Secure Communication Architecture Including Sniffer

• US 20140108791A1
• Filed: 10/16/2013
• Published: 04/17/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Truedata Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Truedata Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Lloyd, James, Sinclair, Peter, Eynon, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 9,356,787 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/164
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/602 Providing cryptographic facilities or services
• CPC Class Codes: G09C 1/00 Apparatus or methods whereby a given sequence of signs, e.g. an intelligible text, is transformed into an unintelligible sequence of signs by transposing the signs or groups of signs or by replacing them by others according to a predetermined system cryptographic typewriters G09C3/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/127 Trusted platform modules [TPM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0823 using certificates cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving certificates H04L9/3263
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/30 Public key, i.e. encryption algorithm being computationally infeasible to invert or user's encryption keys not requiring secrecy
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 involving digital signatures

Abstract

Secure communication of user inputs is achieved by isolating part of an endpoint device such that certificates and encryption keys are protected from corruption by malware. Further, the communication is passed through a trusted data relay that is configured to decrypt and/or certify the user inputs encrypted by the isolated part of the endpoint device. The trusted data relay can determine that the user inputs were encrypted or certified by the protected certificates and encryption keys, thus authenticating their origin within the endpoint device. The trusted data relay then forwards the inputs to an intended destination. In some embodiments, the isolated part of the endpoint device is configured to detect input created by auto-completion logic and/or spell checking logic.

Claims

1. A computing system comprising:

an input apparatus configured to receive an input from a user;

a display configured to display the input from the user;

a bus configured to communicate the input to the display;

a processing unit configured to process data and commands received via the bus;

an input capture module isolated from a less secure part of the computing system, the isolation configured to prevent corruption of the input capture module by computing instructions received from outside of the input capture module, the input capture module comprising;

storage configured to store an encryption key or certificate,

a sniffer configured to sniff the bus for input data resulting from the input from the user, and

logic configured to encrypt or certify the input data, the encryption or certification occurring within the input capture module; and

communication logic configured to communicate an output of the input capture module to a communication network.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the input apparatus includes a touch screen.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the secure storage includes memory configured to be written to no more than once.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the secure storage is configured to store the encryption key or certificate such that the encryption key or certificate cannot be read from outside the input capture module.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the secure storage is configured to store the encryption key or certificate such that the encryption key or certificate cannot be altered from outside the input capture module.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the secure storage is configured to store the encryption key.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the secure storage is configured to store the certificate.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the input capture module is isolated from the less secure part of the computing system by limiting external control of the secure input module to setting of one or more flags.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein at least one of the one or more flags is an encryption key or certificate selection flag.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein one of the one or more flags is a reset flag configured to cause resetting of the input capture module.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein one of the one or more flags is a change focus flag, a new-screen flag or a submit flag.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein one of the one or more flags is a disable flag configured to temporally disable a function of the input capture module.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the output of the input capture module includes a unique identifier configured to confirm that the output was generated within the input capture module.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the identifier is encrypted as included in the communicated output of the input capture module.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the sniffer is configured to sniff input data received from the input apparatus before the input data can be changed by the processing unit.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the storage is configured to store a plurality of encryption keys, the plurality of encryption keys being individually selectable from outside the input capture module.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the storage is configured to store a plurality of certificates, the plurality of certificates being individually selectable from outside the input capture module.

18. A computing system comprising:

an input apparatus configured to receive an input from a user;

a display configured to display the input from the user;

a bus configured to communicate the input to the display;

a processing unit configured to process the input;

an input capture module isolated from a less secure part of the computing system, the isolation configured to prevent corruption of the input capture module by computing instructions received from outside of the input capture module, the input capture module comprising;

storage configured to store an encryption key or a certificate,

a sniffer configured to sniff the bus for video data,

character recognition logic configured to identify input data within the video data, the input data resulting from the input from the user, and

logic configured to encrypt or certify the input data identified by the character recognition logic; and

communication logic configured to communicate an output of the logic to a communication network.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the sniffer is configured to sniff the video data such that the sniffed video data is assured to be the same video data as is presented on the display.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the encryption key or the certificate is stored such that the encryption key or certificate cannot be read from outside the input capture module.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the input capture module is configured to include a unique identifier of the input capture module in the output.

22. The system of claim 18, wherein the input capture module is configured to recognize characters indicated using mouse clicks or a touch pad.

23. The system of claim 18, wherein the input capture module is configured to recognize characters generated by auto-complete logic.

24. The system of claim 18, wherein the input capture module is configured to recognize characters generated by voice-to-text logic.

25. The system of claim 18, wherein the input capture module is configured to recognize characters generated by spell checking logic.

26. The system of claim 18, wherein the key storage is configured to store a plurality of encryption keys, the plurality of encryption keys being individually selectable from outside the input capture module.

27. The system of claim 18, wherein the key storage is configured to store a plurality of encryption keys, the plurality of encryption keys being automatically selectable by detecting an image on the bus.

28. The system of claim 18, further comprising substitution logic configured to replace contents of a data packet generated within the less secure part of the computing system with the output of the logic.

29. An endpoint system comprising:

an input apparatus configured to receive input from a user and including an input buffer, the input buffer being configured to store the received input;

a processor configured to receive the input via the input apparatus;

a bus configured to communicate the input from the input buffer to a storage accessible to the processor; and

a sniffer configured to detect the input as it is communicated on the bus from the input buffer to the storage, the detection occurring prior to the input being modifiable by the processor.