Secure content and encryption methods and techniques

In order to capture electronic information provided by a user to another user different third parties seek to download tracking software, viruses etc. to the user's computer systems. These may include, but are not limited to, message intercepting, email logging, hacking, spamming, phishing, spyware, malware, keyloggers, screen capturing, Trojan horses, WWW robots (BOTs or bots), IP spoofing, man-in-the-middle attacks, worms and viruses. Whilst within the prior art methodologies exist to protect the message by converting the plaintext at the sender's terminal to ciphertext for transmission before it is re-converted to plaintext at the receiver's (or recipient's) terminal once decrypted the message content, now in plaintext is accessible to malware, Trojan horse software, etc. upon the recipient's terminal allowing its contents to be acquired and transmitted without the recipient's and/or sender's knowledge. Accordingly, it would be beneficial to provide users with methods and systems enabling secure messaging to be undertaken as well as secure document transmission and viewing that overcomes the limitations within the prior art. Accordingly, beneficially embodiments of the invention provide secure messaging and secure document transmission even upon potentially compromised desktop computers.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to messaging and encryption and more particularly to techniques for secure messaging and document viewing without exposing the decrypted message or document on a potentially compromised computer system.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

At present there are approximately 4 billion electronic mail (email) accounts in use globally rising to approximately 5 billion in 2017, of which about 25% are corporate email accounts. Business email accounts expected to generate over 130 billion emails in 2017. In addition to their email accounts users today commonly exploit instant messaging (IM) and simple message service (SMS) services as well as exploiting social networking, social media, blogs, and other electronic messaging systems.

Over this same period of time since the early 1980s that electronic messaging has grown then so have the approaches for third parties to gain access to these communications, to the computer systems transmitting and receiving them, etc. or exploit them to acquire information about the user, financial information, etc. In other instances third parties seek to download tracking software, viruses etc. to the user's computer systems. Today these include, but are not limited to, message intercepting, email logging, hacking, spamming, phishing, spyware, malware, keyloggers, screen capturing, Trojan horses, WWW robots (BOTs or bots), IP spoofing, man-in-the-middle attacks, worms and viruses.

Accordingly, with electronic messaging (EM) it is important to distinguish between Internet and internal EM systems. With the Internet an EM may travel and be stored on networks and computers outside the sender's or the recipient's control. During the transit time it is possible that third parties read or even modify the content. In contrast, internal EM systems, in which the information never leaves the organizational network, may be more secure, although information technology personnel and others whose function may involve monitoring or managing may be accessing the email of other employees. However, even with internal EM systems a successful penetration of the firewall(s) and other network security measures of the organization may result in information being sent outside the internal EM systems.

Accordingly, whilst it does not prevent interception, the exploitation of encryption techniques should prevent the message content being immediately visible to the interceptor. Within an encryption scheme, the message or information, referred to as plaintext, is encrypted using an encryption algorithm, generating ciphertext that can only be read if decrypted. For technical reasons, encryption schemes usually exploit a pseudo-random encryption key generated by an algorithm although other encryption keys may be employed. It is in principle possible to decrypt the message without possessing the key, but, for a well-designed encryption scheme using such pseudo-random encryption keys, large computational resources and skill are required. An authorised recipient can easily decrypt the message with the key, provided by the originator to recipients but not to unauthorised interceptors.

Other techniques seeking to remedy the third party attacks and intercepts include Virtual Private Networks or The Onion Router (Tor) anonymity network can be used to encrypt traffic from the user machine to a safer network while GNU Privacy Guard (GPG), Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension (S/MIME) exploiting traditional public key cryptography, and SMEmail exploiting elliptic curve cryptography, can be used for end-to-end message encryption, and Simple Mail Transport Protocol and STARTTLS (SMTP over Transport Layer Security/Secure Sockets Layer) can be used to encrypt communications for a single mail hop between the SMTP client and the SMTP server.

However, these prior art methodologies are intended to protect the message by converting the plaintext at the sender's terminal to ciphertext for transmission before it is re-converted to plaintext at the receiver's (or recipient's) terminal. However, once decrypted the message content, now in plaintext is accessible to malware, Trojan horse software, etc. upon the recipient's terminal allowing its contents to be acquired and transmitted without the recipient's and/or sender's knowledge.

Accordingly, it would be beneficial to provide users with methods and systems enabling secure messaging to be undertaken as well as secure document transmission and viewing that overcomes the limitations within the prior art. Accordingly, beneficially embodiments of the invention provide secure messaging and secure document transmission even upon potentially compromised desktop computers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to address limitations within the prior art relating to messaging and encryption and more particularly to techniques for secure messaging and document viewing without exposing the decrypted message or document on a potentially compromised computer system.

In accordance with an embodiment of the invention there is provided a method comprising:encrypting the content with a first encryption key for transmission to the user to generate encrypted content;transmitting the encrypted content to the user;scanning the encrypted content; anddecrypting the scanned encrypted content with a second encryption key for presentation to the user.

In accordance with an embodiment of the invention there is provided executable software stored upon a non-transient physical medium, wherein the executable software when executed provides a user with access to a method of secure messaging, the method comprising the steps ofencrypting the content with a first encryption key for transmission to the user to generate encrypted content;transmitting the encrypted content to the user;scanning the encrypted content; anddecrypting the scanned encrypted content with a second encryption key for presentation to the user.

In accordance with an embodiment of the invention there is provided a method comprising the steps of encrypting the content with a first encryption key for transmission to the user to generate encrypted content, transmitting the encrypted content to the user over a network to a first electronic device, scanning the encrypted content when displayed on the first electronic device with a second electronic device, and decrypting the scanned encrypted content with a second encryption key for presentation to the user.

