Northern Arizona University

USA As Represented by Secretary of the Navy

Christopher Robert Philabaum

Bertrand Francis Cambou

Donald A Telesca, Jr

H Shelton Jacinto

Sareh Assiri

Dennis D Booher

Jordan A Wright

Alyssa J Stenberg

Stefan W Nelson

Bahattin Yildiz

Michael Gowanlock

Dina Ghanaimiandoab

Kaitlyn Lee

Systems and methods for providing authentication and secure cryptographic communication between a client and server are described. The client includes an addressable array of PUF devices. The client receives or generates a set of instructions usable to determine a range of PUF addresses. The client measures the PUF addresses and generates a first set of responses. The responses are used to encrypt a session key, which is stored, along with the instructions and a hash of the responses, at the client. Later, the client may recover the session key by using the instructions to measure the PUF again, resulting in a second set of responses. Using a response-based cryptography search engine, the client may then iteratively modify and hash the second set of responses until a response set is uncovered that matches the first response set. This modified response set may then be used to uncover the session key.

Systems and methods using search engines to generate cryptographic keys from erratic physical unclonable functions

Systems and methods of improving public key infrastructure using PUF arrays are disclosed. The systems and methods are usable to improve PKI based on Lattice and Code cryptography. In the disclosed system, a client device includes an enrolled PUF array, and a server device acting as a Certification Authority includes an image of the PUF array including previously measured responses data for the devices in the PUF array. The CA sends a set of addresses to the client device, which generates a public key from measuring the response of PUF devices with the addresses. The CA receives the generated public key, and determines that the enrolled PUF was used to generate the key.

PUF based key generation for lattice and code cryptography

A computing device includes an array of addressable elements. Each addressable element is a hardware element that generates a substantially consistent response when interrogated. The device includes a processor coupled to the array of addressable elements and configured to communicate using a communication network. The processor receives a public key, and processes the public key to produce at least a set of addresses. Each address in the set of addresses identifies one or more hardware elements in the array of addressable elements. The processor generates a set of responses by interrogating the one or more hardware elements in the array of addressable elements identified by the set of addresses according to a set of reading instructions, appends the responses in the set of responses to generate a private key, receives an encrypted message and decrypts the encrypted message using the private key to generate an unencrypted message.

Key exchange schemes with addressable elements

Systems and methods of authentication and encrypted communication between a server and client devices using independently-generated shared encryptions keys are disclosed. Client devices with arrays of physical-unclonable-function devices are respond to challenges from a server. Characteristics of the arrays are stored by the server during a secure enrollment process. Subsequently, the server issues challenges to the clients. The clients derive encryption keys from their responses to those challenges generated by the clients from characteristics of portions of the arrays specified by the challenges. The clients send messages encrypted with the client-generated encryption keys to the server. The server uses the stored characteristics to independently reproduce the client-generated encryption key. When the server-generated encryption key matches the client-generated key, the clients may be authenticated and the clients can communicate securely with the server without exchanging encryption keys. Ternary PUF characterization schemes may be used to achieve acceptable authentication error rates.

Response-based cryptography using physical unclonable functions

Growing community of inventors

Flagstaff, AZ, United States of America

Christopher Robert Philabaum