Patent Publication Number: US-2013246793-A1

Title: Method and apparatus for encryption and pass-through handling of confidential information in software applications

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 11/918,093 filed May 6, 2008, which in turn is a National Phase entry of PCT Application No. PCT/CA2007/000939, filed May 29, 2007, which claims priority from Canadian Application No. 2,550,698, filed Jun. 19, 2006, each of which is hereby fully incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     FIELD OF INVENTION 
     This invention is in the field of transmission of data over computer networks and more particularly to methods and apparatus for secure transmission of sensitive information contained in the data. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Secure transfer of information over a network has been a vital concern since the inception of networked computing. The problem of transferring confidential information from one point to another across an untrusted network has been a fundamental problem of disturbed computing. 
     Various schemes, most involving encryption of some sort have been devised to circumvent this problem. Typically, data to be securely transmitted between one computer and a remote computer is encrypted before transmission to the remote computer using an encryption algorithm, such as public key encryption. Additionally, it is common for a message authentication code to be generated for the data so that a remote computer can confirm the data received and unencrypted is correct. 
     However, while the data might be secure during the actual transmission of the data between the two computers, any software-to-software solution has a fundamental weakness; the human-to-computer interface. Regardless of how secure the endpoint or remote computer is; regardless of the strength of the encryption algorithm; the sensitive information must somehow be transferred on to the computer before it can be transported across the network. 
     This weakness can be exploited by looking for sensitive information when a user types the sensitive information into an application, such as when a user fills out a form on a web page while using a web browser. Viral programs can monitor keyboard inputs made to a web browser or other application, attempting to collect sensitive information like a user&#39;s credit card number and related information. 
     Additionally, viral programs can also monitor data passed out of applications that the viral program suspects may contain sensitive information. For example, even if a viral program does not collect information a user inputs into an application, for example the user&#39;s sensitive information is gathered by the application itself, the viral program can collect information at it is passed out of the application. If the application is a web browser, the viral program could collect http requests made by the web browser, before the data is encrypted in the hopes of obtaining sensitive information belonging to the user, such as his or her credit card number and related information. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus that overcomes problems in the prior art. 
     In a first aspect of the invention, a method of securely transmitting sensitive information to a remote device at the request of an application program and a computer readable memory having recorded thereon statements and instructions for execution by a data processing system to carry out the method are provided. The method comprises: generating a request, with the application program, to a secure channel provider to make a transmission to a remote device; passing a first message from the application program to the secure channel provider, the first message containing insertion point codes indicating locations within the first message where the sensitive information should be inserted, when the secure channel provider receives the first message; obtaining the sensitive information from a source outside of the application program; inserting the sensitive information into the first message at the locations in the first message indicated by the insertion point codes to form a second message containing the sensitive information; encrypting the second message to form an encrypted unit; and transmitting the encrypted unit to the remote device. The sensitive information is unaccessed by the application program during the execution of the method. 
     In a second aspect of the invention, a method of securely transmitting sensitive information to a remote device at the request of an application program is provided. The method comprises: generating a request to transmit data and a first message, with the application program located on a data processing system, to a secure channel provider located on the data processing system, to make a transmission to a remote device; inserting insertion point codes in the first message, the insertion point codes indicating locations within the first message where sensitive information should be inserted; passing the first message to the secure channel provider; passing the first message to a cryptographic service provider located on a peripheral device; in response to the cryptographic service provider receiving the first message, obtaining the sensitive information from a card reader on the peripheral device and inserting the sensitive information into the first message at the locations in the first message indicated by the insertion point codes to form a second message containing the sensitive information and determining a message authentication code for the second message; passing the message authentication code from the cryptographic service provider to the secure channel provider; in response to the secure channel provider receiving the message authentication code, appending the message authentication codes to the first message to form a first unit containing the first message and the message authentication code; passing the first unit to the cryptographic service provider; in response to the cryptographic service provider receiving the first unit, obtaining the sensitive information, inserting the sensitive information into the second message contained in the first unit at the locations in the data indicated by the insertion point codes to form the second message containing the sensitive information and forming a second unit containing the second message and the message authentication code before encrypting the second unit containing the sensitive information to form an encrypted unit; passing the encrypted unit to the secure channel provider; and in response to the secure channel provider receiving the encrypted unit, transmitting the encrypted unit to the remote device. Only the cryptographic service provider has access to the sensitive information in an unencrypted from during the execution of the method. 