In accordance with an embodiment of the invention there is provided a method of providing content to a user comprising the steps of encrypting the content with a first encryption key for transmission to the user to generate encrypted content, and either removing all data relating to the encryption from the encrypted content file or replacing with data that appears to relate to the encryption but is not relating to the encryption performed.

In accordance with an embodiment of the invention there is provided a method comprising the steps of processing an encrypted file by scanning ciphertext within the encrypted file and applying a deciphering algorithm to the ciphertext in order to display readable plain text to a user, wherein the display providing the readable plain text to the user is a portable electronic device and the ciphertext is part of a printed document, an electronically displayed document, or electronic text contained within an electronic message.

In accordance with an embodiment of the invention there is provided a method comprising automatically enabling a software application when a location of an electronic device upon which the software application is installed is within a predetermined geographical region, and automatically disabling the software application when the location of an electronic device upon which the software application is installed is outside the predetermined geographical region.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention is directed to messaging and encryption and more particularly to techniques for secure messaging and document viewing without exposing the decrypted message or document on a potentially compromised computer system.

A “portable electronic device” (PED) as used herein and throughout this disclosure, refers to a wireless device used for communications and other applications that requires a battery or other independent form of energy for power. This includes devices, but is not limited to, such as a cellular telephone, smartphone, personal digital assistant (PDA), portable computer, pager, portable multimedia player, portable gaming console, laptop computer, tablet computer, and an electronic reader.

A “fixed electronic device” (FED) as used herein and throughout this disclosure, refers to a wireless and/or wired device used for communications and other applications that requires connection to a fixed interface to obtain power. This includes, but is not limited to, a laptop computer, a personal computer, a computer server, a kiosk, a gaming console, a digital set-top box, an analog set-top box, an Internet enabled appliance, an Internet enabled television, and a multimedia player.

An “application” (commonly referred to as an “app”) as used herein may refer to, but is not limited to, a “software application”, an element of a “software suite”, a computer program designed to allow an individual to perform an activity, a computer program designed to allow an electronic device to perform an activity, and a computer program designed to communicate with local and/or remote electronic devices. An application thus differs from an operating system (which runs a computer), a utility (which performs maintenance or general-purpose chores), and a programming tools (with which computer programs are created). Generally, within the following description with respect to embodiments of the invention an application is generally presented in respect of software permanently and/or temporarily installed upon a PED and/or FED.

A “social network” or “social networking service” as used herein may refer to, but is not limited to, a platform to build social networks or social relations among people who may, for example, share interests, activities, backgrounds, or real-life connections. This includes, but is not limited to, social networks such as U.S. based services such as Facebook, Google+, Tumblr and Twitter; as well as Nexopia, Badoo, Bebo, VKontakte, Delphi, Hi5, Hyves, iWiW, Nasza-Klasa, Soup, Glocals, Skyrock, The Sphere, StudiVZ, Tagged, Tuenti, XING, Orkut, Mxit, Cyworld, Mixi, renren, weibo and Wretch.

“Social media” or “social media services” as used herein may refer to, but is not limited to, a means of interaction among people in which they create, share, and/or exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks. This includes, but is not limited to, social media services relating to magazines, Internet forums, weblogs, social blogs, microblogging, wikis, social networks, podcasts, photographs or pictures, video, rating and social bookmarking as well as those exploiting blogging, picture-sharing, video logs, wall-posting, music-sharing, crowdsourcing and voice over IP, to name a few. Social media services may be classified, for example, as collaborative projects (for example, Wikipedia); blogs and microblogs (for example, Twitter™); content communities (for example, YouTube and DailyMotion); social networking sites (for example, Facebook™); virtual game-worlds (e.g., World of Warcraft™); and virtual social worlds (e.g. Second Life™).

An “enterprise” as used herein may refer to, but is not limited to, a provider of a service and/or a product to a user, customer, or consumer. This includes, but is not limited to, a retail outlet, a store, a market, an online marketplace, a manufacturer, an online retailer, a charity, a utility, and a service provider. Such enterprises may be directly owned and controlled by a company or may be owned and operated by a franchisee under the direction and management of a franchiser.

A “service provider” as used herein may refer to, but is not limited to, a third party provider of a service and/or a product to an enterprise and/or individual and/or group of individuals and/or a device comprising a microprocessor. This includes, but is not limited to, a retail outlet, a store, a market, an online marketplace, a manufacturer, an online retailer, a utility, an own brand provider, and a service provider wherein the service and/or product is at least one of marketed, sold, offered, and distributed by the enterprise solely or in addition to the service provider.

A ‘third party’ or “third party provider” as used herein may refer to, but is not limited to, a so-called “arm's length” provider of a service and/or a product to an enterprise and/or individual and/or group of individuals and/or a device comprising a microprocessor wherein the consumer and/or customer engages the third party but the actual service and/or product that they are interested in and/or purchase and/or receive is provided through an enterprise and/or service provider.

A “user” as used herein may refer to, but is not limited to, an individual or group of individuals who by their engagement with a service provider, third party provider, enterprise, social network, social media etc. via a dashboard, web service, website, software plug-in, software application, graphical user interface accesses, for example, electronic content and/or an electronic service. This includes, but is not limited to, private individuals, employees of organizations and/or enterprises, members of community organizations, members of charity organizations, men, women, children, and teenagers. In its broadest sense the user may further include, but not be limited to, software systems, mechanical systems, robotic systems, android systems, etc. that may be characterised by accessing, for example, electronic content and/or an electronic service.

