Method for using dynamic Public Key Infrastructure to send and receive encrypted messages between software applications

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The present invention relates generally to software applications communicating by encrypting messages using dynamic Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). More specifically, the present invention relates to generating private and public keys, sharing the public keys between the software applications, using the public keys to encrypt messages, sending the encrypted messages between the software applications, validating the authenticity of the encrypted messages, texting fraud alerts to smart phones if the authenticity of the encrypted messages has been compromised, emailing fraud alerts to email addresses if the authenticity of the encrypted messages has been compromised, and black listing the IP Address of the software application that sent an invalid message.

Data communications between software applications are not as secure as they should be. Many software applications communicate by symmetric key encryption using a single key that is shared. There are other software applications that use asymmetric encryption using Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) by using public and private keys. If the private key is compromised, the communication link is not secure and the person or software snooping on the communication link can read all the messages communicated.

Using symmetric encryption with a shared key and asymmetric encryption with PKI public and private keys are not enough to prevent the communication link between software applications from hackers. What is needed is a method of using dynamic PKI where every message sent between applications are encrypted with a new set of public and private key pair that are dynamically generated and to text a fraud alert message to mobile phones, send fraud alert email to email addresses and black list the IP Address of the application if the communication link has been compromised.

In a typical application, two software applications, Application A and Application B, would like to send and receive messages such as text or binary data. Application A and B generate their own PKI public and private key pairs. To initiate the communication link between Application A and Application B, Application A sends its public key to Application B. Application B then sends its public key to Application A. Now application A and B have each other's public keys and the communication can begin.

Application A wants to send a message to Application B. First, Application A builds the message using the following format:

[IP Address]:[Command]:[Message]

[IP Address] represents the IP Address of the application. [Command] represents a text that both Application A and Application B know in advance. [Message] represents any text or binary data. Once Application A builds the message according to the format [IP Address]:[Command]:[Message], Application A uses Application B's public key to encrypt the message using an asymmetric encryption algorithm. Application A then generates a new PKI public and private key pair. Application A then sends the encrypted message and its new PKI public key to Application B. When Application B receives the encrypted message from Application A and Application A's new PKI public key, Application B uses its PKI private key to decrypt the encrypted message using an asymmetric decryption algorithm. If the [Command] is readable and represents one of the known [Command] by Application B, the message is authentic and it has not been compromised. Application B then sends Application A an acknowledgement message that it has successfully received the encrypted message by first building the message according to the format:

[IP Address]:[Command]:[Message]

Next, Application B uses the received Application A's new PKI public key to encrypt the acknowledgement message using an asymmetric encryption algorithm. Application B then generates a new public and private key pair. Application B then sends the encrypted acknowledgment message and its new PKI public key to Application A.

If Application B does not understand [Command], Application B texts a fraud alert message to mobile phones specified by the creator of the Application B, sends a fraud alert message to email addresses specified by the creator of the Application B, and black lists the IP Address of Application A and prevents Application A from further communication.

When Application A receives the acknowledgement message and Application B's new PKI public key, Application A uses its new PKI private key to decrypt the encrypted acknowledgement message using an asymmetric decryption algorithm. If the [Command] is readable and represents one of the known [Command] by Application A, the message is authentic and it has not been compromised. If Application A does not understand [Command], Application A texts a fraud alert message to mobile phones specified by the creator of Application A, sends a fraud alert message to email addresses specified by the creator of the Application A, and black lists the IP Address of Application B and prevents Application B from further communication.

This process continues until Application A or Application B terminates the communication link.

FIG. 1 illustrates the process of the present invention.

The invention is now described in detail with reference to an embodiment thereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawing. In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide thorough understanding of the present disclosure. It is apparent, however, to one skilled in the art, that the present disclosure may be practiced without some or all of these specific details. In other instances, well known process steps and/or structures have not been described in detail in order not to unnecessarily obscure the present disclosure. In addition, while the disclosure is described in conjunction with the particular embodiment, it should be understood that this description is not intended to limit the disclosure to the described embodiment. To the contrary, the description is intended to cover alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims.

FIG. 1 illustrates the process of the present invention for sending and receiving secured messages between software applications by first generating PKI public and private keys, sharing public keys, building a message, encrypting the message, generating new PKI public and private keys, sending the message and the new PKI public key, validating the message, sending fraud alerts, black listing IP Addresses, sending acknowledgement message and validating authenticity of acknowledgement message.

First the program starts at Step 110 . The program then continues to Step 120 where Application A and Application B generates PKI public and private key pairs and continues to Step 130 . At Step 130 , Application A sends Application B its PKI public key. Application B sends Application A its PKI public key.

Once PKI public keys are shared between Application A and Application B, a communication link is established between Application A and Application B. Application A wants to send Application B a message by first building the message at Step 140 of the format:

[IP Address]:[Command]:[Message]

[IP Address] represents the IP Address of the application. [Command] represents a text that both Application A and Application B know in advance. [Message] represents any text or binary data. After building the message at Step 140 , the program continues to Step 150 .

At Step 150 , Application A uses Application B's public key that was generated at Step 120 to encrypt the message using an asymmetric encryption algorithm and continues to Step 160 . At Step 160 , Application A generates a new PKI public and private key pair and continues to Step 170 . At Step 170 , Application A sends the encrypted message and its new PKI public key to Application B and continues to Step 180 . At Step 180 , Application B receives the encrypted message from Application A and Application A's new PKI public key, Application B uses its private key generated at Step 120 to decrypt the encrypted message using an asymmetric decryption algorithm and continues to Step 190 . At Step 190 , If the [Command] is readable and represents one of the known [Command] by Application B, the message is authentic and it has not been compromised and the program continues to Step 210 . At Step 210 , Application B builds the acknowledgment message according to the format:

[IP Address]:[Command]:[Message]

[IP Address] represents the IP Address of the application. [Command] represents a text that both Application A and Application B know in advance. [Message] represents any text or binary data. After building the acknowledgement message, the program continues to Step 220 . At Step 220 , Application B uses the received Application A's new PKI public key that was generated at Step 160 to encrypt the acknowledgement message using an asymmetric encryption algorithm and continues to Step 230 . At Step 230 , Application B generates a new public and private key pair and continues to Step 240 . At Step 240 , Application B sends the encrypted message and its new PKI public key to Application A.

At Step 190 , if Application B does not understand [Command], the program continues to Step 200 where Application B texts a fraud alert message to mobile phones specified by the creator of the Application B, sends a fraud alert message to email addresses specified by the creator of the Application B, and black lists the IP Address of Application A and prevents Application A from further communication and continues to Step 300 where the program ends.

When Application A receives the acknowledgement message and Application B's new PKI public key that was sent to Application A at Step 240 , the program continues to Step 250 . At Step 250 , Application A uses its new PKI private key that was generated at Step 160 to decrypt the encrypted acknowledgement message using an asymmetric decryption algorithm and continues to Step 260 . If the [Command] is readable and represents one of the known [Command] by Application A, the message is authentic and it has not been compromised and the program continues to Step 300 where the program ends. At Step 260 , if Application A does not understand [Command], the program continues to Step 270 where Application A texts a fraud alert message to mobile phones specified by the creator of Application A, sends a fraud alert message to email addresses specified by the creator of the Application A, and black lists the IP Address of Application B and prevents Application B from further communication and continues to Step 300 where the program ends.