US-20260127297-A1 - METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR SECURING A COMPUTER FILE

US20260127297A1US 20260127297 A1US20260127297 A1US 20260127297A1US-20260127297-A1

Abstract

A method for securing one or more computer files includes obtaining at a computer device having a file and at a handset device data based on movement of at least one of the devices with the respect to the other device and generating an encryption key based on the obtained data at each of the devices wherein the key at each of the devices is substantially the same, and encrypting the file on the computer with the encryption key, discarding the computer encryption key and saving the handset encryption key. Later, the encryption key saved on the handset can be used to decrypt the encrypted file. Further, the method can be used to secure a plurality of files with the generated encryption key.

Inventors

James F. Munro

Assignees

MUNRO DESIGN & TECHNOLOGIES, LLC

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20251104

Claims (12)

1 . A method for securing a file on a computing device, the method comprising: generating, by the computing device, an encryption key at the computing device having a file based on obtained movement data of at least one of the computing device with the respect to another computing device, wherein the another computing device has the encryption key separately generated based on the obtained movement data and the encryption key at the computing device and the another computing device is substantially the same; encrypting, by the computing device, the file on the computing device with the encryption key; and discarding, by the computing device, the encryption key at the computing device with the encryption key saved on the another computing device.
2 . The method as in claim 1 further comprising: deleting, by the computing device, any clear-text version of the encrypted file from all memory residing within the computing device once the file is encrypted and transmitted.
3 . The method as in claim 1 further comprising: generating, by the computing device, another encryption key at the device having the encrypted file based on obtained additional movement data of at least the computing device with the respect to the another computing device, wherein the another computing device has the another encryption key separately generated based on the obtained additional movement data and the another encryption key at the computing device and the another computing device is substantially the same; decrypting, by the computing device, the encryption key received from the another computing device that was encrypted with the another encryption key by the another computing device; and decrypting, by the computing device, the file with the decrypted encryption key.
4 . The method as in claim 3 further comprising: deleting, by the computing device, the encryption key and the another encryption key on the computing device and on the another computing device.
5 . A non-transitory machine readable medium having stored thereon instructions comprising executable code that, when executed by one or more processors, causes the processors to: generate an encryption key at a computing device having a file based on obtained movement data of at least one of the computing device with the respect to another computing device wherein the another computing device has the encryption key separately generated based on the obtained movement data and the encryption key at the computing device and the another computing device is substantially the same; encrypt the file on the computing device with the encryption key; and discard the encryption key at the computing device with the encryption key saved on the another computing device.
6 . The non-transitory machine readable medium as in claim 5 , wherein the executable code, when executed by the processors, further causes the processors to: delete any clear-text version of the encrypted file from all memory residing within the computing device once the file is encrypted.
7 . The non-transitory machine readable medium as in claim 5 , wherein the executable code, when executed by the processors, further causes the processors to: generate another encryption key at the computing device having the encrypted file based on obtained additional movement data of at least one of the computing device with the respect to the another computing device, wherein the another computing device has the another encryption key separately generated based on the obtained additional movement data and the another encryption key at encryption key at the computing device and the another computing device is substantially the same; decrypt the encryption key received from the another computing device at the computing device that was encrypted with the another encryption key by the another computing device; and decrypt the file at the computing device with the decrypted encryption key.
8 . The non-transitory machine readable medium as in claim 7 , wherein the executable code, when executed by the processors, further causes the processors to: delete the encryption key and the another encryption key on the computing device and on the handset.
9 . A system device comprising one or more computing devices each comprising memory having programmed instructions stored thereon and one or more processors configured to execute the stored programmed instructions to: generate an encryption key at a computing device having a file based on obtained movement data of at least one of the computing device with the respect to the another computing device wherein the another computing device has the encryption key separately generated based on the obtained movement data and the encryption key at the computing device and the another computing device is substantially the same; encrypt the file on the computing device with the encryption key; and discard the encryption key at the computing device with the encryption key saved on the another computing device.
10 . The system as in claim 9 , wherein the processors are further configured to execute the stored programmed instructions to: delete any clear-text version of the encrypted file from all memory residing within the computing device once the file is encrypted.
