter by performing face-to-face authentication and physically unlocking the door. In another embodiment, the peer enters by performing authentication from a distance (eg, via an intercom or video camera, etc.) and sending a signal that temporarily unlocks the electrical lock. Allow. Further, in one embodiment of the invention, the transmitted message provides peers with suggestions or guidance (eg, "tell the last story we ate together") to authenticate the suspected user. provide.

In task 360, the data processing system 120 checks whether the selected peer responded with a positive confirmation that the suspected user has satisfied the request. If such a response is not received within a predetermined time (eg, 30 seconds), return to task 340 and select another peer. It is possible that the selected peer was not there or the terminal was not powered on. Similarly, if a peer receives a response such as failing to meet the request or rejecting the request, it returns to task 340 and selects another peer. Alternatively, the method of FIG. 3 ends when the selected peer receives a response indicating that it has agreed to meet the request.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the components of the second embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 4, a second embodiment of the present invention includes a network 405, a wireless terminal 401, a data processing system 420, a terminal / user mapping storage device 130, and a terminal geographical location information storage device 140. It has a telephone number storage device 150, a call log storage device 160, and a user schedule storage device 170. They are connected as shown in the figure.

The network 405 transmits and receives a signal to and from one or more communication terminals (eg, wireless terminal 401, etc.) according to a wireless communication protocol (eg, IEEE802.11 protocol, etc.), and sends the signal to the data processing system 420 and the terminal. / User mapping storage device 130, geographic location information storage device 140 of the terminal, telephone number storage device 150, call log storage device 160, and user schedule storage device 170 are transmitted and received by wire or wirelessly. To do.

The wireless terminal 401 wirelessly transmits and receives signals via the network 405 (and other wireless networks such as CDMA networks). The wireless terminal 401 is registered with a user identified by a symbolic string U (eg, social security number, employee number, company telephone number, etc.). If the wireless terminal 401 does not receive a signal instructing that the current user of the terminal is authenticated as a registered user, the terminal function (for example, making a phone call or receiving an incoming e-mail message) You can deny access to at least part of reading or running a particular web-based application.

The data processing system 420 is similar to the data processing system 120, except that it is programmed to perform the relevant tasks of the method of FIG. 5 rather than 3.

The terminal / user mapping storage device 130, the geolocation information storage device 140 of the terminal, the telephone number storage device 150, the call log storage device 160, and the user schedule storage device 170 are the same as those in the first embodiment. is there.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the tasks of the data processing system 420 and the wireless terminal 401 of FIG. 4 according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

In task 510, the wireless terminal 401 transmits the following to the data processing system 120 via the network 405: (I) A request for peer authentication of the current user and (Ii) A user identifier U that identifies a user in which the wireless terminal 401 is registered. In another embodiment, the wireless terminal 401 may transmit an identifier that identifies the terminal instead of the registered user. In this case, the data processing system 420 makes an inquiry to the terminal / user mapping storage device 130 to determine the registered user.

In task 520, the data processing system 420 receives the peer authentication and the user identifier U via the network 405.

In task 530, the data processing system 420 selects a peer to authenticate the "suspected" user U based on: (A) Geolocation information of the wireless terminal 401 (which is transmitted from the geolocation storage device 140 of the terminal or from the wireless terminal 401 in task 520), (B) The current geolocation information of another terminal (essentially its user) obtained from the geolocation storage device 140 of the terminal. (C) Employee and organization information obtained from the telephone number storage device 150, (D) User U call log entry obtained from call log storage device 160, (E) Calendar time, (F) The user's schedule obtained from the user schedule storage device 170, (G) Terminal / user mapping storage device 130, With the terminal / user mapping storage device 130, the data processing system 120 navigates the geolocation information storage device 140, the telephone number storage device 150, the call log storage device 160, and the user schedule storage device 170 of the terminal as needed. To do.

The exact criteria and method by which the data processing system 420 selects peer authentication will differ from embodiment to embodiment depending on the company's security department and its management department. The plurality of possible selection criteria described above are (A) selecting the peer closest to the wireless terminal 401, and (B) selecting the peer that best knows the user U suggested by the call log storage device 160. , (C) Select the peer closest to the wireless terminal 401 not attending the meeting indicated by the user schedule storage 170, and (D) select the user U's boss as the authentication peer. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art by reference to this specification how to achieve these criteria and how to implement another strategy based on the selection criteria described above.

