To provide an authentication method and system capable of authenticating a subject to be authenticated without the need for storing each key of the subjects to be authenticated to an IC card.
The IC card stores a common verification key of a common management subject and identification information and authority information of the subject to be authenticated having a service execution authority in advance, and the subject to be authenticated creates a signature key and a verification key, registers the verification key to the common management subject, and stores a verification key certificate issued from the common management subject and signed with the common signature key thereby to certify the verification key and the identification information of the subject to be authenticated. The subject to be authenticated encrypts a challenge generated from the IC card by the signature key of the subject to be authenticated to create signature information, transmits the signature information and a public key certificate to the IC card in the case of authentication, the IC card uses the common verification key to verify the received verification key certificate, verifies the signature information of the subject to be authenticated by using the verification key of the subject to be authenticated included in the verification key certificate when the verification indicates correctness, sets a verification flag of the subject to be authenticated to a finished verification state when the verification indicates correctness, and permits execution of a command in response to the authority information.
SUZUKI KATSUHIKO
GOROMARU HIDEKI
YOSHIDA KAZU
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