Sealing secret data with a policy that includes a sensor-based constraint

• US 10,693,887 B2
• Filed: 07/12/2016
• Issued: 06/23/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 08/19/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Saroiu, Stefan, Wolman, Alastair, Raj, Himanshu, Liu, He
• Primary Examiner(s): Najjar, Saleh
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pan, Peiliang
• Application Number:
  US15/208,570
• Publication Number:
  US 20160323293A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,442 Days
• Field of Search: 726 1, 726 2, 726 30
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45587 Isolation or security of virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6209 to a single file or object, e.g. in a secure envelope, encrypted and accessed using a key, or with access control rules appended to the object itself
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2111 Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0435 wherein the sending and receiving network entities apply symmetric encryption, i.e. same key used for encryption and decryption cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for symmetric key encryption H04L9/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/06 for supporting key management in a packet data network cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key management H04L9/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/083 using passwords cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using a predetermined code H04L9/3226
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/107 wherein the security policies are location-dependent, e.g. entities privileges depend on current location or allowing specific operations only from locally connected terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/168 above the transport layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/14 using a plurality of keys or algorithms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/30 Public key, i.e. encryption algorithm being computationally infeasible to invert or user's encryption keys not requiring secrecy
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 involving digital signatures
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/04 Key management, e.g. using generic bootstrapping architecture [GBA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/128 Anti-malware arrangements, e.g. protection against SMS fraud or mobile malware
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/68 Gesture-dependent or behaviour-dependent
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 : Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences

Abstract

Technologies pertaining to limiting access to secret data through utilization of sensor-based constraints are described herein. A sensor-based constraint is a constraint that can only be satisfied by predefined readings that may be output by at least one sensor on a mobile computing device. If the sensor on the mobile computing device outputs a reading that satisfies the sensor-based constraint, secret data is provided to a requesting application. Otherwise, the requesting application is prevented from accessing the secret data.

Claims

1. A mobile computing device comprising:

a sensor;

at least one processor; and

memory that has computer-readable instructions stored therein, wherein the at least one processor, when executing the computer-readable instructions, is configured to perform acts comprising;

receiving, from an application executing on the mobile computing device, a request for secret data, wherein the secret data is stored in computer-readable storage of the mobile computing device;

responsive to receiving the request for the secret data, identifying a policy that is assigned to the application, wherein the policy comprises a constraint that identifies the sensor and further identifies acceptable readings, wherein the policy prevents the application from accessing the secret data unless the sensor identified in the constraint returns a reading that is amongst the acceptable readings;

acquiring at least one reading from the sensor in response to receipt of the request for the secret data, the at least one reading being indicative of location of the mobile computing device;

based upon the at least one reading, determining that the at least one reading is amongst the acceptable readings, and thus the constraint in the policy has been satisfied; and

responsive to determining that the constraint in the policy has been satisfied, providing the secret data to the application.

2. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the application is a text messaging application, wherein the at least one reading is additionally indicative of velocity of the mobile computing device, and the secret data is a key that, when acquired by the text messaging application, enables the text messaging application to send and receive text messages.

3. The mobile computing device of claim 2, the sensor being a geolocation sensor.

4. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the application is an operating system of the mobile computing device, wherein the acceptable readings define a geographic region, the at least one reading indicates that the location of the mobile computing device is within the geographic region, and further wherein the secret data is data that authorizes the operating system to mount a drive.

5. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the application is a banking application, wherein the acceptable readings define a geographic region, the at least one reading indicates that the location of the mobile computing device is within the geographic region, and further wherein the secret data is a password useable to access banking information by way of the banking application.

6. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the application facilitates resetting a password of a user, wherein the acceptable readings define a geographic region, the at least one reading indicates that the location of the mobile computing device is within the geographic region, and further wherein the secret data is a key that, when received by the application, allows the application to reset the password of the user.

7. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein determining that the constraint in the policy has been satisfied comprises determining that the at least one reading has been signed with a signature, the signature verifies that the at least one reading was output by the sensor identified in the constraint and has not been modified since being output by the sensor.

8. The mobile computing device of claim 1 being a mobile telephone.

9. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the policy is encrypted, the acts further comprising:

in response to receipt of the request for the secret data from the application and prior to acquiring the at least one reading, decrypting the policy.

10. A method executed by at least one processor on a mobile computing device, the method comprising:

receiving, from an application executing on the mobile computing device, a request for secret data that is retained in computer-readable memory of the mobile computing device;

in response to receipt of the request, identifying a constraint in a policy for the application, the policy prevents the application from obtaining secret data unless the constraint is satisfied, wherein the constraint identifies a sensor on the mobile computing device and acceptable readings from the sensor, wherein the constraint in the policy is satisfied only when the sensor identified in the constraint outputs a reading that is amongst the acceptable readings;

upon the constraint being identified, acquiring at least one reading from the sensor identified in the constraint, wherein the at least one reading is signed to indicate that the at least one reading has not been modified subsequent to the sensor outputting the at least one reading;

determining that the constraint in the policy has been satisfied based upon the at least one reading acquired from the sensor, wherein determining that the constraint in the policy has been satisfied comprises determining that the at least one reading is amongst the acceptable readings identified in the constraint; and

responsive to determining that the constraint in the policy has been satisfied, providing the application with the secret data.

11. The method of claim 10, the acts of identifying, acquiring, determining, and providing performed by a first virtual processor, and wherein a second virtual processor executes the application.

12. The method of claim 10, the acts of identifying, acquiring, determining, and providing are performed by an operating system of the mobile computing device when the at least one processor of the mobile computing device executes the operating system.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the secret data is encrypted, and further wherein providing the application with the secret data comprises decrypting the secret data.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein decrypting the secret data comprises:

retrieving a key from a trusted platform module on the mobile computing device; and

decrypting the secret data using the key.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the policy is encrypted, and further wherein identifying the constraint in the policy comprises decrypting the policy.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the application is a text messaging application, the at least one reading is indicative of velocity of the mobile computing device, and the secret data is a key that, when provided to the text messaging application, enables the text messaging application to send and receive text messages.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the application is an operating system of the mobile computing device, the at least one reading is indicative of a geographic location of the mobile computing device, and the secret data is data that, when provided to the operating system, causes the operating system to mount a drive.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the at least one reading is indicative of a proximity of a user to the mobile computing device, and the secret data is data that causes the at least one processor to execute the application.

19. A mobile telephone comprising a computer-readable medium, the computer-readable medium comprises instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform acts comprising:

receiving a request for secret data from an application executing on the mobile telephone, wherein the secret data is retained in computer-readable storage of the mobile telephone;

in response to receipt of the request for the secret data, identifying a policy assigned to the application, wherein the policy includes a constraint that identifies a sensor on the mobile telephone and further identifies an acceptable reading from the sensor, wherein the policy prevents the application from acquiring the secret data unless the constraint is satisfied, wherein the constraint is satisfied when the sensor identified by the constraint outputs a reading that matches the acceptable reading;

responsive to identifying the policy, acquiring at least one sensor reading from the sensor identified in the constraint;

determining that the constraint has been satisfied based upon the at least one sensor reading, wherein determining that the constraint has been satisfied comprises determining that the at least one reading matches the acceptable reading; and

responsive to determining that the constraint has been satisfied, providing the secret data to the application.

20. The mobile telephone of claim 19, wherein the application is a text messaging application, the at least one reading is indicative of velocity of the mobile computing device, and the secret data is a key that, when provided to the text messaging application, enables the text messaging application to send and receive text messages.