Google Inc.

Sheldon Israel Walfish

Gang Wang

Philipp Hertel

Sashikanth Chandrasekaran

Marcel M Moti Yung

Alexander Hertel

Orest Bolohan

Bo Zhu

William Douglas Cox

Dirk Balfanz

Paul Lee

Dan Moisa

Yilei Wang

Zhihong Xu

Gene Sokolov

Steven Viavant

Breno Fonseca De Medeiros

Alexander W Hertel

The present disclosure provides computing systems in which respective quorums of computing nodes securely manage respective secrets associated with cryptographic ledgers according to threshold secret sharing schemes. In particular, membership in the quorums can be changed dynamically and unpredictability to improve security of the quorums against adversarial attacks in which adversaries attempt to compromise or gain control of the computing nodes. More specifically, by changing membership in the quorum dynamically and unpredictability, the ability of the adversary to control at any given time a threshold number of the current members of the quorum and gain access to the secret is dramatically reduced.

Scalable security for cryptographic ledgers via dynamic and unpredictable changes to quorum memberships

Systems and methods described herein are directed to a browser mode that provides a secure type of browsing window or a public type of browsing window. Within the secure type of browsing window, systems and methods may enforce all connections as being over Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS). Within the public type of browsing window, connections that require login, text entry, or HTTPS are prevented since session cookies and browsing activity from the public type of window may be eavesdropped by a third party. The browser provides separate cookie jars (which store the browser cookies) for the secure type window and the public type window.

Facilitating secure web browsing on untrusted networks

Processing of point of sale ('POS') redemptions via a 'tap' of a contactless device comprises a POS data collector that facilitates a connection with a contactless device. A merchant scans items for purchase using a POS scanner, which captures product identification information. The POS scanner forwards the product identification information to a POS terminal. The POS data collector intercepts the product identification information between the POS scanner and the POS terminal. A user taps the contactless device in the POS data collector's radio frequency field, and a communication channel is established between the contactless device and the POS data collector. The POS data collector identifies the user via the contactless device and identifies coupons, merchant offers, and other value-added services to redeem with the transaction. The POS data collector forwards this information to the POS terminal, the redemptions are applied to the transaction, and the communication is terminated.

Point of sale offer redemptions

A processing system periodically configures a beacon code and random nonce to transmit to a beacon device at a location. Multiple users enter the location with associated user computing devices. The user computing devices retransmit the beacon code broadcasted by the beacon device to the processing system. A particular user initiates a transaction at a computing device at the location, which transmits to the processing system a request for account data and retransmits the beacon code and a random nonce. The processing system verifies the beacon code and random nonce and transmits, to the computing device at the location, user account identifiers associated with user computing devices that retransmitted the beacon code. The processing system receives a selection of the user identifier from the merchant point of sale device and transmits account information to the computing device at the location.

Network security based on proximity

Using a Bluetooth communication channel for point of sale processing simulates a near field communication connection. A contactless device and the point of sale reader establish an unsecure communication channel. The user taps the contactless device with a point of sale terminal reader. The contactless device creates receive signal strength indicator ('RSSI') value spikes. The terminal reader measures the RSSI values and transmits them to the contactless device, which determines if the RSSI value reaches or exceeds a threshold configured for the contactless device. If the threshold is reached, the terminal reader and the contactless device establish a secure communication connection. The devices communicate via the secure communication connection, and the connection is terminated when a request to terminate is received.

Detecting a communication tap via signal monitoring

Systems and methods provide a user with secure access to a web site at a first client device without having to enter login information, such as a username and password, at that device. For example, the first device may request access to user information from a server system. The server may generate a session ID, associate it with the first device, and encode it into a bar code that is displayed at the first device. Using camera functions, a second client device may identify and decode the bar code to determine the session ID. The login information may be entered into the second device in order to establish a secure connection with the server. The second device may transmit the session ID to the server system. The server may identify the first client device based on the common session ID and transmit the requested user information to the first device.

Out-of band authentication of browser sessions

Growing community of inventors

Palo Alto, CA, United States of America

Sheldon Israel Walfish