Secured automated or semi-automated systems

• US 9,342,695 B2
• Filed: 10/17/2014
• Issued: 05/17/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mordecai Barkan
• Original Assignee: Mordecai Barkan
• Inventors: Barkan, Mordecai
• Primary Examiner(s): Rahman, Mahfuzur
• Application Number:
  US14/517,636
• Publication Number:
  US 20150067864A1
• Time in Patent Office: 578 Days
• Field of Search: 726/11
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/554 involving event detection and direct action
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/561 Virus type analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/566 Dynamic detection, i.e. detection performed at run-time, e.g. emulation, suspicious activities
• 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 63/1408 by monitoring network traffic monitoring network traffic per se H04L43/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1416 Event detection, e.g. attack signature detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1441 Countermeasures against malicious traffic countermeasures against attacks on cryptographic mechanisms H04L9/002
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/145 the attack involving the propagation of malware through the network, e.g. viruses, trojans or worms
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/128 Anti-malware arrangements, e.g. protection against SMS fraud or mobile malware
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]

Abstract

Secured automated or semi-automated systems are provided herein. In one embodiment, a sensor system includes a sensor, a legacy computing environment that is configured to communicate with the sensor and process sensor raw data output, and transmit the processed sensor output to a first network node over the network, and a trusted computing environment configured to receive raw sensor output directly from the sensor and transmit the raw sensor output to an additional network node or the first network node over the network.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a sensor;

a legacy computing environment further comprising a specialized hardware processor that is configured to;

communicate with the sensor and receive and process raw sensor data output, the raw sensor data output representing unaltered data directly received from the sensor, and upon processing, results in processed sensor output; and

transmit the processed sensor output to a first network node over a network or via a trusted computing environment; and

the trusted computing environment further comprising a specialized hardware processor configured to;

receive the raw sensor data output directly from the sensor; and

transmit the raw sensor data output to an additional network node or the first network node over the network, the raw sensor data output being used to authenticate the processed sensor output, the trusted computing environment being further configured to detect malware infection or a malfunction by comparing test input data to the legacy computing environment and evaluating legacy computing environment output resulting from a legacy computing environment program using the test input data.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the trusted computing environment and the legacy computing environment are configured to clean the legacy computing environment when the legacy computing environment is infected with malware or is malfunctioning.

3. The system according to claim 2, wherein the trusted computing environment cleans the sensor by clearing memory of the sensor and loading software onto the memory.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the trusted computing environment is further configured to detect malware infection or a malfunction by comparing the raw sensor data output with the processed sensor output of the legacy computing environment.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein the trusted computing environment is further configured to block legacy computing environment output of the legacy computing environment when the trusted computing environment determines that the legacy computing environment is infected with malware or is malfunctioning.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the first network node or the additional network node compares the raw sensor data output to the processed sensor output to detect a malfunction or malware in the legacy computing environment.

7. A system comprising:

an actuator;

a legacy computing environment further comprising a specialized hardware processor coupled with the actuator, the legacy computing environment configured to;

process input commands into actuator commands, for the actuator; and

process the input commands and actuator state sensor raw data output to optimize actuator response; and

a trusted computing environment further comprising a specialized hardware processor coupled to the actuator, the trusted computing environment configured to;

receive the actuator state sensor raw data output directly from the actuator; and

transmit the actuator state sensor raw data output to a network node over a network where the actuator unaltered state sensor raw data output is used to authenticate a state of the actuator, the trusted computing environment being further configured to compare commands received from the network with the actuator state sensor raw data output to determine when the legacy computing environment of an actuator system is infected with malware or is malfunctioning.

8. The system according to claim 7, wherein the trusted computing environment is configured to block legacy computing environment output to the actuator and/or to the network and feed the actuator with preferred or test commands.

9. The system according to claim 7, wherein the trusted computing environment utilize circuitry to clean the legacy computing environment by clearing memory of the legacy computing environment and loading software onto the memory.

10. The system according to claim 7, wherein the trusted computing environment is further configured to provide input to the actuator to cause a desired action.

11. The system according to claim 7, wherein the trusted computing environment receives processed commands from the network, the processed commands to be provided to the actuator.