IP Library Granted Patent US 12695738
Granted Patent B2
US 12695738 · App. 18/658,046 · Granted Jul 28, 2026

Systems and methods for dynamic protection of wireless communication protocols utilizing steganographic keys and dual-layer certificate authentication

Inventors: Maneesh Kumar Sethia (Hyderabad, IN); Jieh-Shan Lin (Harrisburg, NC); Gowri Sundar Suriyanarayanan (Chennai, IN)
Assignee: BANK OF AMERICA CORPORATION
H04L63/0823H04L63/10
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12695738
App. No.
18/658,046
Granted
Jul 28, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

Systems, computer program products, and methods are described herein for dynamic protection of wireless communication protocols utilizing steganographic keys and dual-layer certificate authentication. The present disclosure is configured to identify the type of network to which a user device is connected, determine whether the network is approved, public, or captive, and provide a recommendation to enable wireless protection mode for untrusted networks. The system generates an on-demand protection key via a steganography server and signs it using a wireless protection certificate through a “Key in Key” (KIK) mechanism. The transaction application validates the certificate and encrypts sensitive transaction data using the on-demand key. Only packets that successfully validate the certificate are processed, while others are ignored. This dual-layer authentication prevents unauthorized packet-in-packet attacks and ensures data integrity and confidentiality across various wireless networks.

Claims (47)

1 . A system for dynamic protection of wireless communication protocols utilizing steganographic keys and dual-layer certificate authentication, the system comprising:

a processing device;

a non-transitory storage device containing instructions when executed by the processing device, causes the processing device to perform the steps of:

identify a network type to which a user device is connected, wherein the network type includes one of an approved network, a public network, or a captive network;

generate an option within a transaction application interface to allow a user to add trusted networks, bypassing a wireless protection mode, wherein the trusted networks are stored in a secure SQLite database reducing prompts for protection mode;

provide a recommendation to enable the wireless protection mode for public or captive networks based on one or more identified potential security issues;

transmit an option via the transaction application interface to approve enabling the wireless protection mode, wherein the transmission of the option via the transaction application interface is implemented using: AlertDialog for Android or UIAlertController for iOS for pop-up notifications;

generate a request to a steganography server to generate an on-demand protection key and a wireless protection certificate;

receive the on-demand protection key signed with the wireless protection certificate via the steganography server using a Key in Key (KIK) mechanism;

validate the wireless protection certificate within the transaction application and extract the on-demand protection key from a packet;

encrypt sensitive transaction data within the packet using the on-demand protection key; and

approve only packets that successfully validate the wireless protection certificate and ignore packets that do not successfully validate the wireless protection certificate.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the system is further configured to: generate an approved list of trusted networks and store the approved list in a secure database on the user device.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the steganography server is configured to: generate the on-demand protection key using a Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA) or Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) algorithm.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the steganography server is configured to: sign the on-demand protection key with a wireless protection certificate using an X.509 standard.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the system is further configured to provide the recommendation for wireless protection mode based on predefined security criteria stored in a javascript object notation (JSON) configuration file.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the system is further configured to identify the network type using a NEHotspotNetwork.fetchCurrent (completionHandler:) function in iOS or a ConnectivityManager class in Android.

7 . A computer program product for dynamic protection of wireless communication protocols utilizing steganographic keys and dual-layer certificate authentication, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising code causing an apparatus to:

identify a network type to which a user device is connected, wherein the network type includes one of an approved network, a public network, or a captive network;

generate an option within a transaction application interface to allow a user to add trusted networks, bypassing a wireless protection mode, wherein the trusted networks are stored in a secure SQLite database reducing prompts for protection mode;

provide a recommendation to enable the wireless protection mode for public or captive networks based on one or more identified potential security issues;

transmit an option via the transaction application interface to approve enabling the wireless protection mode, wherein the transmission of the option via the transaction application interface is implemented using: AlertDialog for Android or UIAlertController for iOS for pop-up notifications;

generate a request to a steganography server to generate an on-demand protection key and a wireless protection certificate;

receive the on-demand protection key signed with the wireless protection certificate via the steganography server using a Key in Key (KIK) mechanism;

validate the wireless protection certificate within the transaction application and extract the on-demand protection key from a packet;

encrypt sensitive transaction data within the packet using the on-demand protection key; and

approve only packets that successfully validate the wireless protection certificate and ignore packets that do not successfully validate the wireless protection certificate.

8 . The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the code further causes the apparatus to: generate an approved list of trusted networks and store the approved list in a secure database on the user device.

9 . The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the steganography server is configured to generate the on-demand protection key using a Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA) or Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) algorithm.

10 . The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the steganography server is configured to: sign the on-demand protection key with a wireless protection certificate using an X.509 standard.

11 . The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the code further causes the apparatus to provide the recommendation for wireless protection mode based on predefined security criteria stored in a javascript object notation (JSON) configuration file.

12 . The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the code further causes the apparatus to: identify the network type using a NEHotspotNetwork.fetchCurrent(completionHandler:) function in iOS or a ConnectivityManager class in Android.

13 . A method for dynamic protection of wireless communication protocols utilizing steganographic keys and dual-layer certificate authentication, the method comprising:

identify a network type to which a user device is connected, wherein the network type includes one of an approved network, a public network, or a captive network;

generate an option within a transaction application interface to allow a user to add trusted networks, bypassing a wireless protection mode, wherein the trusted networks are stored in a secure SQLite database reducing prompts for protection mode;

provide a recommendation to enable the wireless protection mode for public or captive networks based on one or more identified potential security issues;

transmit an option via the transaction application interface to approve enabling the wireless protection mode, wherein the transmission of the option via the transaction application interface is implemented using: AlertDialog for Android or UIAlertController for iOS for pop-up notifications;

generate a request to a steganography server to generate an on-demand protection key and a wireless protection certificate;

receive the on-demand protection key signed with the wireless protection certificate via the steganography server using a Key in Key (KIK) mechanism;

validate the wireless protection certificate within the transaction application and extract the on-demand protection key from a packet;

encrypt sensitive transaction data within the packet using the on-demand protection key; and

approve only packets that successfully validate the wireless protection certificate and ignore packets that do not successfully validate the wireless protection certificate.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the system is further configured to: generate an approved list of trusted networks and store the approved list in a secure database on the user device.

15 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the steganography server is configured to: generate the on-demand protection key using a Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA) or Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) algorithm.

16 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the steganography server is configured to: sign the on-demand protection key with a wireless protection certificate using an X.509 standard.

17 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the method further comprises: provide the recommendation for wireless protection mode based on predefined security criteria stored in a javascript object notation (JSON) configuration file.

18 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the method further comprises: identify the network type using a NEHotspotNetwork.fetchCurrent (completionHandler:) function in iOS or a ConnectivityManager class in Android.