Invention Grant
- Patent Title: Flexible device onboarding via bootstrap keys
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Application No.: US17008330Application Date: 2020-08-31
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Publication No.: US11601808B2Publication Date: 2023-03-07
- Inventor: Eliot Lear , Owen Friel , Max Pritikin
- Applicant: Cisco Technology, Inc.
- Applicant Address: US CA San Jose
- Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc.
- Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc.
- Current Assignee Address: US CA San Jose
- Agency: Lee & Hayes, P.C.
- Main IPC: H04W12/06
- IPC: H04W12/06 ; H04W60/00 ; H04W12/04 ; H04W48/18 ; H04W76/11 ; H04W12/084

Abstract:
This technology uses a bootstrap key (“BSK”) to securely onboard a computing device to a network. A unique BSK associated with an onboarding computing device is used to verify for various deployment models (1) that the computing device has proof the computing device is connecting to the correct wired or wireless network and (2) that the network has proof the computing device is trusted. The BSK may be an associated BSK or an embedded BSK. A computing device receives a signed voucher from the manufacturer authorized signing authority (“MASA”) before the computing device may onboard to a network. The MASA will issue a voucher to a Bootstrapping Remote Secure Key Infrastructure (“BRSKI”) registrar if the registrar proves knowledge of the computing device's BSK to the MASA or the registrar has an established trust relationship with the MASA.
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