JP3327377B2 - Public Key Certificate Management Method in Authentication System - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a public key certificate in an authentication system for notifying the expiration date of a public key certificate managed in an authentication system for verifying the validity of a public key used in a public key cryptosystem. It relates to the certificate management method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When realizing electronic data exchange (EDI) and electronic commerce (EC) on a computer network, threats such as eavesdropping / spoofing / falsification / transmission denial are assumed. . Therefore, in order to protect the system from these threats, encryption communication and digital signature communication are generally used. This encryption method is described in, for example, the reference document “Diff
ie, W. and Helman, M .: New Directions in Cryptograph
y, IEEE Trans.Inf.Theory, IT-22,6 pp.644-654,1976 ''
It has been widely known in the world.

In such a public key cryptosystem, communication is performed using two types of keys: a public key that is widely publicized in general and a secret key that can be known only by the user. Here, simply by publicizing the public key, there is a threat called "spoofing" that disguises itself as another person, so it is necessary to have a third party that proves that the public key is the legitimate owner. That is what is called a certification authority (CA).

[0004] An authentication system including this certificate authority performs electronic data exchange for electronically exchanging transactions between companies having a business relationship on a computer network, and transmits and processes information on a computer network to perform commercial transactions such as electronic settlement. This is a system that issues / manages a public key certificate for a public key cryptosystem used for the purpose of confidentiality of transmitted data and prevention of falsification when implementing electronic commerce. In other words, the authentication system issues a public key certificate that certifies the owner of a public key in the world of digital communications, in the same way that a government office issues a seal certificate that certifies the owner of a real seal in the real world of Japan. It can be said that the system has functions.

Generally, the following four functions are known as functions of an authentication system.

(1) Public key registration function: A public key certificate is created / registered / issued for a public key requested by a user.

(2) Certificate reference function: A public key certificate managed by an authentication system can be referred to from a user.

(3) Public key revocation function: The public key certificate is revoked and posted on the revocation list.

(4) Revocation list reference function: A list of revoked public key certificates can be referred to by a user.

[0010] These functions can be constructed by using general means already provided by a computer system or an encryption algorithm, making a request using an application form at the time of application, and providing an authentication system and a user. It has already been recognized that the basic configuration method such as performing digital signature communication and managing public key certificates and revocation lists in directories and databases is also a general method.

The public key certificate managed by the authentication system may have two invalidity revocation events, "invalidation" and "expiration date". However, at the time of revocation, it is known to put information (number and user name) pointing to the public key certificate in the revocation list, but it is generalized how to handle the public key certificate itself. Not. Furthermore, the handling of public key certificates upon expiration is not specified at all. Therefore, the following two methods are considered as the most standard methods. In the following, invalidation and expiration are collectively referred to as “expiration”.

Method 1: Even if the certificate is revoked, the public key certificate is kept in the directory or database that was originally managed.

Method 2: At the time of revocation, the public key certificate is deleted from the directory or database that was originally managed.

[0014]

The above-mentioned method 1 has the following problems.

(I) Holding an expired public key certificate indefinitely puts pressure on the storage area of a directory or a database, and there is a danger that the amount of information that can be managed will eventually reach its limit.

(Ii) The public key certificate does not include information that can easily determine whether the certificate has been revoked. Therefore, if the revoked public key certificate is stored in the same place as the valid public key certificate, the user can compare it with the revocation list to determine the validity, A burdensome process such as comparing the current date and time must be performed.

(Iii) After revocation, a case may arise in which, for example, it is desired to confirm a public key certificate valid several years ago. It is assumed that the most demand is to give a user name and a specific date or period and find a public key certificate valid at that time. However, in general, public key certificates are not managed using the expiration date as a key, and it takes a lot of time to perform this search.

On the other hand, the method 2 has the following problem.

(Iv) A request for confirming a public key certificate valid several years ago, for example, after the revocation cannot be satisfied.

(V) Some public key certificates have been revoked but have not expired. For these,
It is necessary to be able to correspond to the reference of the public key certificate, but it cannot be done if it has been deleted.

The present invention has been made in view of the above,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a public key certificate management method in an authentication system that can reduce pressure on a storage area and can easily and accurately search for public key certificates in various states.

