Patent ID: 8838975

Claim:
A method for providing authentication information from a client device to an authentication device, the method comprising: generating, at the client device, a private key K priv associated with the client device, and a public key K pub paired to the private key K priv ; transmitting K pub to the authentication device; transmitting, to the authentication device, a first message comprising K pub and information derived from authentication data, the authentication data being associated with K pub and having been generated and stored by the authentication device, such that the authentication device can verify the first message using the information derived from the authentication data and, if said information is verified, store K pub ; storing, at the client device, an encrypted private key E Kpriv comprising the private key K priv encrypted using a key K(P) derived from a previously provided password P, wherein the password P is unavailable for verification on the client device or the authentication device after storing the encrypted private key E Kpriv and prior to receiving an input password P′ at the client device; receiving the input password P′at the client device; deriving, at the client device, a key K(P′) from the input password P′, wherein the key K(P′) is derived from the input password P′ using a same method used to derive the key K(P) from the previously provided password P; applying a decryption algorithm, at the client device using the key K(P′), to the stored encrypted private key E Kpriv to provide a signing value; in response to applying the decryption algorithm to the stored encrypted private key E Kpriv , digitally signing a second message using the signing value; and transmitting the digitally signed second message to the authentication device, the authentication device being configured to verify a digital signature of the digitally signed second message using the paired public key K pub , wherein when the authentication device fails to verify the digital signature of the digitally signed second message, a mismatch between the previously provided password P and the input password P′ is detected.