PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION NUMBER PROCESSING USING CONTROL VECTORS

摘要

Cryptographic PIN processing is achieved in an improved manner by associating control vectors with the PIN generating (verification) keys and PIN encrypting keys which provide authorisation for the uses of the keys intended by the originator of the keys. The originator may be the local cryptograhic facility (CF) and a utility program under the control of a security administrator, or the originator may be another network node which uses compatible key management methods to distribute the keys. Among the uses specified by the control vector are limitations on the authority to use the associated key with certain PIN processing instructions, such as PIN generation, verification, translation and PIN block creation. Furthermore, the control vector may limit the authority of certain instructions to process clear PIN inputs (such as in PIN verification). The control vector may contain information identifying and, possibly restricting, PIN processing to a particular PIN format or particular processing algorithm.