[0022]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a public key certificate storage area for storing and managing public key certificates. The public key certificate is read, and the user name of the public key certificate, the public key certificate number, and the expiration date are added to the read public key certificate, and the user name, the public key certificate number, The public key certificate to which the expiration date has been added is stored in the secondary storage medium, and when the public key certificate is read out by the invalidation process in the reading process, the information on the public key certificate is invalidated. When the public key certificate is read out as an object of expiration in the reading process, the public key certificate is deleted from the public key certificate storage area,
If the public key certificate is registered in the revocation list, the information on the public key certificate registered in the revocation list is also to be deleted.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a public key certificate to be invalidated or expired is read from the public key certificate storage area, and the user name and the public key are stored in the public key certificate. The certificate number and the expiration date are added, the public key certificate with the information added is stored in the secondary storage medium, and when the public key certificate is read out by the revocation processing, Registering the information on the public key certificate in a revocation list, and when the public key certificate is read as an object for expiration, deleting the public key certificate from the public key certificate storage area, If the public key certificate is registered in the revocation list, information on the public key certificate registered in the revocation list is also deleted.

[0024]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a public key certificate management device in an authentication system for implementing a public key certificate management method in an authentication system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows a processing procedure.

The public key certificate management device shown in FIG. 1 includes a search key information adding unit 5, a storage unit 6 for storing the public key certificate in a secondary storage medium, a secondary storage medium 12, and a public key certificate A search key information adding process 2, which is performed as an extension of the public key certificate invalidation process or the expiration process 1a, 1b, corresponding to each of these means, A process 3 for storing the certificate in the secondary storage medium and a process 4 for deleting the public key certificate are shown.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS. In addition,
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the relationship between the processing procedure and management information in the public key certificate management device shown in FIG. 1, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are flowcharts showing the operation of the public key certificate management device shown in FIG. .

As shown in FIG. 2, the public key certificate to be managed in this embodiment is stored in a directory in the authentication system 11 or in the public key certificate storage area 8 in the database 21 as indicated by reference numeral 9. Is stored. Also,
In this directory or another storage area in the database 21, the revoked public key certificate is stored in the revocation list 10.
Is stored as Further, in the present embodiment,
In detail, as described below, a public key certificate to be expired or a public key certificate to be invalidated is stored in the secondary storage medium 12.

In the public key certificate management method implemented by the public key certificate management device of the present embodiment, first, as shown in FIG. 3, a search is performed as an extension of the public key certificate invalidation processing 1a or the expiration processing 1b. Key information addition processing 2
In this process, the public key certificate to be invalidated or expired is read from the public key certificate storage area 8 in the directory or the database 21 by using the search key information adding means 5 (step S10). ), The user name, public key certificate number, and expiration date of the read public key certificate are obtained, and the user name, public key certificate number, and expiration date are used as key information to obtain the public key certificate. The certificate is added to the head of the certificate according to a predetermined format determined by the authentication system 11 (step S20).

Then, the process proceeds to processing 3 for storing the public key certificate in the secondary storage medium, and searches and stores the secondary storage medium 12 using the storage means 6 for storing the public key certificate in the secondary storage medium. An area is determined (step S30). Then, as described above, a public key certificate to which key information including a user name, a public key certificate number, and an expiration date has been added to the determined storage area as shown by reference numeral 13 in FIG. It is stored (step S40). The secondary storage medium 12 is a storage device used in a general computer system such as a magnetic tape or an optical disk, for example.
The storage processing in the secondary storage medium 12 can be easily performed by a copy processing or the like.

As described above, the key information including the user name, the public key certificate number, and the expiration date is added to the public key certificate to be invalidated or expired and stored in the secondary storage medium 12. Then, the process proceeds to the public key certificate deletion processing 4, and the public key certificate deletion processing is performed using the public key certificate deletion means 7 as shown in FIG.

In FIG. 4, the public key certificate deletion means 7 checks whether the above-described processing is called as an extension of the invalidation processing or as an extension of the expiration processing (step S50). . If it is called as an extension of the revocation processing, as described above, the revocation list 10 provided in the directory or the database 21 stores the public key certificate number and the user name indicating the public key certificate in the revocation list 10. Is posted as shown in FIG. 2 (step S60), and the process ends. This is the authentication system 1
1 by leaving the entity of the public key certificate without deleting it from the directory or the database 21.
A public key certificate that has been revoked but has not expired can be easily searched from the revocation list 10.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S50 that the public key certificate is called as an extension of the expiration processing, the revocation list 1
0 is searched for (step S70), and it is checked whether or not it is listed in the revocation list and revoked (step S80). If the certificate has been revoked, it is determined that the validity of the revoked public key certificate has expired, and the information on the public key certificate is revoked in the revocation list 10.
And the process proceeds to step S100 (step S9).
0).

If it is not listed on the revocation list and has not been revoked, it is determined that the validity of the valid public key certificate has expired, and no processing is performed on the revocation list. Proceed to.

