Trusted local single sign-on

• US 8,365,266 B2
• Filed: 03/20/2008
• Issued: 01/29/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation, Neocleus Israel Limited
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Bogner, Etay
• Primary Examiner(s): ABYANEH, ALI S
• Application Number:
  US12/052,336
• Publication Number:
  US 20080235779A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,776 Days
• Field of Search: 726/8, 726/2, 726/5, 713/155, 713/168, 713/182, 709/217
• US Class Current: 726/8
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/56 Financial cryptography, e.g. electronic payment or e-cash
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/80 Wireless network architectures or network communication protocols for wireless network security H04W12/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0815 providing single-sign-on or federations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/32 including means for verifying the identity or authority of a user of the system or for message authentication, e.g. authorization, entity authentication, data integrity or data verification, non-repudiation, key authentication or verification of credentials

Abstract

A method includes running on a computer a first operating environment for performing general-purpose operations and a second operating environment, which is configured exclusively for interacting with multiple servers in respective secure communication sessions and is isolated from the first operating environment. Multiple server-specific credentials for authenticating a user of the computer to the respective servers, as well as a single set of master credentials for authenticating the user to the second operating environment, are stored in the second operating environment.

A secure communication session is established between the computer and a given server under control of a program running in the second operating environment, by authenticating the user using the master credentials and, responsively to authenticating the user, selecting one of the server-specific credentials and authenticating the user to the given server using the selected server-specific credentials.

Claims

1. A computing method, comprising:

running on a user computer a first operating environment for performing general-purpose operations and a second operating environment, which is configured exclusively for interacting with multiple servers in respective secure communication sessions and is separate from the first operating environment, wherein the second operating environment is isolated from the first operating environment and the first operating environment does not interact with the multiple servers in the secure communication sessions, the first operating environment including an operating system and second operating environment including an operating system separate from the operating system of the first operating environment, wherein in the protected communication session the second operating environment exchanges transaction data with a server via a security protocol, wherein general-purpose operations performed in the first operating environment do not affect operation of the second operating environment, and wherein running the second operating environment comprises verifying a trustworthiness of the second operating environment by communication between the second operating environment and a Central Management System (CMS) that is external to the user computer;

storing in the second operating environment multiple different server-specific credentials, each corresponding to one of the multiple servers, for authenticating a user of the user computer to each respective server, and a single set of master credentials for authenticating the user to the second operating environment; and

establishing a secure communication session between the user computer and at least one of the multiple servers under control of a program running in the second operating environment, by authenticating the user to the second operating environment using the master credentials and, responsively to successfully authenticating the user in the second operating environment, automatically selecting one of the server-specific credentials in the second operating environment corresponding to the one of the multiple servers and the second operating environment authenticating the user to the one server using the selected server-specific credentials.

2. The method according to claim 1, and comprising conducting the secure communication session with the given server responsively to successfully authenticating the user computer to the given server.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein establishing the secure communication session comprises authenticating the user to the given server using the selected server-specific credentials only upon successfully verifying the trustworthiness of the second operating environment by the CMS.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein storing the server-specific credentials comprises providing at least one of the server-specific credentials to the CMS, and sending at least one of the server-specific credentials from the CMS to the user computer for storage in the second operating environment.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein providing at least one of the server-specific credentials further comprises providing a security policy of at least one of the servers to the CMS, and enforcing the security policy with respect to the second operating environment by the CMS.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein storing the server-specific credentials comprises providing at least one of the server-specific credentials to the user computer independently of the CMS.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the master credentials are uniquely associated with the user computer, and wherein authenticating the user using the master credentials comprises verifying that the user computer matches the master credentials.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein storing the server-specific credentials comprises encrypting the server-specific credentials, and wherein authenticating the user to the given server using the selected server-specific credentials comprises decrypting the selected credentials.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein storing the master credentials comprises encrypting the master credentials, and wherein authenticating the user using the master credentials comprises decrypting the master credentials.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein storing the server-specific credentials comprises storing a self-contained data element comprising one of the server-specific credentials and a software application that is to run in the second operating environment for communicating with a respective one of the servers.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the self-contained data element further comprises attributes of the software application.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein the self-contained data element comprises the master credentials, the multiple server-specific credentials and respective multiple software applications for communicating with the servers.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein establishing the secure communication session comprises, in response to successfully authenticating the user to the given server, causing a packet filter of the given server to allow packets arriving from the user computer to reach the given server.

