Method and apparatus for prevention of tampering and unauthorized use, and unauthorized extraction of information from secured devices

• US 9,323,958 B2
• Filed: 07/10/2014
• Issued: 04/26/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/22/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Enterprise Sciences, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Enterprise Sciences, Inc.
• Inventors: Mostovych, Andrew N.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nalven, Andrew
• Assistant Examiner(s): RUPRECHT, CHRISTOPHER S
• Application Number:
  US14/327,860
• Publication Number:
  US 20150026485A1
• Time in Patent Office: 656 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/86 Secure or tamper-resistant housings
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2143 Clearing memory, e.g. to prevent the data from being stolen

Abstract

The present invention considers an apparatus for prevention of tampering, unauthorized use, and unauthorized extraction of information from at least one secure system including at least one information device arranged to process information, at least one integrated encryption segment arranged to encrypt the information using at least one encryption process enabled by a set of encryption key information incorporated in at least one secure information storage of the at least one information device, at least one destruction driver arranged to initiate and support at least one controllable energy release in a proximity of the at least one secure information storage of the at least one information device incorporating the set of encryption key information, such that at least fraction of the set of encryption key information has been obliterated during the controllable energy discharge.

Claims

1. An apparatus for prevention of tampering, unauthorized use, and unauthorized extraction of information from at least one secure system, comprising:

at least one information device arranged to communicate, assemble, control, process, or store information;

at least one integrated encryption segment associated with at least one encryption device and arranged to encrypt the information using at least one encryption process enabled by at least one predetermined set of encryption key information incorporated in at least one information containing region of at least one secure information storage of the at least one information device; and

at least one destruction driver arranged to deliver energy through at least one destruction conduit to at least one destruction device sufficient to initiate and support at least one controllable energy release in the at least one destruction device, the at least one destruction device positioned in a proximity of the at least one information containing region of the at least one secure information storage of the at least one information device and arranged to localize the at least one controllable energy release in a proximity of the at least one predetermined set of encryption key information, such that at least a fraction of the at least one predetermined set of encryption key information and at least a fraction of the at least one information containing region have been unrecoverably obliterated during the controllable energy release;

wherein the obliterated fraction of the at least one predetermined set of encryption key information has been preselected to include a functional segment of encrypting key information necessary for decoding of the at least one information device communicated, assembled, controlled, processed, or stored information.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, comprising at least one system enclosure arranged to indicate at least one outer boundary, enclosing the at least one information device and at least one associated functional device arranged to generate at least one signal indicative of an attempt of tampering.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one secure information storage of the at least one information device comprises at least one secure information containing region arranged to store at least a portion of the at least one predetermined set of encryption key information and at least one information containing region arranged to store at least a portion of preselected verification information such that the at least one controllable energy release unrecoverably obliterates at least a portion of the at least one secure information containing region and also destroys at least the portion of the preselected verification information, so that a failure to retrieve the at least the portion of the preselected verification information indicates the unrecoverable obliteration of the at least the portion of the at least one predetermined set of encryption key information.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, comprising at least one additional information destruction device arranged to destroy the at least the portion of the preselected verification information substantially simultaneously with the at least one controllable energy release.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one secure information storage of the at least one information device comprises at least one secure information containing region arranged to store in a substantially collocated manner at least a portion of the at least one predetermined set of encryption key information and at least a portion of preselected verification information such that the at least one controllable energy release in the proximity of the at least one secure information containing region substantially simultaneously unrecoverably obliterates the at least the portion of the at least one predetermined encryption key information and the portion of the preselected verification information, so that a failure to retrieve the at least the portion of the preselected verification information indicates the unrecoverable obliteration of the at least the portion of the at least one predetermined set of encryption key information.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one information device comprises at least one observation window arranged to provide an observable indication of the unrecoverable obliteration of the obliterated fraction of the at least one predetermined set of encryption key information.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the at least one observation window has been arranged to provide a visual indication of the unrecoverable obliteration of the obliterated fraction of the at least one predetermined set of encryption key information.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one integrated encryption segment represents a dedicated encryption device arranged to store at least a portion of the predetermined encryption key information.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one information device comprises at least one physical key generator arranged to dynamically generate at least one variable portion of encryption key information.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one secured system have been arranged to support at least one removable information device arranged for insertion and removal without a need for additional reconfiguration of the secure system.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one integrated encryption segment incorporates at least one dedicated encryption device arranged to combine the at least one integrated encryption device and at least one collocated physical key generator.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one information device is chosen from a set of devices consisting of disc storage device, electronic memory device, magnetic memory device, RAM, DRAM, FPM DRAM, EDO DRAM, VRAM, SDRAM, RDRAM, SDRAM, PSRAM, SRAM, ROM, PROM, EPROM, EEPROM, NVRAM, MRAM, and combinations thereof.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, comprising at least one functional device chosen from set of functional devices consisting of:

push-button positive electrical contact switches, multiple press push-button trigger sequence generators, keypad trigger generators, physical key switches, rotational encoder switches, touch pad switches, capacitive switches, fingerprint readers, palm readers, retinal readers, tamper sensors, pressure sensors, radiation sensors, thermal sensors, electromagnetic radiation sensors, acoustic sensors, vibration sensors, keyboards, keypads, optical detectors, image detectors, radio receivers, encoders, rf transmitters, servo motors, electromechanical actuators, transducers, plasma generators, lasers, video displays, LED displays, LCD displays, indicator light devices, and combinations thereof.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one destruction device associated to the at least one destruction conduit is further arranged to localize the at least one controllable energy release in the proximity of the at least one secure information storage and at least one chemically active portion such that at least one fraction of the at least one predetermined set of encryption key information has been unrecoverably obliterated during the at least one controllable energy release, and at least another fraction of the at least one predetermined set of encryption key information has been unrecoverably obliterated by a chemical reaction between the at least one chemically active portion and the at least one secure information storage.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the at least one chemically active portion incorporates chemically active compounds chosen from a set of chemically active compounds consisting of:

hydrofluoric acid, sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, sodium oxide, potassium oxide, lead(II) oxide, zinc oxide, mixtures of potassium oxide and sodium hydroxide, and mixtures of the listed oxides.

