Data erasure of a target device

• US 10,162,565 B2
• Filed: 01/30/2014
• Issued: 12/25/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Wang, Lan, Liu, Wei-Ze, Pham, Quoc P, Waldron, James Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): Brown, Anthony D
• Assistant Examiner(s): Anderson, Michael D
• Application Number:
  US15/030,287
• Publication Number:
  US 20160328180A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,790 Days
• Field of Search: 713171
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/14 Handling requests for interconnection or transfer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/44 Program or device authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/57 Certifying or maintaining trusted computer platforms, e.g. secure boots or power-downs, version controls, system software checks, secure updates or assessing vulnerabilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/575 Secure boot
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/602 Providing cryptographic facilities or services
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0608 Saving storage space on storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0622 in relation to access
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0632 by initialisation or re-initialisation of storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0652 Erasing, e.g. deleting, data cleaning, moving of data to a wastebasket
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0683 Plurality of storage devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4401 Bootstrapping security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4406 Loading of operating system
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/061 for key exchange, e.g. in peer-to-peer networks cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key agreement H04L9/0838
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 involving digital signatures

Abstract

Examples herein disclose erasing data from a target device based upon an authentication of an erase command. The examples receive an erase command during execution to boot strap information and authenticate the erase command. Upon the authentication of the erase command, the examples erase data from the target device prior to completion of execution of boot strap information.

Claims

1. A target device comprising:

a first storage including an operating system;

a second storage including boot strap information; and

a processor to;

execute the boot strap information;

in response to receiving an erase command over a network from a remote source, authenticate the erase command; and

in response to the authenticating of the erase command, erase the first storage prior to completion of the executing of the boot strap information, the erasing of the first storage comprising erasing the operating system.

2. The target device of claim 1, wherein the processor is to erase the first storage in response to the authenticating of the erase command during execution of one of:

a Basic Input/Output System (BIOS), and a Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI).

3. The target device of claim 1, wherein the erase command received from the remote source over the network is digitally signed for authentication at the target device.

4. The target device of claim 1, wherein the erasing of the first storage is processor agnostic.

5. The target device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further to:

receive a key from the remote source, wherein the erase command is authenticated using the key.

6. The target device of claim 1, wherein the processor is to store a record of an execution of the erase command in the second storage.

15. The target device of claim 1, wherein the authenticating of the erase command is based on a cryptographic key, and the erasing of the first storage in response to the authenticating of the erase command based on the cryptographic key is performed in a pre-boot environment before completion of a boot of the target device.

16. The target device of claim 1, wherein the erase command is received from the remote source responsive to the remote source receiving a report of loss of the target device.

7. A method executed by a target device, the method comprising:

receiving an erase command during execution of boot strap information;

provisioning a cryptographic key at the target device prior to receiving the erase command;

authenticating the erase command, wherein the authenticating of the erase command is based on the cryptographic key; and

upon the authentication of the erase command, erasing data from the target device prior to completion of execution of the boot strap information.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

recording the erasing of the data to track the erase command, wherein the erasing of the data is performed in a pre-boot environment.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the erase command includes a universal unique identifier of the target device, and the erasing of data from the target device includes erasing an operating system from a storage of the target device.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving a request to accept the cryptographic key by the target device prior to receiving the erase command; and

inputting an access code for the acceptance of the cryptographic key on the target device.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the target device authenticates the erase command utilizing private and public key-pair signature validation.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the erase command includes a digital signature, and the authenticating of the erase command comprises authenticating the digital signature with the cryptographic key on the target device.

17. The method of claim 7, wherein the erase command is received by the target device from a remote source over a network.

13. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising instructions that when executed cause a target device to:

execute boot strap information;

receive an erase command digitally signed by a remote source;

authenticate the erase command through the digital signature; and

in response to the authenticating of the erase command, erase data from the target device prior to execution of an operating system on the target device, wherein the erasing of the data from the target device comprises erasing the operating system.

14. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions when executed cause the target device to:

provision a cryptographic key from the remote source at the target device prior to receipt of the erase command;

utilize the cryptographic key to authenticate the digital signature as part of the authenticating of the erase command.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the erase command is received by the target device from the remote source over a network.