SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AN EFFICIENT AUTHENTICATION AND KEY EXCHANGE PROTOCOL

Embodiments of systems and methods disclosed herein provide a simple and effective method for authentication and key exchange that is secure from man-in-the-middle attacks and is characterized by perfect forward secrecy. More specifically, in certain embodiments, the systems and methods are disclosed that enable secure communications between a local device and a remote device(s) via a protocol that uses a Central Licensing Authority that shares derived secrets with the endpoints, without sharing the secrets themselves. The derived secrets may be comprised of public information, taking the form of nonces, in order to protect the system against replay-style attacks. Each endpoint can generate its own nonce with sufficient entropy such that neither endpoint is dependent on the trustworthiness of the other.