Methods and apparatus for restoration of an anti-theft platform

• US 8,566,610 B2
• Filed: 12/18/2009
• Issued: 10/22/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Hazra, Mousumi, Prakash, Gyan, Dadu, Saurabh, Mirashrafi, Mojtaba, Glendinning, Duncan
• Primary Examiner(s): Brown, Christopher
• Assistant Examiner(s): Le, Canh
• Application Number:
  US12/653,872
• Publication Number:
  US 20110154030A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,404 Days
• Field of Search: 713/164
• US Class Current: 713/189
• 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 mechanism, comprising:

requesting authorization to access a standby state by sending a platform public key to a server;

receiving a server public key;

receiving an encrypted and signed anti-theft permit;

sending a rendezvous message to the server;

receiving an encrypted and signed anti-theft standby transition message from the server;

validating the anti-theft standby transition message;

sending a cryptographically signed acknowledgment to the server;

transitioning from an active state to a stolen state in response to a trigger indicating that the platform has been stolen, wherein the platform (i) permits access to hardware resources and software resources while in the active state and (ii) restricts access to hardware resources and software resources while in the stolen state; and

transitioning from the stolen state to the standby state on the platform in response to validating the anti-theft standby transition message, wherein the platform permits access to the hardware resources and the software resources before expiration of a timer of the platform while in the standby state.

2. The method of claim 1, further including generating a platform cryptographic key pair and storing the platform cryptographic key pair as an encrypted data binary large object.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the standby transition message is validated by a manageability engine.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the platform public key and the server public key is exchanged through host software on the platform.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the platform public key may only be readable by a manageability engine.

6. A method for accessing a platform using a manageability engine, comprising:

requesting authorization to access a standby state by sending a platform public key to a server;

receiving a server public key;

receiving an encrypted and signed anti-theft 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;

transitioning from an active state to a stolen state in response to a trigger indicating that the platform has been stolen, wherein the platform (i) permits access to hardware resources and software resources while in the active state and (ii) restricts access to hardware resources and software resources while in the stolen state; and

transitioning from the stolen state to the standby state to provide access to the platform in response to authenticating the second standby token, wherein the platform permits access to the hardware resources and the software resources before expiration of a timer of the platform while in the standby state.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the platform public key is stored in a flash memory.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the second standby token is authenticated by the first standby token using the manageability engine.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the platform public key may only be readable by the manageability engine.

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising restoring the platform by resetting a serial peripheral interface flash memory to a desired setting or settings.

11. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium that provides instructions, which when accessed, cause a machine to perform operations in a platform, comprising:

requesting authorization to access a standby state by sending a platform public key to a server;

receiving a server public key;

receiving an encrypted and signed anti-theft permit;

sending a rendezvous message to the server;

receiving an encrypted and signed anti-theft standby transition message from the server;

validating the anti-theft standby transition message;

sending a cryptographically signed acknowledgment to the server;

transitioning from an active state to a stolen state in response to a trigger indicating that the platform has been stolen, wherein the platform (i) permits access to hardware resources and software resources while in the active state and (ii) restricts access to hardware resources and software resources while in the stolen state; and

transitioning from the stolen state to the standby state on the platform in response to validating the anti-theft standby transition message, wherein the platform permits access to the hardware resources and the software resources before expiration of a timer of the platform while in the standby state.

12. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the platform public key is stored in a flash memory.

13. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the standby transition message is validated by a manageability engine.

14. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the platform public key and the server public key is exchanged through host software on the platform.

15. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 11, further comprising restoring the platform by resetting of a serial peripheral interface flash memory to a desired setting or settings.