PLUGGABLE SECURITY DEVICE

• US 20110187532A1
• Filed: 03/26/2010
• Published: 08/04/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/02/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cicada Security Technology, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Cicada Security Technology, Inc.
• Inventors: Morrison, James, Edelstein, Fredric
• Granted Patent: US 8,378,821 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/571
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/1418 Removal detected by failure in electrical connection between the appliance and a control centre, home control panel or a power supply
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/1436 with motion detection

Abstract

A pluggable security device for protecting an electronic device, such as a laptop, is disclosed. The pluggable security device has a battery, a siren, and an optional accelerometer. The security device is triggered by unplugging from the electronic device, or by sensing acceleration, or by disconnecting the electronic device from AC power or from a network. Once the security device is triggered and its internal siren is activated, it can only be deactivated by reinserting the pluggable security device into the electronic device it has been disconnected from and by entering a password in the electronic device.

Claims

1. A pluggable security device for protecting an electronic device, comprising:

a tamper-resistant enclosure;

a connector for plugging the security device to the electronic device;

an alarm sound source for producing an audible alarm sound;

a battery for providing electrical power to the pluggable security device; and

a microprocessor unit (MPU) for controlling the pluggable security device;

wherein the alarm sound source, the battery, and the MPU are disposed within the enclosure;

wherein the MPU is configured to generate an alarm including activating the alarm sound source, in response to a first alarm triggering event; and

wherein the MPU includes a non-volatile memory unit for storing device operational policies and/or configuration settings.

2. The pluggable security device of claim 1, further comprising an accelerometer having an acceleration threshold, for sensing acceleration,

wherein the connector is rigidly attached to the enclosure;

wherein the accelerometer is disposed within the enclosure; and

wherein the first alarm triggering event includes the acceleration sensed by the accelerometer exceeding the acceleration threshold.

3. The pluggable security device of claim 2, wherein the acceleration threshold of the accelerometer is adjustable.

4. The pluggable security device of claim 1, wherein the tamper-resistant enclosure is crush-resistant and/or water resistant.

5. The pluggable security device of claim 1, wherein the tamper-resistant enclosure is absent any user-accessible controls disposed thereon.

6. The pluggable security device of claim 1, wherein the connector is a Universal Serial Bus (USB) connector.

7. The pluggable security device of claim 2, configured to interact with a control software installed in the electronic device,

wherein the control software, once installed in the electronic device, is configured to cause the security device and/or the electronic device to be responsive to the first alarm triggering event an/or a second alarm triggering event including:

unplugging the pluggable security device from the electronic device;

switching the electronic device from an external power source to an internal battery; and

multiple failed authentication attempts.

8. The pluggable security device of claim 1, configured to interact with a control software installed in the electronic device, wherein the control software, once installed in the electronic device, is configured to cause the security device and/or the electronic device to be responsive to the first alarm triggering event an/or a second alarm triggering event.

9. The pluggable security device of claim 8, wherein the second alarm triggering event includes unplugging the pluggable security device from the electronic device.

10. The pluggable security device of claim 8, wherein the second alarm triggering event includes unplugging the electronic device from a network.

11. The pluggable security device of claim 8, wherein the second alarm triggering event includes switching the electronic device from an external power source to an internal battery.

12. The pluggable security device of claim 8, wherein the second alarm triggering event includes multiple failed authentication attempts.

13. The pluggable security device of claim 8, wherein the response of the electronic device includes sounding an audible alarm by the alarm sound source of the pluggable security device and/or sounding an audible alarm by the electronic device.

14. The pluggable security device of claim 8, wherein the response of the electronic device includes locking the electronic device and/or dismounting encrypted data storage devices in the electronic device.

15. A security system comprising:

the pluggable security device of claim 8; and

a security server connected to the electronic device through the network;

wherein the security server is configured to be responsive to a third alarm triggering event including disconnecting the electronic device from the network.

16. The security system of claim 15, wherein the security server is configured to send a message to a user and/or a manager of the electronic device upon occurrence of the first and/or the second and/or the third alarm triggering events, the message including:

an email; and

/or a Short Message Service (SMS) message; and

/or a Simple Message Transfer Protocol (SMTP) alert; and

/or a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) alert; and

/or a phone call.

17. A method of protecting an electronic device, comprising:

(a) providing the pluggable security device of claim 8;

(b) plugging the security device into the electronic device; and

(c) activating the security device to be responsive to the first alarm triggering event and/or the second alarm triggering event.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the pluggable electronic device has an accelerometer for sensing acceleration, and wherein the first alarm triggering event includes sensing acceleration above a pre-defined threshold, and wherein the second alarm triggering event includes unplugging the pluggable security device from the electronic device.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising

(e) providing a security server connected to the electronic device through a network;

(f) configuring the security server and/or the electronic device to be responsive to disconnection of the electronic device from the network.

20. In a security system comprising the pluggable security device of claim 8 and the electronic device having the control software, a method of triggering an alarm comprising:

(a) detecting unplugging of the pluggable security device from the electronic device; and

/or

(b) detecting disconnection of the electronic device from a network.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

(c) detecting multiple failed authentication attempts.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

(d) detecting switching of the electronic device from an external power source to an internal power source.

23. In a security system comprising the pluggable security device of claim 8 and the electronic device having the control software, a method of reacting to an alarm comprising sounding an alarm in the pluggable security device and/or sounding an alarm in the electronic device.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising dismounting of an encrypted storage device in the electronic device and/or locking the electronic device.

25. The method of claim 23, further comprising sending, from a dedicated server connected through a network to the electronic device, a message to a user and/or a manager of the electronic device.

26. In a security system comprising the pluggable security device of claim 8 and the electronic device having the control software, an alarm triggering policy comprising a user definable subset of a set of alarm triggering events comprising:

(a) unplugging of the pluggable security device from the electronic device;

(b) disconnecting the electronic device from a network;

(c) detecting a failed authentication attempt; and

(d) switching of the electronic device from an external power source to an internal power source.

27. In a security system comprising the pluggable security device of claim 8 and the electronic device having the control software, an alarm action policy comprising a user definable subset of a set of alarm actions comprising:

(a) sounding an alarm in the pluggable security device;

(b) sounding an alarm in the electronic device;

(c) dismounting an encrypted data storage device in the electronic device;

(d) locking the electronic device; and

(e) sending, from a dedicated server connected through a network to the electronic device, a message to a user of the electronic device.

28. A method of adjusting an acceleration threshold of the security device of claim 3, comprising

(a) plugging the security device into the electronic device;

(b) handling the electronic device;

(c) while performing step (b), using the accelerometer to measure a magnitude of acceleration of the security device; and

(d) adjusting the acceleration threshold to be equal to or above a maximum amplitude of acceleration measured in step (c).