TRUSTED SENSORS

• US 20110320823A1
• Filed: 06/25/2010
• Published: 12/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Saroiu, Stefan, Wolman, Alastair
• Granted Patent: US 8,832,461 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/189
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/53 by executing in a restricted environment, e.g. sandbox or secure virtual machine
• 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: H04L 2209/805 Lightweight hardware, e.g. radio-frequency identification [RFID] or sensor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3218 using proof of knowledge, e.g. Fiat-Shamir, GQ, Schnorr, ornon-interactive zero-knowledge proofs
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 involving digital signatures

Abstract

Architecture that provides trusted sensors and trusted sensor readings on computing devices such as mobile devices. The architecture utilizes a trustworthy computing technology (e.g., trusted platform module (TPM). In the context of TPM, one implementation requires no additional hardware beyond the TPM and a virtualized environment to provide trusted sensor readings. A second implementation incorporates trusted computing primitives directly into sensors and enhances security using signed sensor readings. Privacy issues arising from the deployment of trusted sensors are also addressed by utilizing protocols.

Claims

1. A sensor system, comprising:

sensors of a device that generate sensor readings for consumption by an application; and

a trust component of the device that provides trust information which is applied to the sensor readings to create trustworthy readings for communication to the application.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the trust component includes a virtualization component that virtualizes the sensors and facilitates interaction with the sensors by the application.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the virtualization component includes virtual machines that isolate the application from the sensors and communicate the trust information and sensor readings to the application, and the trust information is provided by a trust module and according to a trustworthy computing technology.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the virtualization component assigns time information to a sensor reading, and signs the time information and the sensor reading with the trust information to create a trustworthy sensor reading for consumption by the application.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the trust component includes code that combines signed raw sensor readings from the sensors and verifies the trust information of each of the signed raw sensor readings.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the trust component includes trust software located at a sensor that provides and applies the trust information to a raw sensor reading from the sensor.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein a sensor increments a secure counter at a central trust module which provides the trust information, obtains a counter value of the counter, and applies the trust information to the raw sensor reading and the counter value at the sensor.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising a registration component that registers the sensors and the device to a registration service to identify the sensors as associated with the device.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor readings of corresponding sensors of the device are tagged with time information and signed by the trust information, the sensor readings verified as from the device based on a threshold time differential of the time information.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the trust component prevents transferability of a sensor reading by employing a knowledge protocol that reveals the sensor reading of a signed sensor reading without revealing a signature used to sign the sensor reading.

11. A sensor system, comprising:

sensors of a mobile device that generate sensor readings for consumption by an application; and

a trust component of the mobile device that includes a hardware trust module which provides trust information to sign the sensor readings.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the trust component further comprises a virtualization component that isolates the sensors from the application, the virtualization component obtains the sensor readings from the sensors, facilitates signing of the sensor readings by the hardware trust module, and provides the signed sensor readings for access by the application.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the sensor readings of the mobile device are each tagged with time information, the sensor readings and corresponding time information are signed by the trust information and sent as a combined multiple sensor readings to the application.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the trust component includes sensor trust software located at each of the sensors that provides and applies sensor trust information to raw sensor readings of the sensors, a sensor increments a secure counter associated with the hardware trust module, obtains a counter value, and the sensor trust software signs the raw sensor reading and the counter value using the sensor trust information.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the trust component signs a sensor reading using an attestation key that facilitates attestation anonymity.

16. A computer-implemented sensor method executed by a processor, comprising:

receiving sensor readings from sensors of a device;

signing the sensor readings with trust information; and

sending the signed sensor readings to a consuming application.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising tagging the sensor readings with time information, and signing the sensor readings and the time information using the trust information.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising signing the sensor readings with the trust information via a virtual machine.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising signing the sensor readings with the trust information at the sensors, the sensor readings are raw sensor readings.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

incrementing a secure counter associated with a hardware trust module;

obtaining a counter value from the counter; and

signing the raw sensor readings and the counter value at the sensors using the trust information.