14. A user computer, comprising:

an network interface device, which is operative to communicate with multiple servers over a communication network; and

a hardware processor, which is coupled to run a first operating environment, which is configured to perform general-purpose operations, and a second operating environment, which is configured exclusively for interacting with the multiple servers in respective protected communication sessions and is separate from the first operating environment,

wherein the second operating environment is isolated from the first operating environment and the first operating environment does not interact with the multiple servers in the secure communication sessions, the first operating environment including an operating system and second operating environment including an operating system separate from the operating system of the first operating environment,

wherein in the protected communication session the second operating environment exchanges transaction data with a server via a security protocol,

wherein general-purpose operations performed in the first operating environment do not affect operation of the second operating environment, and

wherein running the second operating environment comprises verifying a trustworthiness of the second operating environment by communication between the second operating environment and a Central Management System (CMS) that is external to the user computer,

the hardware processor configured to store in the second operating environment multiple different server-specific credentials, each corresponding to one of the multiple servers, for authenticating a user of the user computer to each respective server and a single set of master credentials for authenticating the user to the second operating environment, and

the hardware processor configured to establish a secure communication session between the user computer and at least one of the multiple servers under control of a program running in the second operating environment, by authenticating the user to the second operating environment using the master credentials and, responsively to successfully authenticating the user in the second operating environment, automatically selecting, one of the server-specific credentials in the second operating environment corresponding to the one of the multiple servers and the second operating environment authenticating the user to the one server using the selected server-specific credentials.

15. The user computer according to claim 14, wherein the processor is coupled to conduct the secure communication session with the given server responsively to successfully authenticating the user computer to the given server.

16. The user computer according to claim 14, wherein the processor is coupled to authenticate the user to the given server using the selected server-specific credentials only when the trustworthiness of the second operating environment is successfully verified by the CMS.

17. The user computer according to claim 14, wherein the processor is coupled to receive at least one of the server-specific credentials from the CMS, and to store received at least one of the server-specific credentials in the second operating environment.

18. The user computer according to claim 14, wherein the processor is coupled to store at least one of the server-specific credentials independently of the CMS.

19. The user computer according to claim 14, wherein the master credentials are uniquely associated with the user computer, and wherein the processor is coupled to authenticate the user using the master credentials by verifying that the user computer matches the master credentials.

20. The user computer according to claim 14, wherein the processor is coupled to encrypt the stored server-specific credentials, and to decrypt the selected credentials so as to authenticate the user to the given server.

21. The user computer according to claim 14, wherein the processor is coupled to encrypt the stored master credentials, and to decrypt the master credentials so as to authenticate the user.

22. The user computer according to claim 14, wherein the processor is coupled to store a self-contained data element comprising one of the server-specific credentials and a software application that is to run in the second operating environment for communicating with a respective one of the servers.

23. The user computer according to claim 22, wherein the self-contained data element further comprises attributes of the software application.

24. The user computer according to claim 22, wherein the self-contained data element comprises the master credentials, the multiple server-specific credentials and respective multiple software applications for communicating with the servers.

25. A computer software product for use in a user computer, the computer software product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, storing executable instructions, which instructions, when executed by the user computer, cause the user computer to perform operations including,

communicating with multiple servers over a communication network, to run a first operating environment for performing general-purpose operations and a second operating environment, which is configured exclusively for interacting with the multiple servers in respective secure communication sessions and is separate from the first operating environment,

wherein where the second operating environment is isolated from the first operating environment and the first operating environment does not interact with the multiple servers in the secure communication sessions, the first operating environment including an operating system and second operating environment including an operating system separate from the operating system of the first operating environment,

wherein in the protected communication session the second operating environment exchanges transaction data with a server via a security protocol,

wherein general-purpose operations performed in the first operating environment do not affect operation of the second operating environment, and

wherein running the second operating environment comprises verifying a trustworthiness of the second operating environment by communication between the second operating environment and a Central Management System (CMS) that is external to the user computer,

storing in the second operating environment multiple different server-specific credentials, each corresponding to one of the multiple servers, for authenticating a user of the user computer to each respective server and a single set of master credentials for authenticating the user to the second operating environment, and

establishing a secure communication session between the user computer and at least one of the multiple servers under control of a program running in the second operating environment, by authenticating the user to the second operating environment using the master credentials and, responsively to successfully authenticating the user in the second operating environment, automatically selecting one of the server-specific credentials in the second operating environment corresponding to the one of the multiple servers and the second operating environment authenticating the user to the one server using the selected server-specific credentials.