Patent ID: 6886095
Filing Date: 2005-04-26
Classification: H04L,H04W

Abstract:
1. A method for initializing secure communications between a first device and a second device, said first and second devices each having a public key of a Certificate Authority and a device certificate, said device certificate having a unique hardware identifier associated with said respective device, and a public key associated with said respective device, said method comprising the steps of: establishing a session between said first device and said second device; negotiating two-way session encryption and mutual authentication requirements between said first and said second device; exchanging device certificates of said first device and said second device; cryptographically verifying the received certificate using the public key of said Certificate Authority; exchanging challenges created by each of said first and second devices; responding to said respective challenges by signing said received challenge, using the receiving device's private key, said private keys residing in the respective protected write-only storage in each said device; returning said signed challenges; cryptographically verifying that said received challenge signature is of the challenge previously sent by said receiving device; establishing a key agreement between said first and second devices; and, establishing secure communications if all of said prior verifying steps succeed.