Cryptographic Postage Indicia,

Abstract

We apply cryptographic techniques to the problem of fraud in metered mail. We describe a mail system that combines off-the-shelf barcode technology, tamper-proof devices, and cryptography in a fully-integrated secure franking system. This system provides protection against: (1) Tampering with postage meters to fraudulently obtain extra postage; (2) Forging and copying of stamps; (3) Unauthorized use of postage meters; and (4) Stolen postage meters. We provide detailed justification for our design, and discuss important tradeoffs involving scanning strategies, encryption technology and 2-D barcode technology. The US Postal Service recent Information Based Indicia Program (IBIP) 15 announcement adopted the principal design features of our model.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1996
Accession Number
ADA314059

Entities

People

  • Bennet Yee
  • J. D. Tygar
  • Nevin Heintze

Organizations

  • Carnegie Mellon University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Asymetric Encryption
  • Computer Science
  • Computing Devices
  • Cryptography
  • Databases
  • Detection
  • Information Processing
  • New York
  • Postage Meters
  • Postal Service
  • Sampling
  • Standards
  • Statistical Samples
  • Statistical Sampling
  • Two Dimensional
  • United States
  • Verification

Fields of Study

  • Computer science

Readers

  • Computer Science/Computer Engineering/Data Science/Digital Signal Processing.
  • Cybersecurity.
  • Nanoscale Plasmonic Nanotechnology

Technology Areas

  • Cyber