“User information” as used herein may refer to, but is not limited to, user behavior information and/or user profile information. It may also include a user's biometric information, an estimation of the user's biometric information, or a projection/prediction of a user's biometric information derived from current and/or historical biometric information.

A “wearable device” or “wearable sensor” relates to miniature electronic devices that are worn by the user including those under, within, with or on top of clothing and are part of a broader general class of wearable technology which includes “wearable computers” which in contrast are directed to general or special purpose information technologies and media development. Such wearable devices and/or wearable sensors may include, but not be limited to, smartphones, smart watches, e-textiles, smart shirts, activity trackers, smart glasses, environmental sensors, medical sensors, biological sensors, physiological sensors, chemical sensors, ambient environment sensors, position sensors, neurological sensors, drug delivery systems, medical testing and diagnosis devices, and motion sensors.

“Electronic content” (also referred to as “content” or “digital content”) as used herein may refer to, but is not limited to, any type of content that exists in the form of digital data as stored, transmitted, received and/or converted wherein one or more of these steps may be analog although generally these steps will be digital. Forms of digital content include, but are not limited to, information that is digitally broadcast, streamed or contained in discrete files. Viewed narrowly, types of digital content include popular media types such as MP3, JPG, AVI, TIFF, AAC, TXT, RTF, HTML, XHTML, PDF, XLS, SVG, WMA, MP4, FLV, and PPT, for example, as well as others, see for example http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_file_formats. Within a broader approach digital content mat include any type of digital information, e.g. digitally updated weather forecast, a GPS map, an eBook, a photograph, a video, a Vine™, a blog posting, a Facebook™ posting, a Twitter™ tweet, online TV, etc. The digital content may be any digital data that is at least one of generated, selected, created, modified, and transmitted in response to a user request, said request may be a query, a search, a trigger, an alarm, and a message for example.

Reference to “content information” as used herein may refer to, but is not limited to, any combination of content features, content serving constraints, information derivable from content features or content serving constraints (referred to as “content derived information”), and/or information related to the content (referred to as “content related information”), as well as an extension of such information (e.g., information derived from content related information).

Reference to a “document” as used herein may refer to, but is not limited to, any machine-readable and machine-storable work product. A document may be a file, a combination of files, one or more files with embedded links to other files, etc. The files may be of any type, such as text, audio, image, video, etc. Parts of a document to be rendered to an end user can be thought of as “content” of the document. A document may include “structured data” containing both content (words, pictures, etc.) and some indication of the meaning of that content (for example, e-mail fields and associated data, HTML tags and associated data, etc.). In the context of the Internet, a common document is a Web page. Web pages often include content and may include embedded information (such as meta-information, hyperlinks, etc.) and/or embedded instructions (such as Javascript, etc.). In many cases, a document has a unique, addressable, storage location and can therefore be uniquely identified by this addressable location such as a universal resource locator (URL) for example used as a unique address used to access information on the Internet.

“Document information” as used herein may refer to, but is not limited to, may include any information included in the document, information derivable from information included in the document (referred to as “document derived information”), and/or information related to the document (referred to as “document related information”), as well as an extensions of such information (e.g., information derived from related information). An example of document derived information is a classification based on textual content of a document. Examples of document related information include document information from other documents with links to the instant document, as well as document information from other documents to which the instant document links.

“Encryption” (also referred to as encrypting) as used herein may refer to, but is not limited to, the process of encoding electronic content with the intention that only authorized parties (recipients) can read it. “Decryption” (also referred to as decrypting) as used herein may refer to, but is not limited to, the process of un-encoding electronic content with the intention that an authorized parties (recipients) can read it, wherein the electronic content has previously been encoded through an encryption technique. Encryption and decryption techniques may include, but are not limited to, symmetric encryption schemes wherein the encryption and decryption keys are the same such that the communicating parties must have the same key before they can achieve secret communication and asymmetric encryption schemes (also known as public-key encryption schemes) wherein the encryption key is published for anyone to use and encrypt messages but only the receiving party has access to the decryption key that enables messages to be read. Examples of symmetric key schemes include, but are not limited to, Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), Blowfish, Data Encryption Standard, Serpent, Twofish, and RC4 as well as others (see for example Wikipedia website article on Symmetric Key Algorithm). Examples of asymmetric key schemes include, but are not limited to, Diffie-Hellman key exchange, Digital Signature Standard, ElGamal, elliptic curve cryptography. Password-authenticated key agreements, Paillier cryptosystems, RSA, YAK, and Cramer-Shoup cryptosystem.

Now referring toFIG. 1Athere is depicted an overview of an embodiment of the invention. As depicted a sender1005wishes to send plaintext1010to a recipient1050who can also see it as received plaintext1085. Accordingly, the sender generates and encrypts the plaintext1010upon an electronic device, e.g. a PED or FED, with an encryption algorithm1055employing a first key1065to generate ciphertext1070. This ciphertext is transmitted to the recipient1050via a network1000using an EM scheme such as email, text, SMS, or social media posting for example. Accordingly, the ciphertext1070is received by the recipient upon an electronic device, e.g. a PED or FED, wherein the received ciphertext1095is then decrypted by a decryption algorithm1075to generate received plaintext1085which is then accessible to the recipient1050. The decryption algorithm employing a second key1080. Optionally, the recipient1050may send the sender1005a third key1060, via a second network1090, which they use as the first key1065to encrypt the plaintext1010, e.g. as within a symmetric key cryptographic methodology. Alternatively, the first key1065may be a public key and the second key1080is the private key, e.g. as within an asymmetric or public key cryptographic methodology.

