METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVISIONING A TEMPORARY IDENTITY MODULE USING A KEY-SHARING SCHEME

摘要

A method and apparatus for providing a temporary identity module to a device (1) in a communication network. An RO Server (2) receives a request for an identity module (51) from the device (1). It then obtains an identity module and generates an encryption key (S4, S5). The encryption key is partitioned into a plurality of slices such that no slice comprises the whole encryption key (S6). Each slice is sent (S8, S9) to respective further devices (10, 11) accessible by the server (2) such that no single further device (10, 11) receives sufficient slices to reconstruct the encryption key. A location key is generated (S10) that identifies each slice and the further device (10, 11) to which each slice has been sent. The identity module is encrypted using the encryption key (S11) and sent to the device (1) along with the location key (S12). The device (1) can subsequently use the location key to obtain the slices and reconstruct the encryption key.