     In a third aspect of the invention, a data processing system securely transmitting sensitive information to a remote device at the request of an application program is provided. The data processing system comprises: at least one processing unit; at least one memory storage device operatively coupled to the processing unit; and a program module stored in the at least one memory storage device operative for providing instructions to the at least one processing unit, the at least one processing unit responsive to the instructions of the program module. The program module operative for: invoking an application program and a secure channel provider; generating a request with the application program, to the secure channel provider to make a transmission to a remote device; passing a first message from the application program to the secure channel provider, the first message containing insertion point codes indicating locations within the first message where the sensitive information should be inserted when the secure channel provider receives the first message; obtaining the sensitive information from a source outside of the application program; inserting the sensitive information into the first message at the locations in the first message indicated by the insertion point codes to form a second message containing the sensitive information; encrypting the second message to form an encrypted unit; and transmitting the encrypted unit to the remote device with the secure channel provider. The sensitive information is unaccessed by the application program during the execution of the method. 
     In a fourth aspect of the invention, a system for securely transmitting sensitive information to a remote device at the request of an application program is provided. The system comprises: a peripheral device operative to receive input containing the sensitive information; and a data processing system, operatively coupled to the peripheral device and operative to receive data from the peripheral device. The data processing system having: at least one processing unit; at least one memory storage device operatively coupled to the processing unit; and a program module stored in the at least one memory storage device operative for providing instructions to the at least one processing unit, the at least one processing unit responsive to the instructions of the program module. The program module operative for: invoking an application program and a secure channel provider; generating a request with the application program, to the secure channel provider to make a transmission to a remote device; passing a first message from the application program to the secure channel provider, the first message containing insertion point codes indicating locations within the first message where the sensitive information should be inserted when the secure channel provider receives the first message; transmitting the first message to the periphery device; in response to receiving an encrypted unit from the periphery device, transmitting the encrypted unit to the remote device. The periphery device is operative for: invoking a cryptographic service provider; in response to receiving the second message from the data processing system; obtaining the sensitive information from a source; inserting the sensitive information into the first message at the locations in the first message indicated by the insertion point codes to form a second message containing the sensitive information; encrypting the second message to form an encrypted unit; and transmitting the encrypted unit to data processing system. The sensitive information is unaccessed by the application program during the execution of the method. 
    
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       While the invention is claimed in the concluding portions hereof, preferred embodiments are provided in the accompanying detailed description which may be best understood in conjunction with the accompanying diagrams where like parts in each of the several diagrams are labeled with like numbers, and where: 
         FIG. 1  is schematic illustration of a conventional data processing system, in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic illustration of a first network configuration in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a flowchart illustrating a conventional method of securely transmitting data to a remote device; 
         FIG. 4  is an illustration of the alteration of the data by the method illustrated in the flowchart of  FIG. 3  to prepare the data for transmission to the remote device; 
         FIG. 5  is a flowchart illustrating a method of securely transmitting data to a remote device in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG. 6  is an illustration of the alteration of the data by the method illustrated in the flowchart of  FIG. 5  to prepare the data for transmission to the remote device; 
         FIG. 7  is a schematic illustration of a further embodiment of a network configuration in accordance with the present invention; 
         FIG. 8  is a flowchart illustrating a method securely transmitting data to a remote device in accordance with a further embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 9  is a flowchart illustrating a method of securely transmitting data to a remote device in accordance with a further embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 10  is an illustration of the alteration of the data by the method illustrated in the flowchart of  FIG. 9  to prepare the data for transmission to the remote device. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENT 
     The methods and apparatuses provided in accordance with the present invention allow a means of dynamically inserting sensitive information into a data stream during the encryption process so that sensitive information cannot be stolen from the stream. It also provides provisions for generating a message authentication code (MAC) containing the sensitive information without making the sensitive information available. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates a data processing system  1  suitable for supporting the operation of methods in accordance with the present invention. The data processing system  1  typically comprises: at least one processing unit  3 ; a memory storage device  4 ; at least one input device  5 ; a display device  6  and a program module  8 . 