Within embodiments of the invention, in contrast to the prior art, rather than the received ciphertext1095being processed directly by the decryption algorithm1075to generated received plaintext1085it is presented to the user as printed ciphertext1015or displayed ciphertext1020, e.g. upon a webpage or within an EM messaging system. In the instance of printed ciphertext1015this may be scanned using a handheld scanner1025, desktop scanner1030or PED1035to provide the content to decryption software1040applying the decryption algorithm1075with the second key1080. The output of the decryption software1040being received plaintext1085. Accordingly, whilstFIG. 1Adepicts an EM methodology from sender1005to recipient1050via network1000it would be evident that the ability to handle printed ciphertext1015allows for alternate transmission methodologies including, but not limited to, physical printing and mail (e.g. postal transmission) from sender to recipient, local printing of EM sent by sender1005to recipient1050, e.g. external to a firewall of the recipient's EM systems. Further, the displayed ciphertext1020allows a recipient to access a URL displaying the ciphertext1070, e.g. an unsecured PED or FED, acquire the ciphertext1070through optical character recognition (OCR) on another device, e.g. a PED, wherein the ciphertext1070is decrypted locally upon the another device.

Accordingly, within an embodiment of the invention an encrypted message or encrypted document can be viewed by a recipient using a PED, e.g. their smartphone, which is loaded with the embodied application. By “scanning” the encrypted ciphertext document, ciphertext webpage content, or ciphertext message using a camera within the PED followed by Optical Character Recognition (OCR) of the captured camera content then the ciphertext can be “scanned” and converted to plaintext in real time for presentation to the recipient (user) based upon the embodied application executing a decryption process upon the ciphertext. As such the presentation may be visually upon the user's PED, audiovisually on the user's PED, or audiovisually upon a wearable device of the user. Within other embodiments of the invention the ciphertext may be extracted from, for example, received emails, text messages, SMS messages, webpages etc. automatically and presented to the user directly upon a PED, for example. Alternatively, extraction and reception of the ciphertext may be performed upon a FED and transmitted locally within a network to the user's PED for deciphering and presentation.

Referring toFIG. 1Bthere is depicted a network environment100within which embodiments of the invention may be employed supporting password systems and/or password applications/providers (PSPAPs) according to embodiments of the invention. Such PSPAPs, for example support the provisioning of data to a user, e.g. electronic mail, the provisioning of services, e.g. online banking, online retail, etc., as well as other personal and work related resources, systems, data, etc. As shown first and second user groups100A and100B respectively interface to a telecommunications network100. Within the representative telecommunication architecture a remote central exchange180communicates with the remainder of a telecommunication service providers network via the network100which may include for example long-haul OC-48/OC-192 backbone elements, an OC-48 wide area network (WAN), a Passive Optical Network, and a Wireless Link. The central exchange180is connected via the network100to local, regional, and international exchanges (not shown for clarity) and therein through network100to first and second cellular APs195A and195B respectively which provide Wi-Fi cells for first and second user groups100A and100B respectively. Also connected to the network100are first and second Wi-Fi nodes110A and110B, the latter of which being coupled to network100via router105. Second Wi-Fi node110B is associated with Enterprise160, e.g. Google™, within which other first and second user groups100A are and100B. Second user group100B may also be connected to the network100via wired interfaces including, but not limited to, DSL, Dial-Up, DOCSIS, Ethernet, G.hn, ISDN, MoCA, PON, and Power line communication (PLC) which may or may not be routed through a router such as router105.

Within the cell associated with first AP110A the first group of users100A may employ a variety of PEDs including for example, laptop computer155, portable gaming console135, tablet computer140, smartphone150, cellular telephone145as well as portable multimedia player130. Within the cell associated with second AP110B are the second group of users100B which may employ a variety of FEDs including for example gaming console125, personal computer115and wireless/Internet enabled television120as well as cable modem105. First and second cellular APs195A and195B respectively provide, for example, cellular GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) telephony services as well as 3G and 4G evolved services with enhanced data transport support. Second cellular AP195B provides coverage in the exemplary embodiment to first and second user groups100A and100B. Alternatively the first and second user groups100A and100B may be geographically disparate and access the network100through multiple APs, not shown for clarity, distributed geographically by the network operator or operators. First cellular AP195A as show provides coverage to first user group100A and environment170, which comprises second user group100B as well as first user group100A. Accordingly, the first and second user groups100A and100B may according to their particular communications interfaces communicate to the network100through one or more wireless communications standards such as, for example, IEEE 802.11, IEEE 802.15, IEEE 802.16, IEEE 802.20, UMTS, GSM 850, GSM 900, GSM 1800, GSM 1900, GPRS, ITU-R 5.138, ITU-R 5.150, ITU-R 5.280, and IMT-1000. It would be evident to one skilled in the art that many portable and fixed electronic devices may support multiple wireless protocols simultaneously, such that for example a user may employ GSM services such as telephony and SMS and Wi-Fi/WiMAX data transmission, VOIP and Internet access. Accordingly portable electronic devices within first user group100A may form associations either through standards such as IEEE 802.15 and Bluetooth as well in an ad-hoc manner.

