Apparatus, system, and method for protecting electronic devices in a virtual perimeter

• US 9,069,993 B2
• Filed: 11/10/2011
• Issued: 06/30/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Hirsch, Dan F., Bullokles, Cristian F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Okeke, Izunna
• Application Number:
  US13/992,356
• Publication Number:
  US 20130276152A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,328 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/178 Techniques for file synchronisation in file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6281 at program execution time, where the protection is within the operating system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/629 to features or functions of an application
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/88 Detecting or preventing theft or loss
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2141 Access rights, e.g. capability lists, access control lists, access tables, access matrices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2145 Inheriting rights or properties, e.g., propagation of permissions or restrictions within a hierarchy
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2149 Restricted operating environment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security

Abstract

Described herein are apparatus, system, and method for protecting electronic devices through the creation of a virtual perimeter among the electronic devices. The virtual perimeter may be generated by the electronic devices themselves. The method performed by an electronic device comprises: identifying a current context; receiving a role, according to the current context, in a hierarchy of multiple electronic devices, and operating in accordance with the role in the hierarchy within a secure perimeter in the current context around the multiple electronic devices, wherein the hierarchy includes a system of security checks based on context information.

Claims

1. At least one machine-readable storage medium having computer executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause an electronic device to perform a method, the method comprising:

identifying a current context;

communicating among multiple electronic devices to identify a top element of a hierarchy of the multiple electronic devices for the current context using a leadership algorithm;

receiving a role as the top element for the current context in the hierarchy;

operating in accordance with the role in the hierarchy within a secure perimeter in the current context around the multiple electronic devices;

periodically checking conformity with one or more context rules for each of electronic device among the multiple electronic devices; and

triggering an event when a context rule, from among the one or more context rules, is activated.

2. The at least one machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein identifying the top element of the hierarchy comprises performing one or more of:

receiving assignment as the top element;

electing, as the top element, one or more electronic devices from among the multiple electronic devices;

or

executing, in view of the current context, a leader election algorithm to identify the top element.

3. The at least one machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, having further computer executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause the electronic device to perform a further method, the further method comprising:

sending an acknowledgment message to other electronic devices, among the multiple electronic devices in the hierarchy, to confirm that all the electronic devices among the multiple electronic devices are part of the hierarchy.

4. The at least one machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the event comprises performing one or more of:

securely shutting down itself or at least one of the electronic devices in the hierarchy that causes triggering of the event;

synchronizing data with another machine;

shutting down all the multiple electronic devices in the hierarchy;

locking-in itself or at least one of the electronic device in the hierarchy that causes triggering of the event;

or

activating anti-theft protocol for itself or for at least one of the electronic device in the hierarchy.

5. The at least one machine-readable storage medium of claim 4, wherein the other machine is a cloud computing unit, and wherein synchronizing with the other machine comprises copying data to the cloud computing unit.

6. The at least one machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein all electronic devices, among the multiple electronic devices, are shut down when the top element triggers an event indicating that the top element is outside the secure perimeter.

7. The at least one machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the context information comprises one or more of:

physical proximity between electronic devices in the hierarchy;

logical location of the electronic devices in the hierarchy;

movement of an electronic device relative to other electronic devices in the hierarchy;

strength of wireless internet connectivity of an electronic device relative to other electronic devices in the hierarchy;

an event detected by soft or hard sensors of an electronic device in the hierarchy;

or

a message received from another electronic device in the hierarchy, the message to indicate an event in the current context.

8. An electronic device comprising:

a logic unit to identify a current context; and

a security agent to communicate among multiple electronic devices to identify a top element of a hierarchy of the multiple electronic devices for the current context using a leadership algorithm, to perform a role of the top element in the hierarchy in the current context identified by the logic, periodically check conformity with one or more context rules for each of electronic device among the multiple electronic devices and trigger an event when a context rule, from among the one or more context rules, is activate.

9. The electronic device of claim 8, wherein the security agent comprises a context awareness engine for receiving context information from other electronic devices among the multiple electronic devices.

10. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the context information comprises one or more of:

physical proximity between electronic devices in the hierarchy;

logical location;

movement relative to other electronic devices in the hierarchy;

strength of wireless internet connectivity relative to other electronic devices in the hierarchy;

an event detected by soft or hard sensors;

or

a message received from another electronic device in the hierarchy, the message to indicate an event in the current context.

11. The electronic device of claim 9, wherein the context awareness engine includes an agent rule to cause an event to trigger when the agent rule is activated.

12. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the event, triggered when the agent rule is activated, comprises one or more of:

secure shut down of itself or at least one of the electronic device from among the multiple electronic devices in the hierarchy that causes the triggering of the event;

synchronize data with another machine;

shut down all the multiple electronic devices in the hierarchy;

lock-in of itself or at least one of the electronic device from among the multiple electronic devices in the hierarchy that causes the triggering of the event;

or

activate anti-theft protocol for itself or at least one of the electronic device from among the multiple electronic devices in the hierarchy.

13. A server comprising:

a security manager module to;

register multiple electronic devices;

define one or more contexts for the registered multiple electronic devices for providing a secure perimeter in the one or more contexts around the multiple electronic devices; and

define a hierarchy for the multiple electronic devices according to the one or more contexts, wherein the security manager module is communicatively coupled to a security agent of an electronic device from among the multiple electronic devices in the hierarchy; and

identify a top element of a hierarchy of the multiple electronic devices for the current context using a leadership algorithm.

14. The server of claim 13, wherein the security manager module to:

define context rules for triggering an event by each of the electronic devices among the multiple electronic devices;

define the hierarchy by registering one or more electronic devices among the multiple electronic devices as a top element in the hierarchy;

receive data from the electronic device, which is the top element of the hierarchy, in response to triggering of an event;

or

receive data for registering and administering configuration of the multiple electronic devices.

15. The server of claim 14, wherein the security manager module is communicatively coupled to a security agent of the electronic device which is the top element of the hierarchy.

16. The server of claim 14, wherein the security manager module to register one or more electronic devices as the top element by performing one or more of:

assigning one or more electronic devices, from among the multiple electronic device, as the top element;

receiving an input from one or more electronic devices, among the multiple electronic devices, that elected the top element from among the multiple electronic devices;

or

executing, in view of the context, a leader election algorithm to identify the top element.

17. The server of claim 14, wherein the security agent in each of the electronic devices having logic to perform a function of the top element.

18. The server of claim 13, wherein the security agent includes a context awareness engine for receiving context information from other electronic devices among the multiple electronic devices.

19. The server of claim 18, wherein the context information comprises one or more of:

physical proximity between electronic devices in the hierarchy;

logical location of the electronic devices in the hierarchy;

movement of an electronic device relative to other electronic devices in the hierarchy;

strength of wireless internet connectivity of an electronic device relative to other electronic devices in the hierarchy;

an event detected by soft or hard sensors of an electronic device in the hierarchy;

or a message received from another electronic device in the hierarchy, the message to indicate an event in the current context.

20. The server of claim 13, wherein the security agent includes an agent rule to cause an event to trigger when the agent rule is activated.

21. The server of claim 20, wherein the security manager to perform, in response to the event triggered when the agent rule is activated, one or more of:

securely shutting down at least one of the electronic device in the hierarchy that causes the triggering of the event;

synchronizing data with another machine;

shutting down all the multiple electronic devices in the hierarchy;

locking-in at least one of the electronic device in the hierarchy that causes the triggering of the event;

or

activating anti-theft protocol for at least one of the electronic device in the hierarchy.