     The processing unit  3  can be any processor that is typically known in the art with the capacity to run the program and is operatively coupled to the memory storage device  4  through a system bus. In some circumstances the data processing system  1  may contain more than one processing unit  3 . The memory storage device  4  is operative to store data and can be any storage device that is known in the art, such as a local hard-disk, etc. and can include local memory employed during actual execution of the program code, bulk storage, and cache memories for providing temporary storage. Additionally, the memory storage device  4  can be a database that is external to the data processing system  1  but operatively coupled to the data processing system  1 . 
     The input device  5  can be any suitable device suitable for inputting data into the data processing system  1 , such as a keyboard, mouse or data port such as a network connection and is operatively coupled to the processing unit  3  and operative to allow the processing unit  3  to receive information from the input device  5 . The display device  6  is a CRT, LCD monitor, etc. operatively coupled to the data processing system  1  and operative to display information. The display device  6  could be a stand-alone screen or if the data processing system  1  is a mobile device, the display device  6  could be integrated into a casing containing the processing unit  3  and the memory storage device  4 . 
     The program module  8  is stored in the memory storage device  4  and operative to provide instructions to processing unit  3  and the processing unit  3  is responsive to the instructions from the program module  8 . 
     Although other internal components of the data processing system  1  are not illustrated, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that only the components of the data processing system  1  necessary for an understanding of the present invention are illustrated and that many more components and interconnections between them are well known and can be used.  FIG. 2  illustrates a network configuration wherein the data processing system  1  is connected over a network  55 , such as the internet, to a remote device  50 , such as a web server. The remote device  50  could be web server operating as an online retailer through a set of web pages or any other entity that the user of the data processing system  1  wishes to securely transmit sensitive information to. 
     Furthermore, the invention can take the form of a computer readable medium having recorded thereon statements and instructions for execution by a data processing system  1 . For the purposes of this description, a computer readable medium can be any apparatus that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The medium can be an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system (or apparatus or device) or a propagation medium. Examples of a computer-readable medium include a semiconductor or solid state memory, magnetic tape, a removable computer diskette, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a rigid magnetic disk and an optical disk. Current examples of optical disks include compact disk-read only memory (CD-ROM), compact disk-read/write (CD-R/W) and DVD. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates a flowchart of a conventional method of encrypting data to be transmitted to a remote device  50 . In this conventional method, sensitive information is encrypted and transmitted to the remote device  50 . Sensitive information can be any type of information that a user would like to protect. For example, when a user is transmitting his or her credit card number over the interne to a remote server, the user would like the transmission of his or her credit card information to be transmitted in a secured fashion so that the data is protected from interception by a third party as it is being transmitted to the server, so that the user does not have to worry about the third party obtaining his or her credit card information. This sensitive information could also be personal information, such as the user&#39;s contact information, or any information that a user does not want to be potentially seen by a third party. 
     An application  110  has data containing sensitive information that the application  110  would like to transmit to the remote device  50  over a secure connection. Typically, the application  110  would be a web browser and the data would be transmitted by a HTTP request (rather than being simply applicable to HTML, the present invention could be equally applicable to other types of applications such as XML, SOAP, etc.). The user would input the information to be transmitted, including the sensitive information, to the data processing system  1  and directly to the application  110 , such as by the user filling in a form or text box on the web page they are accessing using the web browser. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , the user typically inputs information into the data processing system  1 , running the application  110 , by the means of an input device  5  such as a keyboard. For example, the user may wish to transmit his or her credit card number to the remote device  50 , in order to make an online purchase. The user types his or her credit card information into the form provided by the web page using the input device  5 . The application  110  then gathers this information inputted by the user and bundles it as the data to be transmitted in the HTTP request to the secure channel provider  120 . 
     Alternatively, the information may be stored in the memory of the data storage device  4  and at the prompting of the user, the application  110  collects the sensitive information from the memory storage device  4  and bundles the sensitive information in a message to be transmitted to the remote device  50 . The application  110  takes the data and bundles it into the body of the HTTP request as a message and passes the message containing the sensitive information to a secure channel provider  120 . The secure channel provider  120  is a system operative to provide a secure connection to the remote server  50  and is typically a secure socket layer (SSL), transport layer security (TLS) or other set of software services that are capable of providing secured transmissions. 
