Security module having a secondary agent in coordination with a host agent

• US 8,904,523 B2
• Filed: 10/13/2010
• Issued: 12/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/16/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Absolute Software Corporation
• Original Assignee: Absolute Software Corporation
• Inventors: Gordon, William Doyle
• Primary Examiner(s): Holder, Bradley
• Assistant Examiner(s): SCHMIDT, KARI L
• Application Number:
  US12/903,880
• Publication Number:
  US 20110258247A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,511 Days
• Field of Search: 726 21- 25, 709/217, 340/426.2, 380/247
• US Class Current: 726/22
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/572 Secure firmware programming, e.g. of basic input output system [BIOS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/81 by operating on the power supply, e.g. enabling or disabling power-on, sleep or resume operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/88 Detecting or preventing theft or loss
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2101 Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2111 Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS
• 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: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1408 by monitoring network traffic monitoring network traffic per se H04L43/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/126 Anti-theft arrangements, e.g. protection against subscriber identity module [SIM] cloning
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

The invention is directed to a security module deployed in a host device, which provides a secondary agent that operates in coordination with the host agent in the host device, but operates independent of the host operating system of the host device to independently access an existing communication network interface in the host device or a separate dedicated network interface, if available. In one aspect, the present invention enables robust theft recovery and asset tracking services. The system comprises a monitoring center; one or more monitored devices; a security module in the monitored devices; and one or more active communications networks. Monitored devices may be stand alone devices, such as computers (e.g., portable or desktop computers), or a device or a subsystem included in a system. A monitored device comprises a security module, a host agent and software to support the host agent that runs in the monitored device'"'"'s OS.

Claims

1. A system for remotely monitoring a device, comprising:

at least one network;

at least one network interface in the device associated with said at least one network;

wherein the device comprises hardware;

a host agent running on a host operating system provided in the device, said host agent accessing said at least one network via said at least one network interface;

a monitoring center connected to said at least one network, configured to communicate with at least one of the host agent and secondary agent via said at least one network interface; and

a secondary agent provided in the device, wherein the secondary agent accesses said at least one network via said at least one network interface independently of the host operating system, wherein the secondary agent and the host agent interface to coordinate which is to access said at least one network via said at least one network interface to communicate attributes of one or more of the device and host operating system to the monitoring center, and wherein said coordination results in communications to the monitoring center being made by the host agent in preference to the secondary agent.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said at least one network comprises first and second networks, wherein said at least one network interface comprises a host network interface that is accessible by both the host agent and the secondary agent to access said first network, and a secondary network interface to which the secondary agent has dedicated access to communicate with the monitoring center via the second network.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the secondary agent and the monitoring center communicate via the secondary network interface if the host network interface becomes unavailable.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the host agent runs on a processor in the device, and the secondary agent runs in a virtual environment on the same processor.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the host agent runs on a processor in the device, and secondary agent is independently powered so that it can function independently of the processor.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the secondary agent is configured to resume operations of the host operating system from a disabled state.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the secondary agent contacts the monitoring center and receives instruction from the monitoring center to resume operations of the host operating system, and to request the host agent to contact the monitoring center.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the host agent and the secondary agent coordinate access to said at least one network in a manner to minimize network charges.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the secondary agent accesses said at least one network via said at least one network interface if the host agent is not functional to access said at least one network.

10. The system as in claim 1, wherein the device is configured to reinstall the host agent when the host operating system detects the presence of the secondary agent.

11. The system as in claim 10, wherein the host agent provides one or more device tracking and management services, and wherein licenses associated with the services are stored in a persistent storage location in the device.

12. The system as in claim 1, wherein said at least one network comprises a cellular network.

13. The system as in claim 12, wherein the monitoring center requests the host agent or the secondary agent to contact the monitoring center by transmitting an SMS message to the cellular network.

14. The system as in claim 12, wherein the host agent or the secondary agent contacts the monitoring center via the cellular network by sending an SMS via a cellular modem associated with a number, and wherein the monitoring center can determine the number from source information contained in the SMS message.

15. The system as in claim 1, wherein a subscription to said at least one network is provisioned to enable communications on said at least one network in response to a predetermined event requiring communication between the device and the monitoring center.

16. The system as in claim 1, wherein said at least one network interface comprises at least two network interfaces, of which one is used exclusively for communicating with the monitoring center.

17. The system as in claim 1, wherein said at least one network interface comprises multiple network interfaces, and wherein the host agent and secondary agent minimize network charges by selecting use of lower cost networks.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein said coordination results in the secondary agent communicating with the monitoring center if the secondary agent is not pinged by the host agent during a predetermined period of time.

19. A system for remotely monitoring a device, comprising:

at least one network;

at least one network interface in the device associated with said at least one network;

wherein the device comprises hardware;

a host agent running on a host operating system provided in the device, said host agent accessing said at least one network via said at least one network interface;

a monitoring center connected to said at least one network, configured to communicate with at least one of the host agent and secondary agent via said at least one network interface; and

a secondary agent provided in the device, wherein the secondary agent accesses said at least one network via said at least one network interface independently of the host operating system, and wherein the secondary agent and the host agent coordinate as to which is to access said at least one network via said at least one network interface to communicate attributes of one or more of the device and host operating system to the monitoring center, wherein upon installation of the operating system, the host agent and secondary agent are automatically installed, and wherein in the absence from the device of a license for a service provided by the host agent, the host agent and secondary agent uninstall themselves.

20. A system for remotely monitoring a device, comprising:

at least one network, wherein said at least one network comprises a cellular network;

at least one network interface in the device associated with said at least one network;

wherein the device comprises hardware;

an agent in the device, said agent accessing said at least one network via said at least one network interface; and

a monitoring center connected to said at least one network, configured to communicate with the agent via said at least one network interface, wherein the device does not maintain a subscription to the cellular network, wherein the monitoring center is configured to initiate provisioning of a subscription of the device to the cellular network without request by the device in the event provisioning is needed before use of the cellular network is permitted, wherein the subscription to said cellular network is provisioned to enable communications on said cellular network in response to a predetermined event requiring communication between the monitoring center and the device, and wherein the agent communicates attributes of one or more of the device and host operating system to the monitoring center via the cellular network.

21. A method of tracking a device, comprising:

providing at least one network interface in the device associated with at least one network;

providing a host agent running on a host operating system in the device, said host agent accessing said at least one network via said at least one network interface;

connecting a monitoring center to said at least one network, configured to communicate with at least one of the host agent and secondary agent via said at least one network interface;

providing a secondary agent in the device wherein said secondary agent accesses said at least one network via said at least one network interface independently of the host operating system; and

interfacing to coordinate between the secondary agent and the host agent to determine which is to access said at least one network via said at least one network interface to communicate attributes of one or more of the device and host operating system to the monitoring center, wherein said coordinating results in communications to the monitoring center being made by the host agent in preference to the secondary agent.