Seamless remote storage of uniformly encrypted data for diverse platforms and devices

Abstract

A way of providing seamless remote data storage and access with a universal encryption key is provided. Data may be able to be uploaded from and/or downloaded to a variety of user devices and/or types of user devices. During transfer of data, a secure communication channel may be established between a user device and a destination storage. Data may be compressed and/or encrypted before being passed to the destination storage. Such compression and/or encryption may be performed at the user device or an intermediate processing module. Likewise, when downloading data, the data may be decompressed and/or decrypted before being made available to a destination user device. Such decompression and/or decryption may be performed at the destination device or the intermediate processing module. In any case, the universal encryption key may be utilized by all user devices to generate uniformly encrypted data.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A method of opening a secure communication channel for access to a remote server from a user device associated with a user, the method comprising:
 encoding a set of user account information using a private encryption key;   generating a concatenated string that includes the encoded set of user account information;   encrypting the concatenated string using a shared encryption key that is based at least partly on a dynamic string; and   sending the encrypted concatenated string to the remote server for authentication.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising receiving a verification from the remote server if the concatenated string matches an expected value. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2  further comprising:
 sending, from the user device, a request for authentication to the remote server; and 
 receiving, at the user device, the dynamic string from the remote server. 
 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the set of user account information comprises a username and password. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the shared key is generated using an automated algorithm. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the verification is at least partly based on a comparison of the received concatenated string to a previously stored concatenated string. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the private encryption key is received from the user. 
     
     
         8 . A method of opening a communication channel between a remote storage and a user device associated with a user, the method comprising:
 receiving an encrypted concatenated string from the user device for authentication, wherein the encrypted concatenated string includes at least some user account information that is encrypted using a user account encryption key;   decrypting the encrypted concatenated string using a shared encryption key that is generated using a dynamic string; and   retrieving a set of user account information from the decrypted string for authenticating user access.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8  further comprising:
 receiving, from the user device, a request for authentication at a remote server; 
 sending, to the user device, the dynamic string, wherein the dynamic string is generated by the remote server; and 
 generating the shared encryption key based at least partly on the dynamic string. 
 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the shared encryption key is generated using an automated algorithm. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9  further comprising:
 retrieving previously stored user account information; 
 determining whether elements of the concatenated string match elements of the retrieved previously stored user account information; and 
 allowing access to a client application when determining that the elements match or denying access to the client application when determining that the elements do not match. 
 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the concatenated string comprises a username and a password. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the concatenated string comprises the user name and the password encrypted with the user account encryption key. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the previously stored user account information comprises a username, a password, and the username and the password encrypted with the user account encryption key.