Also connected to the network100are Social Networks (SOCNETS)165, such as Facebook™, LinkedIn™, first and second services170A and170B respectively, e.g. US Medicare.GOV and Bank of America™, website170C, e.g. Second Life™, cloud based email service170D, e.g. Yahoo!™, EM system175A, e.g. Microsoft™ Outlook™, and digital document signature function175B, e.g. Adobe™ Acrobat, as well as first and second servers190A and190B which together with others, not shown for clarity. First and second servers190A and190B may host according to embodiments of the inventions multiple services associated with a provider of password systems and password applications/providers (PSPAPs); a provider of a SOCNET or Social Media (SOME) exploiting PSPAP features; a provider of a SOCNET and/or SOME not exploiting PSPAP features; a provider of services to PEDS and/or FEDS; a provider of one or more aspects of wired and/or wireless communications; an Enterprise160exploiting PSPAP features; license databases; content databases; image databases; content libraries; customer databases; websites; and software applications for download to or access by FEDs and/or PEDs exploiting and/or hosting PSPAP features. First and second primary content servers190A and190B may also host for example other Internet services such as a search engine, financial services, third party applications and other Internet based services.

Accordingly, a consumer and/or customer (CONCUS) may exploit a PED and/or FED within an Enterprise160, for example, and access one of the first or second primary content servers190A and190B respectively to perform an operation such as accessing/downloading an application which provides PSPAP features according to embodiments of the invention; execute an application already installed providing PSPAP features; execute a web based application providing PSPAP features; or access content. Similarly, a CONCUS may undertake such actions or others exploiting embodiments of the invention exploiting a PED or FED within first and second user groups100A and100B respectively via one of first and second cellular APs195A and195B respectively and first Wi-Fi nodes110A.

Now referring toFIG. 2there is depicted an electronic device204and network access point207supporting PSPAP features according to embodiments of the invention. Electronic device204may, for example, be a PED and/or FED and may include additional elements above and beyond those described and depicted. Also depicted within the electronic device204is the protocol architecture as part of a simplified functional diagram of a system200that includes an electronic device204, such as a smartphone155, an access point (AP)206, such as first AP110, and one or more network devices207, such as communication servers, streaming media servers, and routers for example such as first and second servers190A and190B respectively. Network devices207may be coupled to AP206via any combination of networks, wired, wireless and/or optical communication links such as discussed above in respect ofFIG. 1as well as directly as indicated. Network devices207are coupled to network100and therein Social Networks (SOCNETS)165, such as Facebook™, LinkedIn™, first and second services170A and170B respectively, e.g. US Medicare.GOV and Bank of America™, website170C, e.g. Second Life™ cloud based email service170D, e.g. Yahoo!™, EM system175A, e.g. Microsoft™ Outlook™ and digital document signature function175B, e.g. Adobe™ Acrobat,

The electronic device204includes one or more processors210and a memory212coupled to processor(s)210. AP206also includes one or more processors211and a memory213coupled to processor(s)210. A non-exhaustive list of examples for any of processors210and211includes a central processing unit (CPU), a digital signal processor (DSP), a reduced instruction set computer (RISC), a complex instruction set computer (CISC) and the like. Furthermore, any of processors210and211may be part of application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) or may be a part of application specific standard products (ASSPs). A non-exhaustive list of examples for memories212and213includes any combination of the following semiconductor devices such as registers, latches, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory devices, non-volatile random access memory devices (NVRAM), SDRAM, DRAM, double data rate (DDR) memory devices, SRAM, universal serial bus (USB) removable memory, and the like.

Electronic device204may include an audio input element214, for example a microphone, and an audio output element216, for example, a speaker, coupled to any of processors210. Electronic device204may include a video input element218, for example, a video camera or camera, and a video output element220, for example an LCD display, coupled to any of processors210. Electronic device204also includes a keyboard215and touchpad217which may for example be a physical keyboard and touchpad allowing the user to enter content or select functions within one of more applications222. Alternatively the keyboard215and touchpad217may be predetermined regions of a touch sensitive element forming part of the display within the electronic device204. The one or more applications222that are typically stored in memory212and are executable by any combination of processors210. Electronic device204also includes accelerometer260providing three-dimensional motion input to the process210and GPS262which provides geographical location information to processor210.

Electronic device204includes a protocol stack224and AP206includes a communication stack225. Within system200protocol stack224is shown as IEEE 802.11 protocol stack but alternatively may exploit other protocol stacks such as an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) multimedia protocol stack for example. Likewise AP stack225exploits a protocol stack but is not expanded for clarity. Elements of protocol stack224and AP stack225may be implemented in any combination of software, firmware and/or hardware. Protocol stack224includes an IEEE 802.11-compatible PHY module226that is coupled to one or more Front-End Tx/Rx & Antenna228, an IEEE 802.11-compatible MAC module230coupled to an IEEE 802.2-compatible LLC module232. Protocol stack224includes a network layer IP module234, a transport layer User Datagram Protocol (UDP) module236and a transport layer Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) module238.

Protocol stack224also includes a session layer Real Time Transport Protocol (RTP) module240, a Session Announcement Protocol (SAP) module242, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) module244and a Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) module246. Protocol stack224includes a presentation layer media negotiation module248, a call control module250, one or more audio codecs252and one or more video codecs254. Applications222may be able to create maintain and/or terminate communication sessions with any of devices207by way of AP206. Typically, applications222may activate any of the SAP, SIP, RTSP, media negotiation and call control modules for that purpose. Typically, information may propagate from the SAP, SIP, RTSP, media negotiation and call control modules to PHY module226through TCP module238, IP module234, LLC module232and MAC module230.

