Interconnectable personal computer architectures that provide secure, portable, and persistent computing environments

• US 20090319782A1
• Filed: 06/20/2008
• Published: 12/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kingston Digital, Inc. (Kingston Technology Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation (Martin Marietta Corporation)
• Inventors: Lee, Richard M.
• Granted Patent: US 8,335,931 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/156
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/34 involving the use of external additional devices, e.g. dongles or smart cards
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/36 by graphic or iconic representation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/575 Secure boot

Abstract

Disclosed are interconnectable personal computer architectures comprising secure, portable and persistent computing environments that provide secure computing sessions with persistence. The computing environments are implemented using a secure non-computing client device, such as a USB device, that interfaces with a host computer and, optionally, a trusted server. The secure non-computing client device is used to instantiate a secure BIOS and a secure cold or warm boot of the host computer, from the client device, in a host protected area of the host computer, or from the trusted server. The client device comprises a security device, such a trusted platform module, that encrypts and decrypts data transferred between the client apparatus and the host computer to provide a sealed computing environment on the host computer. The client device may implement keyboard logger attack prevention. The client device may also implement a high assurance guard to protect applications. The client device may also comprise security wrapper software that encapsulates malware processed by the host computer. Computing methods and software are also disclosed.

Claims

1. An interconnectable personal computer architecture for use with a host computer, comprising:

secure non-computing client apparatus that is couplable to the host computer that embodies a secure computing environment that is configured to establish a root of trust on the host computer, comprising;

a security device for encrypting and decrypting all data transferred between the secure client apparatus and the host computer;

an encrypted trusted basic input/output system (BIOS) that is decrypted and transferred to the host computer to configure it; and

encrypted trusted boot software that is decrypted and transferred to the host computer to selectively cold boot or warm boot the host computer to create the root of trust on the host computer.

2. The architecture recited in claim 1 wherein the secure non-computing client apparatus comprises a secure universal serial bus (USB) device.

3. The architecture recited in claim 2 further comprising a trusted server coupled to the host computer by way of a network, and that is configured to authenticate the secure computing environment and restrict the use of authorized peripherals.

4. The architecture recited in claim 3 wherein the trusted server comprises key management software that only allows identifiable secure non-computing client apparatus can execute on the host computer to provides for a centrally managed, locally enforced secure computing environment.

5. The architecture recited in claim 3 wherein the trusted server comprises software for communicating with the secure non-computing client apparatus to remotely boot the host computer from the trusted server.

6. The architecture recited in claim 1 wherein the secure non-computing client apparatus comprises software that configures a host protected area of the host computer to instantiate the secure computing environment.

7. The architecture recited in claim 6 wherein the security device comprises a trusted platform module (TPM) integrated circuit.

8. The architecture recited in claim 1 wherein the secure non-computing client apparatus comprises:

a memory;

the encrypted trusted BIOS that is stored in the memory and is configured to boot when the client apparatus is connected to the host computer and/or loaded into a root, kernel, hypervisor or guest partition of the host computer;

a nanokernel or minikernel stored in the memory;

one or more secure software applications stored in the memory;

encrypted user data stored in the memory; and

one or more secure keys and certificates stored in the memory that are processable by the security device to seal and authenticate the secure computing environment;

wherein a boot sequence including the BIOS and the nanokernel or minikernel is configured to allow only the secure software applications to load and execute on the host computer from the memory, and execute on the encrypted user data when the client apparatus is connected to the host computer and booted, and wherein the boot sequence is configured to prevent other applications from executing on the encrypted user data.

9. The architecture recited in claim 1 further comprising keyboard logger attack prevention software that is operative to prevent detection of keystrokes when using the host computer.

10. The architecture recited in claim 3 further comprising a high assurance guard software for processing server-side software applications to determine their security level and prevent data that is classified higher than a predetermined classification to be processed on the host computer or transferred to the secure non-computing client apparatus.

11. The architecture recited in claim 1 wherein the secure applications on the secure non-computing client apparatus comprise security wrappers comprising software code for encapsulating malware processed by the host computer.

12. The architecture recited in claim 1 wherein the secure non-computing client apparatus comprises a soft display screen for indicating and entering a security password into the host computer using arrow keys or a rotary dial to match a randomly generated password from the secure non-computing client apparatus.

13. The architecture recited in claim 1 wherein the secure applications on the secure non-computing client apparatus comprises white list technology embodying software code for restricting software to a list of known applications, and where all other applications are considered malware.

14. The architecture recited in claim 1 wherein the secure applications on the secure non-computing client apparatus comprises non-obtrusive, persistent authentication to provide continuous monitoring to ensure that only the authorized user is using the system at any given time.

15. The architecture recited in claim 3 wherein the secure applications on the secure non-computing client apparatus remotely seal the host computer or trusted server.

16. The architecture recited in claim 1 wherein the secure applications on the secure non-computing client apparatus comprises computer forensics and biometrics to for evaluating the computing environment to determine if the computer is trustworthy to host the non-computing client apparatus based on usage by other users or devices.

17. The architecture recited in claim 3 wherein the trusted server implements remote administration of the secure non-computing client apparatus using ASF 2.0 or AMT technologies to remotely manage the secure non-computing client apparatus.

18. A secure computing method, comprising:

instantiating secure non-computing client apparatus that is couplable to a host computer that embodies a secure computing environment that comprises a security device for encrypting and decrypting data transferred between the secure client apparatus and the host computer, an encrypted trusted basic input/output system (BIOS) that is decryptable and transferable to the host computer to configure it, encrypted trusted boot software that is decryptable and transferable to the host computer to selectively cold boot or warm boot it and create the root of trust on the host computer, one or more trusted applications that are decryptable and transferable to the host computer, and user data that is decryptable and transferable to the host computer and that is processable by the one or more trusted applications on the host computer;

coupling the secure non-computing client apparatus to the host computer;

booting the host computer from the secure non-computing client apparatus;

loading one or more trusted applications onto the host computer; and

running the one or more trusted applications using data from the secure non-computing client apparatus.

19. The secure computing method recited in claim 18 wherein:

booting the host computer from the secure non-computing client apparatus comprises configuring a host protected area on the host computer;

loading one or more trusted applications onto the host computer comprises loading one or more trusted applications into the host protected area; and

running the one or more trusted applications comprises running the one or more trusted applications from the host protected area using data from the secure non-computing client apparatus.

20. Software comprising:

a code segment for coupling non-computing client apparatus to a host computer, which non-computing client apparatus comprises a security device for encrypting and decrypting data transferred between the secure client apparatus and the host computer;

one or more code segments comprising an encrypted trusted basic input/output system (BIOS) instantiated on the non-computing client apparatus;

one or more code segments for decrypting and transferring the trusted basic input/output system (BIOS) to the host computer to configure it

one or more code segments comprising encrypted trusted boot software instantiated on the non-computing client apparatus;

one or more code segments for decrypting and transferring the trusted boot software to the host computer to selectively cold boot or warm boot it and create the root of trust on the host computer; and

one or more code segments comprising one or more trusted applications instantiated on the non-computing client apparatus that are transferable to and run from the host computer and that access user data on the non-computing client apparatus.