Secure and reliable bootstrap architecture
US6185678A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 2, 1998 |
| Grant date | Feb 6, 2001 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 2, 2018 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F2211/1097
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Integrity is rarely a valid presupposition in many systems architectures, yet it is necessary to make any security guarantees. To address this problem, the present invention discloses a secure bootstrap process, which presumes a minimal amount of integrity. The basic principle is sequencing the bootstrap process as a chain of progressively higher levels of abstraction, and requiring each layer to check a digital signature of the next layer before control is passed to it. A major design decision is the consequence of a failed integrity check. A simplistic strategy is to simply halt the bootstrap process. However, the bootstrap process of the present invention can be augmented with automated recovery procedures which preserve the security properties of the bootstrap process of the present invention under the additional assumption of the availability of a trusted repository. A variety of means by which such a repository can be implemented are disclosed with attention focused on a network-accessible repository. The recovery process is easily generalized to applications other than the bootstrap process of the present invention, such as standardized desktop management and secure automate…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.