Method for binding a security element to a mobile device
According to an aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of binding a security element to a device, comprising: generating a passkey to encrypt the security element, the passkey being a combination of attributes, and one of the attributes being a Device ID associated with said device. Preferably, the device is a mobile device. The combination of attributes may include the following: a) a build secret, the build secret consisting of a string which is generated when the software application is created; b) a salt, the salt consisting of a random string; wherein the build string and the salt are stored as non-printable strings within encryption code of the passkey.
1. A method of binding a security element to a device, comprising:
a) generating a build secret comprising a random string that is generated when a software application is created and stored as at least one non-printable string within code of said software application;
b) generating a passkey to encrypt said security element on said device, said passkey being a combination of attributes associated with said device, wherein said attributes include a Device ID and said build secret;
c) encrypting said security element on said device using said passkey; and
d) retrieving said Device ID from said device as part of decrypting said security element.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said device is a mobile device.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein said Device ID is one of: a serial number; an IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) number; a digest or hash value derived from a phone number; or a digest or hash value derived from an email address.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said combination of attributes additionally includes one or more of the following attributes:
a) a salt, said salt consisting of a random string;
b) a user passphrase, said user passphrase consisting of a string input by the user;
c) an application ID associated with a program used by said device;
d) a network ID associated with a network service provider used by said mobile device.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein said user passphrase is used as an attribute and decryption of said security element requires input of said user passphrase.
6. The method of claim 4 , wherein said Device ID is one of: a serial number; an IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) number; a digest or hash value derived from a phone number; or a digest or hash value derived from an email address.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein said security element is an OTP (One Time Password) credential for use with a secure server.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein said Device ID is one of: a serial number; an IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) number; a digest or hash value derived from a phone number; or a digest or hash value derived from an email address.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein said random string is segmented into non-printable strings that are stored in different parts of said code of said software application.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein said Device ID is one of: a serial number; an IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) number; a digest or hash value derived from a phone number; or a digest or hash value derived from an email address.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein said Device ID is one of: a serial number; an IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) number; a digest or hash value derived from a phone number; or a digest or hash value derived from an email address.
12. A method of supplying a software application for encrypting a security element using the method in claim 1 .
13. A method of supplying a software application for encrypting a security element using the method in claim 2 .
14. A method of supplying a software application for encrypting a security element using the method in claim 4 .
15. A method of supplying a software application for encrypting a security element using the method in claim 7 .
16. A method of supplying a software application for encrypting a security element using the method in claim 5 .
17. A method of supplying a software application for encrypting a security element using the method in claim 9 .
18. A method of supplying a software application for encrypting a security element using the method in claim 11 .