It would be apparent to one skilled in the art that elements of the electronic device204may also be implemented within the AP206including but not limited to one or more elements of the protocol stack224, including for example an IEEE 802.11-compatible PHY module, an IEEE 802.11-compatible MAC module, and an IEEE 802.2-compatible LLC module232. The AP206may additionally include a network layer IP module, a transport layer User Datagram Protocol (UDP) module and a transport layer Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) module as well as a session layer Real Time Transport Protocol (RTP) module, a Session Announcement Protocol (SAP) module, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) module and a Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) module, media negotiation module, and a call control module. Portable and fixed electronic devices represented by electronic device204may include one or more additional wireless or wired interfaces in addition to the depicted IEEE 802.11 interface which may be selected from the group comprising IEEE 802.15, IEEE 802.16, IEEE 802.20, UMTS, GSM 850, GSM 900, GSM 1800, GSM 1900, GPRS, ITU-R 5.138, ITU-R 5.150, ITU-R 5.280, IMT-1000, DSL, Dial-Up, DOCSIS, Ethernet, G.hn, ISDN, MoCA, PON, and Power line communication (PLC).

FIGS. 3A to 3Cdepict embodiments of the invention relating to receiving and decrypting electronic content by a user wherein a code, e.g. a Quick Response (QR) code, is captured by an application as part of the scanning acquisition of the ciphertext or separately in order to obtain data identifying private encryption key should be used to unlock or decrypt the appropriate symmetric key for use in decrypting and viewing the encrypted ciphertext to plaintext. Optionally, the QR code could also be used to identify which encryption/decryption standard is used for securing the ciphertext or electronic file. Alternatively, the QR code could itself also be in an encrypted format that can only be unlocked by the user's private key. Optionally, the QR code itself could contain hypertext relating which needs to be decrypted by the application before any of the processes can be performed as the hypertext relates to a hyperlink identifying a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) relating to the location of the encrypted text or file on the Internet, private network, etc.

Within the subsequent descriptions of embodiments of the invention terms such as scanning, performing a scan, a scan, etc. refer to a sequence of operations wherein content is captured using a first process, e.g. optically scanning or optically imaging the content to generate an optical image or images, and a second process, e.g. optical character recognition, to convert the image to cipher text. Similarly some steps have been omitted, e.g. displaying the decrypted plaintext to the user, in order to keep process descriptions focused to the steps relating to embodiments of the invention but such omitted steps would be evident to one of skill in the art.

Accordingly, referring toFIG. 3Athere is depicted a process comprising the steps of:Step310Start process;Step320Receive encrypted content and scan using PED with application;Step330Receive and scan QR code;Step335Determine private encryption key in dependence upon the QR code;Step340Decrypt using the selected private encryption key the received encrypted content; andStep345Stop process.

Now referring toFIG. 3Bthere is depicted a process comprising the steps of:Step350Steps310to335ofFIG. 3Ato receive content, receive QR code, and determine private encryption key wherein the private encryption key is encoded within the QR code;Step355“Unlock” the decryption key to be employed in decrypting the content using the private encryption key extracted from the QR code, e.g. by hashing the extracted private encryption key with a stored encrypted key, performing a predetermined mathematical process upon the extracted private encryption key, performing a predetermined mathematical process upon the extracted private encryption key incorporating the user's device identity so that the decryption is locked to a specific predetermined device, or unlocking the PEK from a key vault upon the recipient's electronic device; andStep360Steps340and345ofFIG. 3Ato decrypt content and stop the process.

Referring toFIG. 3Cthere is depicted a process comprising the steps of:Step350Steps310to335ofFIG. 3Ato receive content, receive QR code, and determine private encryption key wherein the private encryption key is encoded within the QR code;Step365Determine a second private encryption key, which may for example be according to one of the processes described in respect of step355inFIG. 3Bor through the unlocking of the second PEK from a key vault upon the recipient's electronic device;Step370Decrypt using the selected private encryption key the received encrypted content; andStep375Generate a reply to the sender in plaintext;Step380Encrypt the recipient's reply using the determined second private encryption key;Step385Transmit the encrypted replay to the sender; andStep390Stop process.

In this process as the second private encryption key is established in dependence upon data transmitted by the sender then the PEK employed is established by the sender and may be hidden or unknown to the sender.

Now referring toFIG. 4there is depicted an embodiment of the invention relating to receiving and decrypting electronic content by a user with parallel encoded transmission of decryption key identity comprising the steps;Step410Steps310to330ofFIG. 3Ato start the process receive and scan the content and receive and scan the QR code;Step420Decrypt the QR code using a first PEK;Step430Determine a second PEK based upon the information decrypted from the QR code;Step440Decrypt the received encrypted content with the second PEK; andStep450Stop the process.

In this manner the QR code may be decrypted using a first PEK established, for example, based upon information within the QR code that is not encrypted as the reference only points to the correct first PEK within the application discretely or combination with other information such as sender, recipient device identity, etc. Alternatively the first PEK may be established solely upon information such as sender, time, date, location, etc. Accordingly, electronic content may be distributed but only become unlockable based upon a subsequent event, e.g. predetermined location met, predetermined time met, or a new key vault is downloaded containing the PEK.

FIGS. 5A and 5Bdepict embodiments of the invention relating to receiving and decrypting electronic content by a user exploiting web pages. Accordingly, a QR code may contain hypertext which needs to be decrypted by the application before any of the electronic content can be accessed. As withFIG. 4the electronic content to be deciphered and presented to the user may be only provided at a later date/time or the user be attached to a private network containing the data to which the hypertext, e.g. hyperlink or URL, points. The decrypted QR code may also contain additional credentials and/or information.

Considering initiallyFIG. 5Athen the process comprises steps:Step510Start the process.Step515Receive and scan QR code;Step520Decrypt the QR code content with PEK;Step525Access URL using decrypted QR code dataStep530Retrieve (e.g. view) and scan the encrypted content;Step535Decrypt the retrieved encrypted content with the PEK;Step540Stop the process.

