Protecting packages from tampering

• US 9,007,182 B2
• Filed: 02/15/2012
• Issued: 04/14/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/15/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Cruzado, Edwin D., Dalzell, William J., Souders, Keith A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bugg, George
• Assistant Examiner(s): Dorsey, Renee
• Application Number:
  US13/397,020
• Publication Number:
  US 20130207783A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,154 Days
• US Class Current: 340/10.5
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/57 Certifying or maintaining trusted computer platforms, e.g. secure boots or power-downs, version controls, system software checks, secure updates or assessing vulnerabilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/73 by creating or determining hardware identification, e.g. serial numbers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/86 Secure or tamper-resistant housings
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07 with integrated circuit chips
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/073 Special arrangements for circuits, e.g. for protecting identification code in memory protection against unauthorised use of computer memory G06F12/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07372 by detecting tampering with the circuit
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 5/0208 Interlock mechanisms; Means for avoiding unauthorised use or function, e.g. tamperproof

Abstract

A package includes a chassis, a plurality of components arranged within the chassis, a plurality of RFID devices, and at least one processing device. The RFID devices are arranged at a plurality of locations to form an array configured to authenticate compliance of the actual configuration of the package with a model configuration. The processing device is configured to communicate with the RFID devices, determine if the actual configuration of the package is in compliance with the model configuration based on communications with the RFID devices, and set an operational mode of one or more of the components of the package in response to determining if the actual configuration of the package is in compliance with the model configuration.

Claims

1. A package comprising:

a chassis;

a plurality of components arranged within the chassis;

a plurality of RFID devices arranged at a plurality of locations to form an array configured to authenticate compliance of an actual configuration of the package with a model configuration;

at least one processing device configured to communicate with the RFID devices, determine if the actual configuration of the package is in compliance with the model configuration based on communications with the RFID devices, and set an operational mode of one or more of the components of the package in response to determining if the actual configuration of the package is in compliance with the model configuration.

2. The package of claim 1, wherein the actual configuration of the package comprises a configuration of the chassis.

3. The package of claim 2, wherein a subset of the plurality of RFID devices are arranged at a plurality of locations on the chassis to form a virtual volume that simulates a physical volume defined by the chassis.

4. The package of claim 3, wherein the at least one processing device is configured to communicate with the subset of RFID devices and determine if the subset of RFID devices that form the virtual volume are in compliance with the model configuration of the package.

5. The package of claim 4, wherein the at least one processing device is configured to determine if the subset of RFID devices that form the virtual volume are in compliance with the model configuration of the package at least by detecting at least one of the absence of any of a list of RFID devices defined in the model configuration as associated with the chassis or that locations of any of the subset of RFID devices are different than a plurality of predetermined locations defined by the model configuration for the subset of RFID devices.

6. The package of claim 5, wherein the at least one processing device is configured to detect absence of any of the subset of RFID devices defined in the model configuration as associated with the chassis at least by:

requesting a unique identification code from each of the subset of RFID devices;

receiving the unique identification codes of each of the subset of RFID devices from each RFID device; and

comparing the unique identification codes of each of the subset of RFID devices to a list of codes defined in the model configuration.

7. The package of claim 6, wherein the at least one processing device requests and receives the unique identification codes of each of the subset of RFID devices via at least one of the plurality of RFID devices not included in the subset of RFID devices.

8. The package of claim 1, wherein the actual configuration of the package comprises the configuration of one or more of the components within the chassis.

9. The package of claim 8, wherein a subset of the plurality of RFID devices are associated with the plurality of components such that each RFID device of the subset of RFID devices is associated with at least one of the plurality of components.

10. The package of claim 9, wherein the at least one processing device is configured to communicate with the subset of RFID devices and detect the absence of one or more of the plurality of components within the chassis based on the communication with the subset of RFID devices.

11. The package of claim 10, wherein the at least one processing device is configured to detect the absence of the one or more of the plurality of components at least by:

requesting a unique identification code from each of the subset of RFID devices;

receiving the unique identification codes of each of the subset of RFID devices from each RFID device; and

comparing the unique identification codes of each of the subset of RFID devices to a list of codes defined in the model configuration.

12. The package of claim 11, wherein the at least one processing device requests and receives the unique identification codes of each of the subset of RFID devices via at least one of the plurality of RFID devices not included in the subset of RFID devices.

13. The package of claim 9, wherein the at least one processing device is configured to communicate with the subset of RFID devices and determine if an actual operational configuration of each of the plurality of components is in compliance with the model configuration for the package.

14. The package of claim 13, wherein the at least one processing device is configured to determine if the actual operational configuration of each of the plurality of components is in compliance with the model configuration for the package at least by:

requesting, for each of the plurality of components, data defining the actual operational configuration of the component from an RFID device from the subset of RFID devices associated with the component;

receiving, for each of the plurality of components, the actual operational configuration from the RFID device from the subset of RFID devices associated with the component; and

comparing, for each of the plurality of components, the actual operation configuration of the component to a model operational configuration for the component defined in the model configuration for the package.

15. The package of claim 1, further comprising:

a plurality of processing nodes, each processing node comprising a processing device, one of which is the at least one processing device, and memory; and

a key manager module comprising instructions stored on the memory of at least one of the processing nodes and executable by at least one of the processing devices of the processing nodes,

wherein each of the of processing nodes is configured to transmit a key split to the key manager module,

wherein the key manager module is configured to assemble a plurality of key splits from a threshold number of the processing nodes to define an encryption/decryption key and transmit the encryption/decryption key to each of the processing nodes,

wherein each of the processing nodes is configured to decrypt a configuration file associated with each processing node with the encryption/decryption key,

wherein at least one of the processing nodes is configured to authenticate a configuration of one or more of the processing nodes based on one or more of the decrypted configuration files.

16. The package of claim 14,

wherein a first processing node selected from the plurality of processing nodes is configured to authenticate a configuration of the first processing node based on the decrypted configuration file for the first processing node and transmit a validation message to a second processing node selected from the plurality of processing nodes, and

wherein the second processing node selected is configured to authenticate the configuration of the first processing node based on at least one of the validation message and the decrypted configuration file for the second processing node.

17. The package of claim 16,

wherein the second processing node is configured to authenticate configuration of the second processing node based on the decrypted configuration file for the second processing node and transmit a validation message to a third processing node selected from the plurality of processing nodes, and

wherein the third processing node is configured to authenticate the configuration of the second processing node based on at least one of the validation message and the decrypted configuration file for the third processing node.

18. The package of claim 1, wherein the processing device is configured to at least one of disable operation of one or more of the components of the package or set one or more of the components of the package to operate in a reduced functionality mode in response to determining that the actual configuration of the package is out of compliance with the model configuration.

19. A method comprising:

communicating with a plurality of RFID devices arranged at a plurality of locations on or within a chassis of a package, wherein the plurality of RFID devices form an array configured to authenticate compliance of an actual configuration of the package with a model configuration;

determining if the actual configuration of the package is in compliance with the model configuration based on communications with the RFID devices; and

setting an operational mode of one or more components of the package in response to determining if the actual configuration of the package is in compliance with the model configuration.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium includes instructions executable by a programmable processor to cause the processor to:

communicate with a plurality of RFID devices arranged at a plurality of locations on or within a chassis of a package to form an array configured to authenticate compliance of an actual configuration of the package with a model configuration;

determine if the actual configuration of the package is in compliance with the model configuration based on communications with the RFID devices; and

set an operational mode of one or more components of the package in response to determining if the actual configuration of the package is in compliance with the model configuration.