In step S100, the public key certificate is deleted from the directory in the authentication system 11 or the public key certificate storage area 8 of the database 21, thereby preventing the public key certificate storage area 8 from being squeezed.

When the public key certificate deletion process 4 is completed by the public key certificate deletion means 7, the process returns to FIG. 3, and the above processing is repeated for the target public key certificate (step S110).

As described above, in the present embodiment, a valid public key certificate, a revoked public key certificate, and a public key certificate whose expiration date has expired can be separately managed and searched. The public key certificate is stored with key information suitable for the public key certificate, so the public key certificate can be easily searched from various viewpoints, and an efficient and high-performance authentication system is constructed. be able to.

That is, in the present embodiment, the public key certificate which has not expired can be easily searched for by looking at the public key certificate existing in the directory or the database 21 in the authentication system 11.
Further, when the public key certificate whose expiration date has not expired is searched by looking at the directory or the database 21, the revocation list 10 is referred to, and if the public key certificate is not listed in the revocation list, Can be determined to be a valid public key certificate.

Further, a directory or database 2
1 and searching for a public key certificate that has not expired, referring to the revocation list, and if the public key certificate is listed on the revocation list, However, it can be determined that the certificate is invalid. By looking at the public key certificate stored in the secondary storage medium 12, it can be seen that the certificate has been revoked.

Further, in the present embodiment, by storing the revoked public key certificate in the secondary storage medium 12, it is possible to prevent the directory in the authentication system 11 or the storage area of the database 21 from being overwhelmed. By separating the valid public key certificate from the storage medium, it is possible to easily determine whether the certificate is valid or invalid. At the time of storing the public key certificate in the secondary storage medium 12, the user name, the public key certificate number, and the expiration date are added to the head of the public key certificate as key information, so that the public key is obtained from the key information. Certificates can be easily searched.

Further, the public key certificate which has been revoked but has not expired is stored in the secondary storage medium 12 while remaining in the directory or database 21 in the authentication system 11. In addition, the search can be easily performed in terms of a public key certificate that has been revoked but has not expired, and the search can also be easily performed in terms of a revoked public key certificate. In addition, the public key certificate left in the revoked list of the revoked directory in the authentication system 11 or the database 21 is:
When the expiration date expires, only the ones deleted from the revocation list and stored in the secondary storage medium 12 become available.

[0042]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Read the public key certificate to be invalidated or expired from the public key certificate storage area, add the user name, public key certificate number, and expiration date to this public key certificate, and add this information. When the added public key certificate is stored in the secondary storage medium, and when the public key certificate is read out by the revocation processing, information on the public key certificate is registered in a revocation list, If the public key certificate is read out for expiration, the public key certificate is deleted from the public key certificate storage area, and if the public key certificate is registered in the revocation list, The information about the public key certificate in the list is also deleted, so that the public key certificate which has not expired, the valid public key certificate, the public key certificate which has expired but is invalid, the expired public key certificate Each testimony It is possible to search in,
The public key certificate storage area can be prevented from being compressed, and a public key certificate management method that is economical, efficient, and easy to search can be constructed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a public key certificate management device in an authentication system that implements a public key certificate management method in an authentication system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and performs processing corresponding to the configuration. It is a figure showing a procedure.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a relationship between a processing procedure and management information in the public key certificate management device shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a part of a flowchart showing an operation of the public key certificate management device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the public key certificate management device shown in FIG. 1, and shows the remaining part following FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 5 Means for adding search key information 6 Means for storing public key certificate in secondary storage medium 7 Means for deleting public key certificate 8 Storage area for public key certificate 10 Revocation list 11 Authentication system 12 Secondary storage medium 21 Directory or database

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of front page (56) References UXP / DS Certificate Server Manual for V10, Fujitsu Limited, October 31, 1996, first edition, p. 37-39 Certificate Authority Review Report, E-Commerce Promotion Promotion Council, March 1997, p. 30-34 (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04L 9/08 G09C 1/00 630 JICST file (JOIS)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A public key certificate to be invalidated or expired is read from a public key certificate storage area storing and managing the public key certificate, and the read public key certificate is added to the read public key certificate. Adding a user name, a public key certificate number, and an expiration date to the user, storing the user name, the public key certificate number, and the public key certificate to which the expiration date is added in a secondary storage medium; In the case where the public key certificate is read out by the revocation processing in the reading process, information on the public key certificate is registered in a revocation list, and the public key certificate is set as an object of the expiration date in the reading process. If read, the public key certificate is deleted from the public key certificate storage area, and if the public key certificate is registered in the revocation list,
A public key certificate management method in an authentication system, characterized in that information on the public key certificate registered in the revocation list is also deleted.