FIG. 5Bvaries the process slightly using two PEKs and comprises steps:Step550Comprising steps510to530ofFIG. 5Ato receive the QR code, decrypt the URL, access the URL, and retrieve the encrypted content;Step555Decrypt a second QR code embedded within the content retrieved from the URL;Step560Determine a second PEK in dependence upon the information decrypted from the QR code within the retrieved content;Step565Decrypt the retrieved encrypted content with the second PEK; andStep570Stop the process.

Within embodiments of the invention it would be apparent that as the information relating to the PEK to employ may be derived from a separate source than the actual electronic content being distributed then within some embodiments of the invention the encryption information within a file's meta-tag file header can be removed thereby enhancing security by removing any plain text identification of security methods that have been used to secure the file. This enhances cryptographic security, as a hacker has no information as to the format or attack methods to be used to compromise the secured message/file.

Referring toFIG. 6there is depicted a process flow according to an embodiment of the invention relating to transmitting content with meta-data removal or amendment to remove reference to encryption employed. The process flow comprising steps:Step610Start the processStep620Receive electronic content to transmit;Step630Remove encryption information from electronic content file header;Step640Determine whether to replace with false cryptographic information or leave blank;Step650Replace electronic content file header with incorrect cryptographic information upon determination in step640;Step660Leave electronic content file header blank based upon determination in step640;Step670Stop the process.

Based upon the user device upon which the decryption application is installed then embodiments of the invention may exploit locational awareness within the application in order to further enhance security as the location of viewing a document can also be employed in determining whether actions such as key retrieval, key generation, decryption, and encryption for example. By applying, for example, latitude and longitude location information or geotags which are embedded and/or encrypted within a QR code or the encrypted file header, for example, then the application can initially check that the electronic device is at the specified location or within an accepted range/boundary, i.e. a geo-fence, of the specified location before commencing the decryption process.

Within other embodiments, e.g. secure environments, then the decryption functionality may be locked permanently to a predetermined location or geo-location which may be determined, for example, through GPS determined coordinates, local wireless network proximity and/or identity, Bluetooth beacon connection/identity, or other location detecting means as known within the art. Referring toFIGS. 7 and 8there are depicted process flows relating to geotags/location/geo-fencing according to embodiments of the invention.

Referring toFIG. 7there is depicted an embodiment of the invention relating to receiving and decrypting electronic content received by a user with geotag/geofence policy management. The process comprising the steps:Step710Comprising steps410and420inFIG. 4the process starts, receives the scanned encrypted content, receives and scans a QR code, and then decrypts the QR code with a first private encryption key;Step720Establish geotag and/or geo-fence data from the decrypted QR code;Step730The application determines the geographic location of the user's electronic device;Step740A determination is made with respect to the current geographic location and the geotag and/or geo-fence data extracted from the decrypted QR code;Step750Where the determination in step740is that the user's electronic device location matches the geotag/geo-fence data extracted from the decrypted QR code then the process proceeds to unlock a second PEK before proceeding to step760;Step760Where the determination in step740is that the user's electronic device location does not match the geotag/geo-fence data extracted from the decrypted QR code then the process loops back to step730to acquire new location data; andStep770Once the second PEK has been unlocked in step760the process proceeds in step770to decrypt the received content using the second PEK and stop.

Now referring toFIG. 8there is depicted a process flow chart for an embodiment of the invention relating to decrypting electronic content based upon geotag/geofence policy management. The process comprising the steps:Step810Process starts.Step815Process establishes geotag and/or geo-fence data;Step820Determination is made of the current geo-location of the user's electronic device executing the application;Step825A determination is made with respect to the current geographic location and the geotag and/or geo-fence data, wherein if the user's electronic device location matches the geotag/geo-fence data then the process proceeds to step830otherwise if the determination is that the user's electronic device location does not match the geotag/geo-fence data then the process loops back to step820to acquire new location data;Step830With the geographic location matching the geotag and/or geo-fence data extracted from the decrypted QR code the process proceeds to unlock the decryption software;Step835With the decryption software enabled this enables QR code decryption, PEK retrieval, and content decryption as well as other functions of the decryption software;Step840A determination is made with respect to the current geographic location and the geotag and/or geo-fence data, wherein if the user's electronic device location matches the geotag/geo-fence data then the process proceeds to loop back to continuously monitor the location otherwise if the determination is that the user's electronic device location does not match the geotag/geo-fence data then the process proceeds to step845;Step845The decryption software is locked;Step850With the decryption software disabled then this disables QR code decryption, PEK retrieval, and content decryption as well as other functions of the decryption software, wherein the process loops back to step820.

It would be evident that the geolocation and geofencing enabling/disabling of a software application providing secure messaging functionality may also be applied to other software applications. Optionally, a software application providing secure messaging functionality may only display plaintext when the electronic device upon which it is installed upon is within the predetermined geolocation and/or geofence and will not save the plaintext.

With the descriptions of embodiments of the invention described supra in respect ofFIG. 3AtoFIG. 8the emphasis has been towards the receipt of encrypted electronic content and its subsequent decryption through scanning the electronically displayed encrypted electronic content or scanning a hard copy of the encrypted content. However, it would be evident to one skilled in the art that the same application or another application can be employed in reverse to create encipher content. In this process, the user would use a PED, e.g. their smartphone or tablet, to scan plaintext and convert it to cipher-text, to be sent to selected user in a secure manner. Accordingly, referring toFIG. 9there is depicted a process flow according to an embodiment of the invention relating to transmitting content by encrypting electronic content generated by a user with parallel encoded transmission of decryption key identity. The process comprising the steps:Step910The process starts;Step915Content for encryption is scanned;Step920A first PEK is determined;Step925The scanned content is encrypted with the first PEK;Step930The encrypted content is posted to a URL;Step935A second PEK is determined;Step940The first PEK is encrypted into a QR code using the second PEK;Step945The QR code is posted to the URL; andStep950The process stops.