     The secure channel provider  120  establishes a connection to the remote device  50  and prepares the message for transmittal. 
     The a secure channel protocol implementation engine  122  of the secure channel provider  120  prepares the message for transmission by having the message encrypted for transmission as well as adding a message authentication tag to the data. The secure channel protocol implementation engine  122  passes the message containing the sensitive information, to be transmitted to the remote device  50 , to the cryptographic service provider  130 . First, the secure channel protocol implementation engine  122  passes the message to the cryptographic service provider  130 , along with a secret key, to determine a message authentication code (MAC or tag) at step  132  for the data to be appended to the message. The MAC allows the remote device  50  to authenticate the message when it has received and decrypted the message. 
     After the cryptographic service provider  130  determines a MAC for the message at step  132 , the cryptographic service provider  130  passes the MAC back to the secure channel provider  120  and the secure channel protocol implementation engine  122  appends the MAC to the message. 
     Next, the secure channel protocol implementation engine  122  passes the message and the appended MAC, out of the secure channel provider  120 , and back to the cryptographic service provider  130  to be encrypted at step  134 . The cryptographic service provider  130  encrypts the message and the appended MAC into an encrypted unit, at step  134 , and returns the encrypted unit to the secure channel provider  120  and the secure channel protocol implementation engine  122 , where the encrypted unit is passed to a transfer via secure channel protocol  124  that adds a header to the encrypted unit and transmits the encrypted unit to the remote device  50 . 
     Upon receiving the encrypted unit, the remote device  50  decrypts the encrypted unit and uses the MAC to authenticate the data. 
       FIG. 4  illustrates how the data is altered in the conventional method illustrated by the flowchart in  FIG. 3 , to prepare it for transmittal to the remote device  50 . Referring to  FIGS. 3 and 4 , the application  110  makes the request for a secure transmission of data and passes the message  160  to the secure channel provider  120 . At this point, the message  160  is unencrypted. The secure channel provider  120  passes the message  160  to the cryptographic service provider  130  where a MAC  162  is determined for the data  160  and the MAC  162  is passed back to the secure channel provider  120  where the secure channel provider  120  appends the MAC  126  to the message  160 , to form a message unit  170 . 
     The secure channel provider  120  then passes the message unit  170  back to the cryptographic service provider  130  where the message unit  170  is encrypted and an encrypted unit  180  is passed back to the secure channel provider  120 , where a header  185  is appended to the encrypted unit  180  forming a data packet  190  which is then transmitted to the remote device  50 . 
     While this method does protect a user from third parties that intercept the data packet  190  from obtaining the sensitive information, it does have security flaws. Specifically, if a viral program is monitoring inputs to the application  110  or outputs of the application  110 , the sensitive information is accessible in an unencrypted state, either when a user inputs the sensitive information to the application  110  or when the application transfers the message containing the sensitive information to the secure channel provider  120 . 
       FIG. 5  is a flowchart of a method of encrypting data to be transmitted to a remote device  50 , in accordance with the present invention. Rather than allowing an application  210  access to sensitive information, the application  210  and a secure channel provider  220  never have access to the sensitive information in an unencrypted form, so that any data passed to or from the application  210  and secure channel provider  220  that is intercepted by a viral program will not result in a third party obtaining the sensitive information. 
     The application  210  has sensitive information that the application  210  would like to transmit to the remote device  50  over a secure connection. Typically, if the application  210  is a web browser, the application  210  generates an HTTP request to be transmitted to the remote device  50 . 
     Rather than having the user input the sensitive information into the data processing system  1  through the application  210  directly, the application  210  generates a first message without inserting the sensitive information into the message. 
     For example, if the application  210  is a web browser accessing a web page that requests a user&#39;s credit card number, rather than having the user enters his or her credit card number into the application  210 , the application  210  will assemble the first message with the sensitive information in the form of the credit card number and related information absent. 
     Before the first message is passed to a secure channel provider  220 , a process  205  intercepts the first message and inserts insertion point codes (IPCs) into the first message to indicate where sensitive information is expected to be in the first message by the remote device  50 . Additionally, the process  205  can optionally insert padding elements into the first message to allow varying lengths of sensitive information to be added to the first message without affecting the length of the first message. 
