Methods and systems for determining the authenticity of a component using elliptic-curve cryptography

Abstract

Method of determining authenticity of an item using an elliptic curve E defined over a finite field F, where q is an integer, the method comprising: generating a random integer j, where the random integer j is in the interval of one to the integer q; calculating a point T=j·S, where point S is a point on elliptic curve E(F); calculating a binary value k which is equal to the binary random integer j with a bitmask m applied thereto; sending point T and binary value k to the item; and the item iteratively calculating point U=n·S for different values of integer n, where for each iterative calculation integer n takes different values, wherein for each iteration: the bits of binary integer n corresponding to the unmasked bits of bitmask m are the same as the corresponding bits of binary random integer j; and the bits of binary integer n corresponding to the masked bits of bitmask m are varied in each iteration.