11 . The system as in claim 9 , wherein the processors are further configured to execute the stored programmed instructions to: generate another encryption key at the computing device having the encrypted file based on obtained additional movement data of at least one of the computing device with the respect to the another computing device, wherein the another computing device has the another encryption key separately generated based on the obtained additional movement data and the another encryption key at each of the computing device and the another computing device is substantially the same; decrypt the encryption key received from the another computing device at the computing device that was encrypted with the another encryption key by the another computing device; and decrypt the file at the computing device with the decrypted encryption key.
12 . The system as in claim 11 , wherein the processors are further configured to execute the stored programmed instructions to: delete the encryption key and the another encryption key on the computing device and on the handset.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This patent application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 63/715,971, filed Nov. 4, 2024, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety as part of the present application. FIELD This technology generally relates to methods for cryptographically securing a file on a computer and, more particularly, to a method for encrypting a computer file with a key that is generated with the motion of a handset wherein the encryption key is also stored on the handset and wherein the stored encryption key is subsequently used to decrypt the file. BACKGROUND The theft of computer data by adversarial entities is at an all-time high. These thefts generally occur through the internet and entail the downloading of targeted computer files which are then opened and the contents of the data inspected and used for malicious purposes. Further, the theft of computer files is expected to worsen when encryption keys generated by public key cryptographic methods are broken in the near future when quantum computers become available. One solution to the computer file theft file problem is to encrypt the computer files on the computer with an algorithm that does not rely on public key cryptography. Ideally, the implementation of this solution should be user-friendly and not utilize the internet. SUMMARY A method for securing a file on a computing device includes generating, by the computing device, an encryption key at the computing device having a file based on obtained movement data of at least one of the computing device with the respect to another computing device. The another computing device has the encryption key separately generated based on the obtained movement data and the encryption key at the computing device and the another computing device is substantially the same. The file on the computing device is encrypted, by the computing device, with the encryption key. The encryption key at the computing device is discarded, by the computing device, with the encryption key saved on the another computing device. A non-transitory machine readable medium having stored thereon instructions comprising executable code that, when executed by one or more processors, causes the processors to generate an encryption key at a computing device having a file based on obtained movement data of at least one of the computing device with the respect to another computing device. The another computing device has the encryption key separately generated based on the obtained movement data and the encryption key at the computing device and the another computing device is substantially the same. The file on the computing device is encrypted, by the computing device, with the encryption key. The encryption key at the computing device is discarded, by the computing device, with the encryption key saved on the another computing device. A system device comprising one or more computing devices each comprising memory having programmed instructions stored thereon and one or more processors configured to execute the stored programmed instructions to generate an encryption key at a computing device having a file based on obtained movement data of at least one of the computing device with the respect to another computing device. The another computing device has the encryption key separately generated based on the obtained movement data and the encryption key at the computing device and the another computing device is substantially the same. The file on the computing device is encrypted, by the computing device, with the encryption key. The encryption key at the computing device is discarded, by the computing device, with the encryption key saved on the another computing device. A system for securing one or more computer files in accordance with examples of this technology includes generating an identical shared secret symmetric key at a computer and a handset based on movement of at least one of the devices with the respect to the other device. The key at the computer is used by software executing on the computer to encrypt the computer file, after which the key on the computer and any clear-text copies of the encrypted computer file are wiped from the computer. The identical key at the handset is saved on the handset to be used later for decrypting the encrypted file on the computer. To decrypt the encrypted computer file in accordance with examples of this technology, a second identical shared secret symmetric key is again generated at the computer and a handset based on movement of at least one of the devices with the respect to the other device. Software executing on the handset then encrypts the saved file encryption key with the second key and transmits the encrypted key to the computer. Software executing on the computer then decrypts the received encrypted file key and decrypts it with its copy of the second key. The computer software now has possession of the file