     Alternatively, rather than the process  205  inserting the IPC codes into the first message after it passes out of the application  210 , in some embodiments of the present invention, the application  210  may insert the IPC codes while generating the first message for the request, such as by the application  210  containing the process  205  to insert the IPC codes, or alternatively, if the application  210  is a web browser accessing a web page, the web page could either already contain the IPCs or generate the IPCs. 
     The first message, containing the inserted IPCs, is then passed to the secure channel provider  220 . 
     The secure channel provider  220  establishes a secure connection to the remote device  50  and a secure channel protocol implementation engine  222  deals with determining a message authentication code (or MAC) for the message and having the message encrypted before transmission. The a secure channel protocol implementation engine  222  passes the first message, containing the IPCs, to the cryptographic service provider  230  to have a MAC generated at step  232 . 
     Rather than the cryptographic service provider  230  generating a MAC for the first message with the IPCs contained within, the first message is passed to an insertion method  250 , with access to the sensitive information, and the sensitive information is inserted in the first message, by replacing the IPC codes with the sensitive information, to form a second message containing the sensitive information. Additionally, if padding elements was inserted by the process  205 , the padding elements may be adjusted if the sensitive information is of such a length that it is needed to maintain an identical buffer length. For example, if a name is part of the sensitive information, padding elements can be removed for names that are longer than expected. 
     If the message is fragmented into a number of smaller units for transmission, the padding can be used to place a portion of the sensitive information all in one fragment, if the message is broken up in an IPC. 
     A MAC for the second message containing the sensitive information is determined at step  232  and the MAC passed back to the secure channel provider. 
     When the MAC is determined, the MAC is passed back to the secure channel provider  220 . The MAC that was determined for the second message with the sensitive information inserted is returned. The second message, however, is not passed back to the secure channel provider  220 . 
     The secure channel provider  220  appends the MAC, received from the cryptographic service provider  230 , to the first message containing the IPCs, to form a first unit and the first unit containing the first message with the IPCs inserted and the appended MAC is passed back to the cryptographic service provider  230  to encrypt the first unit. 
     When the cryptographic service provider  230  receives the first unit containing the first message with the IPC codes inserted and the MAC determined for the second message with the sensitive information added, rather than encrypting this first unit, the first unit is passed to the insertion method  250 . The insertion method  250  obtains the sensitive information from a source  240  outside the application program  210  and inserts the sensitive information into the first message in the first unit, using the IPCs to indicate where the sensitive information should be inserted forming a second unit containing the second message and the appended MAC. This second unit is then encrypted by the cryptographic service provider  230 , at step  234 , to form an encrypted unit from the second unit, with the second message containing the sensitive information and the appended MAC encrypted at step  234 . 
     The source  240  can be the memory storage device  4  of the data processing system  1 , a user&#39;s input through a keyboard or from another program other than the application program  210   
     The encrypted unit is then passed back to the secure channel protocol implementation engine  222  in the secure channel provider  220  and passed to a transfer via secure channel protocol  224  where a header is attached to the encrypted unit to form a data packet and the data packet is transmitted to the remote device  50 . 
       FIG. 6  illustrates a how the data is altered to prepare it for transmittal in accordance with the present invention. Referring to  FIGS. 5 and 6 , the application  210  passes a first message  260  containing IPCs rather than the sensitive information to the secure channel provider  220 . The secure channel provider  220  passes the first message  260  to the cryptographic service provider  230 . The cryptographic service provider  230  uses the insertion method  250  to insert the sensitive information into the first message  260  resulting in a second message  265 , containing the sensitive information. The second message  265  containing the sensitive information is used by the cryptographic service provider  230  to determine a MAC  262 . The MAC  262 , alone, is passed to the secure channel provider  220  and the MAC  262  is appended to the first message  260 , containing the IPCs, to form a first unit  270 , containing the first message  260  with the IPCs inserted and the MAC  262  determined for the second message  265 . 