It would be apparent to one skilled in the art that embodiments of the invention allow for secure messaging of encrypted files which can be delivered as electronic file documents, subsequently scanned by an application from a display or hard copy, and then the application decrypts the encrypted information into plaintext for viewing on the user's electronic device.

Within the embodiments of the invention described supra in respect ofFIG. 1andFIG. 3AtoFIG. 9codes where employed for the transfer of information have been described as being QR codes. Such QR codes may be established at a variety of data types (mode or input character set), versions (i.e. overall dimensions), and error correction levels. It would also be evident that data may be encoded within only a portion or predetermined portions of a QR code whilst the remainder of the QR code may be obfuscating code. Optionally, a single QR code may be employed with multiple users wherein due to the settings of their application it is targeted at a different section of the QR code. In addition to QR codes it would be evident that other types of matrix barcode and linear barcodes may be employed including, but not limited to, the alternative linear barcodes and two-dimensional (2D or matrix) barcode symbologies may be found listed in Wikipedia, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcode#Symbologies, and within the references referred to therein.

It would be apparent to one skilled in the art that embodiments of the invention allow for the use of multiple encryption keys and encryption methods to be used by the application, as these may be loaded and/or selected into the application based upon a code, e.g. a QR code scanned in association with the received encrypted file. This code may establish the encryption key to be employed directly or provide a pointer to a stored encryption key, e.g. within an encryption key vault on the user's device.

Optionally embodiments of the invention may be embedded into third party software applications, e.g. electronic mail applications, word processors, social media applications etc., such that encrypted content can only be decrypted and displayed when the electronic device is within a predetermined location, such as determined by Wi-Fi access point identity for example, geographic location or geographic boundary, such as determined by GPS for example. In such instances, features such as saving etc. may be similarly disabled unless the saved file is an encrypted file.

It would be apparent to one skilled in the art that embodiments of the invention allow for decryption of a document without transmitting the document to the electronic device decrypting it nor for decryption software to be on the electronic device where the document is being displayed. Accordingly, malware attacks upon the electronic device receiving the encrypted information cannot access the decrypted contents as they are never generated upon the device receiving the decrypted content.

It would be apparent to one skilled in the art that a message may be generated containing content for multiple users and distributed to all simultaneously. However, only that portion of the message intended for a specific recipient would be decrypted with their private encryption key whilst other elements would not be converted.

It would be apparent to one skilled in the art that secure messages can be printed and mailed on paper or embedded as part of product packaging, for example. Accordingly, for example, personal information relating to a purchaser could be encrypted, attached or form part of a product, and then be shipped with the product such that only the recipient can retrieve the information. Alternatively, each motor vehicle sold may be identified with an encoded code upon its dashboard, similar to a Vehicle Identification Number, but now only accessible by the purchaser of the vehicle wherein subsequently vehicle history, GPS data, or other information may be accessed through a unique URL associated to the vehicle wherein only the purchaser of the vehicle can access it. However, subsequently upon verified sale of the vehicle to the manufacturer or a licensing authority the URL may be associated to a new unique URL and a new unique encryption key etc. issued.

It would be evident that whilst the embodiments of the invention remove many of the drawbacks of viewing and receiving content upon electronic devices which may have malware etc. they do not remove many of the advantages of public and/or private key encryption including the ability to age keys, issue keys, rotate keys, etc.

For a firmware and/or software implementation, the methodologies may be implemented with modules (e.g., procedures, functions, and so on) that perform the functions described herein. Any machine-readable medium tangibly embodying instructions may be used in implementing the methodologies described herein. For example, software codes may be stored in a memory. Memory may be implemented within the processor or external to the processor and may vary in implementation where the memory is employed in storing software codes for subsequent execution to that when the memory is employed in executing the software codes. As used herein the term “memory” refers to any type of long term, short term, volatile, nonvolatile, or other storage medium and is not to be limited to any particular type of memory or number of memories, or type of media upon which memory is stored.

The methodologies described herein are, in one or more embodiments, performable by a machine which includes one or more processors that accept code segments containing instructions. For any of the methods described herein, when the instructions are executed by the machine, the machine performs the method. Any machine capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine are included. Thus, a typical machine may be exemplified by a typical processing system that includes one or more processors. Each processor may include one or more of a CPU, a graphics-processing unit, and a programmable DSP unit. The processing system further may include a memory subsystem including main RAM and/or a static RAM, and/or ROM. A bus subsystem may be included for communicating between the components. If the processing system requires a display, such a display may be included, e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD). If manual data entry is required, the processing system also includes an input device such as one or more of an alphanumeric input unit such as a keyboard, a pointing control device such as a mouse, and so forth.

The memory includes machine-readable code segments (e.g. software or software code) including instructions for performing, when executed by the processing system, one of more of the methods described herein. The software may reside entirely in the memory, or may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the RAM and/or within the processor during execution thereof by the computer system. Thus, the memory and the processor also constitute a system comprising machine-readable code.

In alternative embodiments, the machine operates as a standalone device or may be connected, e.g., networked to other machines, in a networked deployment, the machine may operate in the capacity of a server or a client machine in server-client network environment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer or distributed network environment. The machine may be, for example, a computer, a server, a cluster of servers, a cluster of computers, a web appliance, a distributed computing environment, a cloud computing environment, or any machine capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. The term “machine” may also be taken to include any collection of machines that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.