16. An apparatus for prevention of tampering, unauthorized use, and unauthorized extraction of information from at least one distributed secure system, comprising:

at least one processing subsystem, wherein the at least one processing subsystem includes;

at least one information device arranged to communicate, assemble, control, process, or store information; and

at least one destruction driver arranged to deliver energy through at least one destruction conduit sufficient to initiate and support at least one controllable energy release; and

at least one security module, wherein the at least one security module includes;

at least another information device arranged to encrypt the information using at least one encryption process enabled by a set of encryption key information stored in at least one information containing region; and

at least one destruction device associated with the at least one destruction driver incorporated in the at least one processing subsystem via the at least one destruction conduit, the at least one destruction device positioned in a proximity of the at least one information containing region of the at least another information device and arranged to localize the at least one controllable energy release in a proximity of the set of encryption key information, such that at least a fraction of the set of encryption key information and at least a fraction of the at least one information containing region have been unrecoverably obliterated during the at least one controllable energy release;

wherein the obliterated fraction of the set of encryption key information has been preselected to include a functional segment of encrypting key information necessary for decoding of the at least one information device communicated, assembled, controlled, processed, or stored information.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, comprising at least one integrated connecting element arranged to functionally connect and disconnect the at least one processing subsystem and the at least one security module, wherein the at least one integrated connecting element is further arranged to deliver sufficient energy from the at least one destruction driver to the at least one destruction device through the at least one destruction conduit to empower the at least one destruction device to produce the at least one controllable energy release.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the at least one information device comprises at least one secure information containing region arranged to store at least a portion of the set of encryption key information and at least one information containing region arranged to store a portion of preselected verification information such that the at least one controllable energy release unrecoverably obliterates at least a portion of the at least one secure information containing region and also destroys at least the portion of the preselected verification information, so that a failure to retrieve the at least the portion of the preselected verification information indicates the unrecoverable obliteration of the at least the portion of the set of encryption key information.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, comprising at least one additional information destruction device arranged to destroy the at least the portion of the preselected verification information substantially simultaneously with the at least one controllable energy release in the proximity of the set of encryption key information.

20. The apparatus of claim 16, comprising at least one dedicated encryption device arranged to store in at least one secure information containing region in a substantially collocated manner at least a portion of the set of encryption key information and at least a portion of preselected verification information such that the at least one controllable energy release in the proximity of the at least one secure information containing region substantially simultaneously unrecoverably obliterates the at least the portion of the set of encryption key information and the at least the portion of the preselected verification information, so that a failure to retrieve the at least the portion of the preselected verification information indicates the unrecoverable obliteration of the at least the portion of the encryption key information.

21. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the at least one information device comprises at least one transparent viewing window arranged to provide a visual indication of the unrecoverable obliteration of the obliterated fraction of the set of encryption key information.

22. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the at least one security module includes at least one tamper sensor arranged to detect and to classify at least one attempt of unauthorized extraction of information from the at least one distributed secure system.

23. A subsystem for prevention of tampering, unauthorized use, and unauthorized extraction of information from at least one secure system, comprising:

at least one information device arranged to communicate, assemble, control, process, or store information;

at least one integrated encryption segment associated with the at least one information device and arranged to encrypt the information using at least one encryption process enabled by a set of encryption key information incorporated in at least one secure information storage of the at least one information device having at least one information containing region; and

at least one mechanical destruction driver attached to at least one mechanical destruction conduit arranged to substantially utilize direct work of at least one mechanical force applicable to initiate and support at least one controllable energy release in a proximity of the at least one secure information storage of the at least one information device incorporating the set of encryption key information, such that at least a fraction of the set of encryption key information and at least a fraction of the at least one information containing region have been unrecoverably obliterated during the at least one controllable energy release;

wherein the at least one mechanical destruction driver initiating and supporting the at least one controllable energy release has been actuated by actions of the at least one mechanical force as initiated, controlled, and driven by actions of at least one external participant.

24. The subsystem of claim 23, wherein the at least one mechanical destruction conduit incorporates at least one adhesive portion arranged to adhere to the at least one secure information storage of the at least one information device and to actuate the at least one controlled energy release substantially utilizing work of forces of adhesion between the at least one adhesive portion and the at least one secure information storage of the at least one information device.

25. The subsystem of claim 23, wherein the at least one mechanical destruction driver incorporates at least one resilient portion arranged for an impactual interaction with the at least one secure information storage of the at least one information device and to actuate the at least one controlled energy release substantially utilizing work of forces of the impactual interaction upon the at least one secure information storage of the at least one information device.

26. The subsystem of claim 23, wherein the at least one mechanical destruction driver incorporates at least one chemically active portion arranged in the proximity of the at least one secure information storage of the at least one information device and to actuate a controllable distribution of chemically active compounds incorporated in the at least one chemically active portion and to support at least one chemical reaction between the at least one chemically active portion and the at least one secure information storage of the at least one information device such that the at least the fraction of the set of encryption key information has been unrecoverably obliterated during the at least one chemical reaction.