     This first unit  270  is passed from the secure channel provider  220  to the cryptographic service provider  230  where the cryptographic service provider  230  uses the insertion method  250  to insert the sensitive information into the first message  260 , containing the IPCs, to result in the second message  265 , containing the sensitive information, in addition to the MAC  262 , together forming a second unit  275 . This second unit  275  is then encrypted by the cryptographic service provider  230  to form an encrypted unit  280  which is passed back to the secure channel provider  220 . At this point, although the secure channel provider  220  has access to the encrypted unit  280  that contains the second message  265  with the sensitive information, the second message is in an encrypted form and the secure channel provider  220  or the application  210  have never had access to the second message  265 , containing the sensitive information, when it is not in an encrypted form. 
     The secure channel provider  220  adds a header  285  to the encrypted unit  280  to form a data packet  290  and the data packet  290  is then ready to be transmitted to the remote unit  50 . 
     In this manner, the application  210  and the secure channel provider  220  are provided with access to the sensitive information in an unencrypted state. Viral programs resident on the data processing system  1  that are monitoring, either keyboard inputs or data passed out of the application  210 , attempting to grab sensitive information, will not be able grab the sensitive information because the application  210  and the service channel provider  220  never have the sensitive information in an unencrypted state. 
     The method illustrated in  FIG. 5  have the application  210 , secure channel provider  220  and cryptographic service provider  230  all resident on the data processing system  1 . The sensitive information can be made accessible to the insertion method  250  by having the sensitive information stored on a storage device  4 , either encrypted or unencrypted so that insertion method  250  accesses the sensitive information when requested, or alternatively, a user could input the sensitive information manually into the data processing system  1  at the prompting of the insertion method  250  or through other input means, like a peripheral device, that inputs the information to the data processing system  1 . 
       FIG. 7  illustrates a further embodiment a data processing system  1  operatively coupled to a peripheral device  80 , in accordance with a further embodiment of the present invention. Typically the peripheral device  80  contains a card reader, key pad, or other system allowing information to be input to the peripheral device  80 . The peripheral device  80  could also be magnetic stripe reader, smart/ship card reader, contactless/RFID reader, USB storage device, USB portable application enabled device, optical drive, cellular phone, blackberry, etc. For example, if the sensitive information is credit card information, the peripheral device  80  could be a card reader and the sensitive information to be transmitted could be obtained by a user swiping their credit card in the peripheral device  80 . Alternatively, the peripheral device  80  could be a memory device, such as a USB key or optical drive, and sensitive information relating to a user could be stored in memory on the peripheral device  80 . 
     In an aspect, the data processing system  1  and peripheral device  80  shown in  FIG. 7  could be used such that the sensitive information  240 , shown in  FIG. 5 , is obtained from the peripheral device  80 . The sensitive information  240  is passed from the peripheral device  80  to the cryptographic service provider  230  resident on the data processing system  1 , where the sensitive information is then inserted using the insertion method  250  into the first message. The sensitive information  240  could be passed unencrypted from the peripheral device  80  to the data processing system, however, in a further aspect, the peripheral device  80  could encrypt the sensitive information before passing it to the cryptographic service provider  230  on the data processing system  1 . The cryptographic service provider  230  would then decrypt the sensitive information as part of the insertion method  250  before the unecrypted sensitive information is inserted in the first message using the insertion method  250 . 
       FIG. 8  illustrates a further embodiment of a method of encrypting data to be transmitted to a remote device  50 , using the data processing system  1  and peripheral device  80 , in accordance with the present invention. The method illustrated in  FIG. 8  is similar to the method illustrated in  FIG. 5 ; however, the cryptographic service provider  230  is resident on the peripheral device  80 . The connection between the data processing system  1  could be an unsecured connection, such as a USB, serial or other direct connection, if the peripheral device  80  and the data processing system  1  are not connected through a network or alternatively, if the connection between the data processing system  1  and the peripheral device  80  is accessible by outside sources, the connection between the data processing system  1  and the peripheral device  80  could be a separate secure connection. 
     When a first message containing IPCs is passed to the secure channel  220 , the secure channel protocol implementation engine  222  of the secure channel  220  passes the first message with the IPCs to the cryptographic service provider  230  by passing the first message from the data processing system  1  to the peripheral device  80 , such as by a USB connection, etc. The cryptographic service provider  230  uses the insertion method  250  to obtain the sensitive information from a source  240  and insert the sensitive information into the first message in the locations indicated by the IPCs, forming a second message containing the sensitive information. The cryptographic service provider  230  then determines a MAC for the second message containing the sensitive information, at step  232 . 
