Protection of the UE identity during 802.1x carrier hotspot and Wi-Fi calling authentication

US10833876B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Apple Inc. · US

Inventors

• Rohan C. Malthankar · San Jose, US
• Paresh B. Sawant · Fremont, US
• Delziel J. Fernandes · Cupertino, US
• Sergey Sitnikov · San Jose, US
• Arun G. Mathias · Los Altos, US
• Jason A. Novak · Chicago, US
• Krisztian Kiss · Cupertino, US
• Rafael L. Rivera-Barreto · Santa Clara, US
• Chandiramohan Vasudevan · Sunnyvale, US
• Vladimir M. Appel · Los Altos, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Oct 25, 2017
• Grant date: Nov 10, 2020
• Expiry date: Aug 28, 2038

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H04L9/3263
• WIPO field: Digital communication
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

This disclosure relates to techniques for performing Wi-Fi authentication in a wireless communication system. Public key cryptography may be used to enhance the confidentiality of the user's permanent identity in transit. In some embodiments, a RSA-OAEP (SHA-256) encryption scheme may be used to protect the permanent identity when the EAP client needs to send the user's permanent identity to the server in the absence of pseudonym or fast re-authentication identity. In some embodiments, a server certificate is used to authenticate a iWLAN tunnel to protect an IMSI during setup of a Wi-Fi call. Using the methods described herein on both or either of the EAP client and server side may offer improved privacy protection.