Verifying a geographic location of a virtual disk image executing at a data center server within a data center

• US 9,374,228 B2
• Filed: 10/12/2012
• Issued: 06/21/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/12/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Edison Vault, LLC
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Pendarakis, Dimitrios, Seshadri, Arvind
• Primary Examiner(s): Moorthy, Aravind
• Application Number:
  US13/651,380
• Publication Number:
  US 20140108784A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,348 Days
• Field of Search: 713/156, 713/168, 713/176
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 2209/127 Trusted platform modules [TPM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0442 wherein the sending and receiving network entities apply asymmetric encryption, i.e. different keys for encryption and decryption cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for public-key encryption H04L9/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0492 by using a location-limited connection, e.g. near-field communication or limited proximity of entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/062 for key distribution, e.g. centrally by trusted party cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key distribution involving a central third party H04L9/0819
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0823 using certificates cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving certificates H04L9/3263
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0872 using geo-location information, e.g. location data, time, relative position or proximity to other entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0877 using additional device, e.g. trusted platform module [TPM], smartcard, USB or hardware security module [HSM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 involving digital signatures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3263 involving certificates, e.g. public key certificate [PKC] or attribute certificate [AC]; Public key infrastructure [PKI] arrangements network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using certificates in a packet data network H04L63/0823

Abstract

A method to verify a geographic location of a virtual disk image executing at a data center server within a data center. One embodiment includes a cryptoprocessor proximate the data center server, a hypervisor configured to send a disk image hash value of the virtual disk image, a digital certificate issued to the cryptoprocessor, an endorsement key to a data center tenant and a location provider. The method includes sending a disk image hash value of the virtual disk image, an endorsement key unique to a cryptoprocessor proximate the data center server to a data center tenant, and a digital certificate to a data center tenant. Next, the location provider sends the geographic location of the cryptoprocessor matching the endorsement key to the data center tenant.

Claims

1. A method to verify a geographic location of a virtual disk image executing at a data center server within a data center, the method comprising:

receiving the virtual disk image from a data center tenant for execution at the data center;

sending a disk image hash value of the virtual disk image signed by an endorsement key unique to a cryptoprocessor within the data center server to the data center tenant, a public half of the endorsement key, and a digital certificate certifying the public half of the endorsement key to the data center tenant, private half of the endorsement key is stored in the cryptoprocessor and is unique to the cryptoprocessor; and

sending the geographic location of the cryptoprocessor matching the public half of the endorsement key to the data center tenant by a location provider within the data center.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the disk image hash value is signed by a public key of an attestation identity key pair.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the geographic location of the cryptoprocessor includes reading a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag by the location provider, the RFID tag carried by the cryptoprocessor.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the location provider is inaccessible to an owner of the data center.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the virtual disk image from the data center tenant for execution at the data center.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising computing the disk image hash value by a computer processor of the data center server.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving by the hypervisor an attestation request from the data center tenant; and

in response to the attestation request, sending the hash value of the virtual disk image by cryptoprocessor to the hypervisor.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating an attestation identity key pair by the cryptoprocessor; and

sending a public key of the attestation identity key pair to a certificate authority via the hypervisor.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

verifying an authenticity of the public key of the attestation identity key pair by the certificate authority; and

generating a digital certificate for the attestation identity key pair by the certificate authority upon verifying the authenticity of the public key.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein sending the disk image hash value includes sending the public key of the attestation identity key pair and the digital certificate for the attestation identity key pair to the data center tenant.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising comparing, by the data center tenant, the public key of the attestation identity key pair to contents of the digital certificate for the attestation identity key.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising verifying, by the certificate authority, that the endorsement key and the public key of the attestation identity key pair belong to the cryptoprocessor proximate the data center server.