Methods of dynamically securing electronic devices and other communications through environmental and system measurements leveraging tailored trustworthy spaces

• US 9,721,111 B2
• Filed: 10/24/2014
• Issued: 08/01/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Internet Infrastructure Services Corporation
• Original Assignee: Internet Infrastructure Services Corporation
• Inventors: Cavanaugh, Steven
• Primary Examiner(s): KIM, TAE K
• Application Number:
  US14/523,281
• Publication Number:
  US 20150121506A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,012 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/604 Tools and structures for managing or administering access control systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/62 Protecting access to data via a platform, e.g. using keys or access control rules
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database

Abstract

This invention is for a system capable of securing one or more fixed or mobile computing device and connected system. Each device is configured to change its operating posture by allowing, limiting, or disallowing access to applications, application features, devices features, data, and other information based on the current Tailored Trustworthy Space (TTS) definitions and rules which provided for various situationally dependent scenarios. Multiple TTS may be defined for a given deployment, each of which specifies one or more sensors and algorithms for combining sensor data from the device, other connected devices, and/or other data sources from which the current TTS is identified. The device further achieves security by loading digital credentials through a unidirectional multidimensional physical representation process which allows for the device to obtain said credentials without the risk of compromising the credential issuing system through the data transfer process. This secure system methodology may be used to create a Mobile Secure Compartmentalized Information Facility (M-SCIF), among other applications.

Claims

1. A method for securely and automatically performing functions on an authenticated device comprising a sensor and memory containing third instructions to implement at least one tailored trustworthy space rule (“

TTS rule”

), first instructions for performing a first function on the authenticated device, and second instructions for performing a second function on the authenticated device, wherein the authenticated device is in an unlocked state, the method comprising;

automatically obtaining a first measurement from the sensor;

prior to performing the first function on the authenticated device, determining that the first measurement satisfies one or more values defined by the at least one TTS rule, and performing the first function by the authenticated device;

prior to performing the second function on the authenticated device, determining that the first measurement fails to satisfy one or more values defined by the at least one TTS rule, and blocking the authenticated device from performing the second function while maintaining the authenticated device in the unlocked state; and

while performing the first function on the authenticated device, automatically obtaining a second measurement from the sensor, comparing the second measurement to the one or more values defined by the at least one TTS rule, and only continuing to perform the first function if the second measurement satisfies at least one of the one or more values defined by the at least one TTS rule;

executing, by the authenticated device, the at least one TTS rule;

when a first TTS rule of the at least one TTS rule fails to be satisfied by the first measurement and the second measurement, then automatically unloading application executable code, and deleting application executable code, application configuration, and decrypted application data from the authenticated device; and

when a second TTS rule of the at least one TTS rule fails to be satisfied by the first measurement and the second measurement, then automatically unloading a decryption key for application data from the authenticated device and preventing application access to the decrypted application data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the authenticated device comprises an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a camera, a microphone, a GPS receiver, a WiFi transceiver, and a cellular transceiver, and wherein the sensor of the authenticated device comprises at least one of an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a camera, a microphone, a GPS receiver, a WiFi transceiver, and a cellular transceiver, and wherein the device becomes authenticated with both an application server and a data server by:

loading, through an out of band process using the camera, at least one user credential on the authenticated device, wherein the at least one user credential comprises a X.509 certificate; and

communicating the at least one user credential, with the application server, to authenticate the device with the application server; and

communicating the at least one user credential, with the data server, to authenticate the device with the data server;

the method comprising;

providing a plurality of user and device movement measurements by processing with a discrete Fourier transform using measurements obtained from both of the accelerometer and the gyroscope, wherein the processing comprises using both device and global coordinate systems along the x, y, z axis, in the xy, yz, xz planes, as a magnitude in all dimensions xyz, and as a rotation along the x, y, z axis;

automatically obtaining measurements from at least one of the camera, the microphone, the GPS receiver, the WiFi transceiver, and the cellular transceiver, and processing them to determine a location of the authenticated device;

executing, by the authenticated device, the at least one TTS rule;

when the first TTS rule of the at least one TTS rule is satisfied by both the first measurement and the second measurement, then automatically loading the application executable code from the application server, the application configuration from the application server, and the encrypted application data from the data server;

when the second TTS rule of the at least one TTS rule is satisfied by both the first measurement and the second measurement, then automatically loading the decryption key, decrypting the encrypted application data using the decryption key, and accessing the decrypted application data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the sensor comprises a microphone;

the first measurement comprises a first sound measurement created using the microphone;

said comparing the first measurement to the one or more values defined by the at least one TTS rule comprises;

applying a Fourier transform (“

FT”

