Patent ID: 8738898

Claim:
A method of securely connecting a first device (A) to a second device (B) using a third party authentication server (AS) coupled to the second device, wherein: (i) the first device and the authentication server both have first device shared secret data (SSDa) shared by said authentication server and said first device but not shared with said second device; (ii) the first device shared secret data (SSDa) is stored on a user-insertable and user-removable hardware module inserted into said first device or a proxy device which is able to communicate with said first device; (iii) the second device and the authentication server both have second device shared secret data (SSDb) shared by said authentication server and said second device but not shared with said first device; and (iv) the second device shared secret data (SSDb) is stored on a user-insertable and user-removable hardware module inserted into said second device or a proxy device which is able to communicate with said second device; the method comprising: receiving a request from the first device at the authentication server; the authentication server and the first device both generating a first device key (K_A) using the first device shared secret data in response to a first device random number (RANDa) sent from the authentication server to the first device; the authentication server and the second device both generating a second device key (K_B) using the second device shared secret data in response to a second device random number (RANDb) sent from the authentication server to the second device; and the authentication server securely forwarding to the second device (B) and the first device (A) a common key (K_AB) using the second and first device keys (K_B, K_A).