     Typically, the source  240 , in this embodiment is a card reader, RFID tag reader or keyboard located on the periphery device  80 . 
     The cryptographic service provider  230  passes the MAC determined for the second message, containing the sensitive information, back to the secure channel provider  220 ; passing the MAC, alone, from the peripheral device  80  to the data processing unit  1 . The cryptographic service provider  230  appends the MAC to the first message, containing the IPC codes, that the secure channel provider  220  has access to, forming a first unit containing the first message and the appended MAC. 
     The secure channel provider  220  passes the first unit to the cryptographic service provider  230 ; passing the unit from the data processing unit  1  to the peripheral device  80 . The cryptographic service provider  230  uses the insertion method  250  to add the sensitive information to the first message, contained in the first unit, at the locations indicated by the IPCs to from a second unit containing the second message and the MAC and encrypts this second unit to form an encrypted unit. 
     The encrypted unit is passed back to the secure channel provider  220 , passing it from the peripheral device  80  to the data processing system  1 , before placing a header on the encrypted data in a transfer via secure channel protocol  224  and transmitting the encrypted unit to the remote device  50 . 
     In this manner, not only do the application  210  and the secure channel provider  220  never have access to the sensitive information in an unencrypted state, but the sensitive information never exists on the data processing system  1  in an unencrypted state. Rather, the sensitive information only exists in an unencrypted form on the peripheral device  80 . This peripheral device  80  is typically a card reader, key pad or combination, but can be any peripheral device  80  that can implement the cryptographic service provider  230  and insertion method  250  and has access to the sensitive information, for example the peripheral device  80  could be a separate computer. 
     Additionally, to further prevent any change of viral programs, the peripheral device  80  could be based on an entirely hardware device with embedded code. 
     Additionally, although the diagram of  FIG. 8  illustrates the cryptographic service provider  230  alone is resident on the peripheral device  80 , it is contemplated that secure service provider  220  and cryptographic service provider  230  could be both resident on the peripheral device  80 . 
       FIG. 9  illustrates a method in accordance with a further embodiment of the present invention wherein the sensitive information is inserted in the first message at the secure channel provider  220  to form a second message. 
     In this method, rather than the cryptographic service provider  230  calling an insertion method  250  to have the sensitive information inserted in the first message, containing IPCs, to form a second message, containing the sensitive information, after the first message is passed to the secure channel provider  220 . The secure channel protocol implementation engine  222  calls an insertion method  250  to insert the sensitive information in the first message, using the IPCs as guides, and forming a second message. The secure channel protocol implementation engine  222  passes the second message containing the sensitive information to the cryptographic service provider  230  where a MAC is calculated for the second message at step  232  and then the second message, containing the sensitive information is encrypted to form an encrypted unit, at step  234 , before a header is added to the encrypted unit to form a data packet and the data packet transmitted to the remote device  50 . 
       FIG. 10  illustrates how the data is altered to prepare it for transmittal in accordance with the present invention. Referring to  FIGS. 9 and 10 , the application  210  passes a first message  260 , containing IPCs, rather than the sensitive information to the secure channel provider  220 . The secure channel provider  220  calls the insertion method  250 , which inserts the sensitive information into the first message, forming a second message  265  containing the sensitive information. The secure channel provider  220  passes the second message  265  containing the sensitive information to the cryptographic service provider  230  where a MAC  262  is calculated for the second message  265  containing the sensitive information. 
     The MAC  262  is appended to the second message  265 , containing sensitive information, to form a unit  275  and the cryptographic service provider  230  then encrypts the unit  275  to from an encrypted unit  280 . The secure service provider  220  then adds a header  285  to the encrypted unit  280  to from a data packet  290  and the data packet  290  is ready for transmission to the remote device  50 . 
     In the method illustrated in  FIGS. 9 and 10 , although the secure channel provider  220  has access to the sensitive information in an unencrypted state and is therefore not as secure as the method illustrates in  FIG. 5  or  7 , the application  210  still never has access to the sensitive information in an unencrypted state and therefore if viral programs intercept data entering or exiting the application  210 , they will not have access to the sensitive information. 
     The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous changes and modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all such suitable changes or modifications in structure or operation which may be resorted to are intended to fall within the scope of the claimed invention.