) to the first sound measurement to provide first frequency spectrum information in a plurality of bins, and

determining a first ambient noise level by measuring a total power level of the first frequency spectrum information in the plurality of bins; and

said comparing the first measurement to the one or more values defined by the at least one TTS rule comprises comparing the ambient noise level of the first frequency spectrum information to one or more predetermined ambient noise levels defined by the at least one TTS rule.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein:

said comparing the first measurement to the one or more values defined by the at least one TTS rule further comprises measuring an average power level of the first frequency spectrum information in the plurality of bins and measuring an individual power level for at least one of the bins in the plurality of bins; and

said comparing the first measurement to the one or more values defined by the at least one TTS rule further comprises;

comparing the average power level of the first frequency spectrum information to one or more predetermined average power levels defined by the at least one TTS rule, and

comparing the individual power level of the at least one of the bins in the plurality of bins to one or more predetermined power levels defined by the at least one TTS rule.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein:

the first sound measurement is created by sampling audio at 44,100 hertz;

said first frequency spectrum information ranges from 10 to 5,000 hertz; and

said first plurality of bins have 10 hertz resolution.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein said comparing the first measurement to the one or more value defined by the TTS rule further comprises identifying one or more voices by:

identifying one or more fundamental frequencies in the first frequency spectrum;

identifying one or more harmonics in the first frequency spectrum information;

comparing the identified one or more fundamental frequencies in the first frequency spectrum to one or more predetermined fundamental frequencies defined by the at least one TTS rule; and

comparing the identified one or more harmonics in the first frequency spectrum to a one or more predetermined harmonics defined by the at least one TTS rule.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the sensor comprises an accelerometer;

the first measurement comprises obtaining acceleration data from the accelerometer; and

said comparing the first measurement to the at least one TTS rule comprises comparing the acceleration data to one or more predetermined acceleration values defined by the at least one TTS rule.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the sensor comprises a data connection;

the first measurement comprises obtaining a portion of a plurality of data from the data connection; and

said comparing the first measurement to the one or more predetermined values defined by the at least one TTS rule comprises comparing the content of the portion to one or more predetermined data values defined by the at least one TTS rule.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein:

The device is communicatively coupled via the data connection with a second device comprising a second sensor;

the portion of the plurality of data comprises sensor data representing one or more measurements obtained from the second sensor; and

said comparing the content of the portion to predetermined data defined by the at least one TTS rule comprises comparing the sensor data to one or more predetermined sensor data values defined by the at least one TTS rule.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein:

the device comprises a server and the data connection is used to communicate with a second device;

the portion of the plurality of data comprises data communicated between the server and the second device; and

said comparing the content of the portion to predetermined data defined by the at least one TTS rule comprises comparing, by the server, the content of the portion to one or more predetermined data values defined by the at least one TTS rule.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the authenticated device comprises a data connection, wherein the first measurement comprises at least one of a data connection delay measurement and a data connection rate measurement;

the first measurement comprises obtaining a first portion of a plurality of data from the data connection at least at one of;

a first one or more times, and over a duration of time, and obtaining a second portion of a plurality of data from the data connection at a second one or more times; and

said comparing the first measurement to the one or more predetermined values defined by the at least one TTS rule comprises calculating at least one of;

a delay, and a rate, by comparing the first one or more times to the second one or more times and comparing the delay to one or more predetermined receive delay values defined by the at least one TTS rule and comparing the rate to one or more predetermined rates defined by the at least one TTS rule, wherein the rate is a ratio of a quantity of data in the first portion to the duration of time.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising deleting the second instructions for performing the function if either the first or second measurement does not match at least one of the one or more values

defined by the at least one TTS rule.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein:

said function comprises transmitting communication data to a second device;

the sensor comprises a first one or more of a plurality of sensors comprising a microphone, a camera, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a data connection, or a GPS receiver;

said second device comprises a second sensor comprising a second one or more of the plurality of sensors;

if the first one or more of a plurality of sensors comprises a microphone, each of said first and second measurements comprise obtaining a sound measurement from the microphone;

if the first one or more of a plurality of sensors comprises a camera, each of said first and second measurements comprise obtaining an image from the camera;

if the first one or more of a plurality of sensors comprises an accelerometer, each of said first and second measurements comprise obtaining measured acceleration data from the accelerometer;

if the first one or more of a plurality of sensors comprises a gyroscope, each of said first and second measurements comprise obtaining measured gyroscope data from the gyroscope;

if the first one or more of a plurality of sensors comprises a data connection, each of said first and second measurements comprise obtaining a first portion of a plurality of data from the data connection; and

if the first one or more of a plurality of sensors comprises a GPS receiver, each of said first and second measurements comprise obtaining position data from the GPS receiver.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein one or more values defined by the TTS rules is selected from a group comprising an ambient noise level, an ambient sound characteristic, a number of people present within a specified distance of the device, a number of people viewing a display on the device, a number of voices detected within a specified distance of the device, a measured physical motion of the device, or the physical location of the device.