In task 540, the data processing system 420 sends a message to the selected peer, which (i) authenticates the current user of wireless terminal 401 (ie, the current user is user U). And (ii) request that the result of the authentication be returned (ie, the result be returned to the data processing system 420). As mentioned above, in some embodiments, the peer performs face-to-face authentication. In another embodiment, the peer performs authentication at a distance (by calling wireless terminal 401 and talking to its current user).

Further, in the embodiment of the present invention, a result indicating whether or not the peer has authenticated the current user as the user U is returned. In another embodiment, the peer simply returns a result that characterizes the current user's response to a series of questions (eg, percentage of the current user's correct answer rate, etc.). As a result, the data processing system 420 is left with a task (for example, setting the threshold value of the correct answer rate to 75%) for determining whether or not to authenticate the current user as the user U.

Moreover, in other embodiments of the invention, the result is a single Boolean value that includes a peer authentication decision, or multiple Boolean values that indicate correct / incorrect answers to a series of questions. In another embodiment, the result is a value indicating the degree of peer confidence that the current user is user U. For example, a real number between "0, 1", or yes to "4", probably certain to "3", almost certain to "2", and probably certain to "1" , I don't know is "0", maybe not is "-1", probably not is "-2", never is "-3", absolutely not is "-4" It is the value set to. In yet another embodiment, the result is a plurality of values that represent the "degree of correctness" for a series of questions.

As mentioned above, in an embodiment where the peer simply reports the result of the current user's response to a series of questions, it is the data processing system 420 that makes the authentication decision according to some already programmed decision logic. Is. For example, the peer returns a result that includes the degree of confidence in a series of questions, and the data processing system 420 sets the threshold to the average value of the level of confidence (eg, the degree of confidence is between "0 and 1". Sometimes it applies to a threshold of 0.8 etc.).

Some embodiments of the present invention use a combination of the above options or some of the other variants (eg, the types of data listed instead of real numbers that specify the degree of certainty or correctness). Can also be adopted. After referring to this specification, those skilled in the art can form and use such an embodiment.

In task 550, it is determined whether the data processing system 420 has received a response from the selected peer before the time expires. If the data processing system 420 does not process before the real time expires, it returns to task 530, otherwise it proceeds to task 560.

In task 560, a determination is made as to whether the selected peer has returned a correct response result. If it does not return a correct response, for example if the response refuses to respond to the request, it returns to task 530, otherwise it proceeds to task 570.

In task 570, it is determined whether or not the returned result is one Boolean value. If it is not a single Boolean value (eg, if the result is multiple Boolean values, if the result is real, if the result is multiple real numbers, etc.), the execution process proceeds to task 580 and otherwise to task 590. move on.

In task 580, the data processing system 420 applies the decision logic to the returned result to generate a single Boolean value.

In task 590, the data processing system 420 transmits one Boolean value to the wireless terminal 401. This indicates to the wireless terminal 401 whether the current user can perform any function that requires authentication. After task 590, the method of FIG. 5 ends.

The above description relates to an embodiment of the present invention, and a person skilled in the art may consider various modifications of the present invention, all of which are included in the technical scope of the present invention. To. The numbers in parentheses after the components of the claims correspond to the part numbers in the drawings and are given for easy understanding of the invention and are used for a limited interpretation of the invention. Must not be. Further, even if the numbers are the same, the description and the part names in the claims are not necessarily the same. This is due to the reasons mentioned above.

<figref num="1">The block diagram of the component of 1st Example of this invention.</figref><figref num="2">The block diagram of the component of the data processing system 120 of FIG. 1 of 1st Embodiment of this invention.</figref><figref num="3">FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the tasks of the data processing system 120 and the input device 101 of FIG. 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.</figref><figref num="4">The block diagram of the component of the 2nd Example of this invention.</figref><figref num="5">The flowchart which shows the task of the data processing system 420 and the wireless communication terminal 401 of FIG. 4 of the 2nd Embodiment of this invention.</figref>

Code description

101 input device 105 network 120 data processing system 130 Terminal / User Mapping Storage Geolocation storage device for 140 terminals 150 phone number storage device 160 Call log storage 170 User schedule storage 201 receiver 202 processor 203 memory 204 transmitter 205 clock 401 wireless terminal 405 network 420 data processing system