Preventing discovery of unique identifiers in firmware
US11423148B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jul 2, 2020 |
| Grant date | Aug 23, 2022 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 14, 2041 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F2221/2143
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Discovery of unique identifiers in firmware can be prevented. During the boot process on a computing system, and after the firmware has generated firmware tables containing unique identifiers, an anonymizer module of the firmware can generate an anonymized version of the firmware tables and cause the anonymized version of the firmware tables, rather than the original, system-unique firmware tables, to be accessible after the operating system is loaded. In this way, once the operating system is loaded, when a module attempts to read the firmware tables, the read will be performed against the anonymized version of the firmware tables thereby preventing the module from obtaining any of the computing system's unique identifiers. A copy of the firmware tables may be maintained separately from the anonymized version of the firmware tables to enable authorized utilities to obtain the computing system's unique identifiers.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.