15. A system for securing one or more devices using a tailored trustworthy space rule (“

TTS rule”

), comprising;

an authenticated device comprising a processor, a memory, and a sensor, wherein the processor is communicatively coupled to the memory and the sensor, and wherein the authenticated device is in an unlocked state;

wherein the memory contains an application and at least one TTS rule, and the processor is configured to load and execute the application, wherein the application comprises application executable code, application configuration, and application data;

wherein the processor is configured to automatically obtain a first measurement from the sensor prior to loading the application;

wherein the processor is configured to perform a first check comparing the first measurement against one or more values defined by the at least one TTS rule;

wherein, upon passing the first check, the processor is configured to proceed with loading the application and decrypting application data;

wherein, upon failing the first check, the processor is configured to block the loading of the application while maintaining the device in the unlocked state, automatically unload the application from the memory, and delete the application executable code, the application configuration, and decrypted application data from the memory; and

wherein the processor is further configured to;

obtain a second measurement from the sensor while executing the application; and

perform a second check comparing the second measurement against the one or more values defined by the at least one TTS rule; and

wherein, upon failing a second check, the processor is configured to automatically unload a decryption key for the application data, and prevent application access to the decrypted application data.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to:

upon passing the second check, continuing executing the application.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein, upon failing the first check or second check, the processor is configured to apply a restriction defined by the TTS rule so as to limit the functionality of the application.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein, upon failing the first check or second check, the processor is configured to apply a restriction defined by the TTS rule so as to limit the functionality of the device.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to:

upon failing the first check, refrain from loading the application and delete the application from the memory; and

upon failing the second check, ceasing executing the application, unload the application, and delete the application from the memory.

20. The system of claim 16, further comprising:

one or more servers communicatively-coupled to the device and configured to transfer a security certificate to a certificate store in the memory using an out-of-band process, transfer the TTS rule to the memory, and transfer the application to the memory.

21. The system of claim 20, further comprising:

wherein the one or more servers comprise at least a first server and a second server, the application comprises a first application, and the TTS rule comprises a first TTS rule;

wherein the first server is configured to transfer the application and the first TTS rule to the memory;

wherein the second server is configured to transfer a second application and a second TTS rule to the memory;

wherein the processor is configured to load and execute the second application, to obtain a third measurement from the sensor prior to loading the second application, and to obtain a fourth measurement from the sensor while executing the second application;

wherein the processor is configured to perform a third check comparing the third measurement against a second one or more values defined by the second TTS rule and a fourth check comparing the fourth measurement against the second one or more values defined by the second TTS rule; and

wherein, upon passing the third check, the processor is configured to proceed with loading the second application and upon passing the fourth check, the processor is configured to continue executing the second application.

22. The system of claim 15, wherein:

the sensor comprises a microphone;

the first measurement comprises a first sound measurement created with the microphone;

the second measurement comprises a second sound measurement created with the microphone;

the device is configured to compare the first measurement to the application-specific TTS rule by;

applying a Fourier transform (“

FT”

) to the first sound measurement to provide first frequency spectrum information in a first plurality of bins, and

determining a first ambient noise level by measuring a total power level of the first frequency spectrum information in the plurality of bins and comparing the ambient noise level of the first frequency spectrum information to a range of ambient noise levels defined by the at least one TTS rule.

23. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium embodying a set of instructions for securing a device using tailored trustworthy space rules (“

TTS rules”

), wherein the device is configured to perform a first action and wherein the set of instructions, when executed by a processor in the device, cause the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising;

obtaining a security certificate from a certificate server using an out-of-band process;

encrypting and storing the security certificate in a certificate store on the device;

obtaining a configuration comprising a device-wide TTS rule from a system server;

obtaining application data comprising an application code configured to perform a second action, application configuration, and an application-specific TTS rules from an application server;

obtaining user specific application data comprising information which is at least one of displayed, manipulated, and used by the application code;

securely storing the application data in a compartmentalized application store on the device;

prior to executing the application code, automatically comparing a first measurement from a sensor in the device to the device-wide TTS rule and the application-specific TTS rules;

if the first measurement fails at least one of the device-wide TTS rule and the application-specific TTS rules, then at least one of refraining from executing the application code and preventing the application code from performing the second action in accordance with the device-wide TTS rule or the application-specific TTS rules, respectively;

during execution of the application code, automatically comparing a second measurement from the sensor to the device-wide TTS rule and the application-specific TTS rules;

if the second measurement fails at least one of the device-wide TTS rule and the application-specific TTS rule, then at least one of ceasing execution of the application code and preventing the application code from performing the second action in accordance with the device-wide TTS rule or the application-specific TTS rule, respectively;

if at least one of the first measurement and the second measurement fails the device-wide TTS rule, preventing the device from performing the first action in accordance with the device-wide TTS rule; and

prior to the execution of the application code and during execution of the application code, automatically comparing a third measurement from the sensor to the device-wide TTS rules and the application-specific TTS rules;

if the third measurement fails at least one of the device-wide TTS rules and the application-specific TTS rules, then;

automatically unloading application executable code,

securely deleting some or all of the user specific application data from the device,

deleting the application code from the device,

deleting the application configuration from the device,

deleting the application-specific TTS rules from the device,

deleting encryption keys from the device,

preventing application access to decrypted application data,

deleting decrypted application data from the device,

automatically unloading the security certificate from the device, and

preventing application access to the decrypted application data.