Methods and apparatus for restoration of an anti-theft platform

• US 20110154030A1
• Filed: 12/18/2009
• Published: 06/23/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Prakash, Gyan, Hazra, Mousumi, Glendinning, Duncan, Mirashrafi, Mojtaba, Dadu, Saurabh
• Granted Patent: US 8,566,610 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/164
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/88 Detecting or preventing theft or loss

Abstract

Embodiments of methods for restoration an anti-theft platform are generally described herein. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.

Claims

1. A method for accessing a platform with an anti-theft (AT) mechanism, comprising:

initiating entry to a standby state by sending a platform public key to a server;

receiving a server public key;

receiving an encrypted and signed AT permit;

sending a rendezvous message to the server;

receiving an encrypted and signed AT standby transition message from the server;

validating the standby transition message;

sending an RSA signed acknowledgment to the server; and

entering the standby state on the platform.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the platform is transitioned from an active state to the standby state.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising transitioning the platform from the active state to the stolen state.

4. The method of claim 1, further including generating a platform RSA key pair and storing the RSA key pair as an encrypted data blob.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the standby transition message is validated by a manageability engine (ME).

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the platform public key and the server public key is exchanged through host software on the platform.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the platform public key may only be readable by a manageability engine (ME).

8. A method for accessing a platform using a manageability engine (ME), comprising:

initiating entry to a standby state by sending a platform public key to a server;

receiving a server public key;

receiving an encrypted and signed AT permit;

generating a nonce;

generating a first standby token using the nonce and the platform public key;

receiving a second standby token;

authenticating the second standby token using the first standby token; and

entering the standby state to provide access to the platform.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the platform is transitioned from an active state to the standby state.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising transitioning the platform from the active state to the stolen state.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the platform public key is stored in a flash memory.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the second standby token is authenticated by the first standby token using the manageability engine (ME).

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the platform public key may only be readable by the manageability engine (ME).

14. The method of claim 8, further comprising restoring the platform by resetting a serial peripheral interface (SPI) flash memory to a desired setting or settings.

15. A machine-accessible medium that provides instructions, which when accessed, cause a machine to perform operations in a platform, comprising:

initiating entry to a standby state by sending a platform public key to a server;

receiving a server public key;

receiving an encrypted and signed AT permit;

sending a rendezvous message to the server;

receiving an encrypted and signed AT standby transition message from the server;

validating the standby transition message;

sending an RSA signed acknowledgment to the server; and

entering the standby state on the platform.

16. The machine-accessible medium of claim 15, wherein the platform is transitioned from an active state to the standby state.

17. The machine-accessible medium of claim 15, wherein the platform public key is stored in a flash memory.

18. The machine-accessible medium of claim 15, wherein the standby transition message is validated by a manageability engine (ME).

19. The machine-accessible medium of claim 15, wherein the platform public key and the server public key is exchanged through host software on the platform.

20. The machine-accessible medium of claim 15, further comprising restoring the platform by resetting of a serial peripheral interface (SPI) flash memory to a desired setting or settings.