Patent · US Expired

Apparatus and a method for security authorization using a security key installed on removable media

US6944769B1 · kind B1 · utility

8Cited by
7References
18Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateAug 10, 2000
Grant dateSep 13, 2005
Priority date
Expiry dateJan 14, 2023

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F21/51
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

An apparatus and a method in a data processing system are provided for insuring the security of data accessed from removable media. Normal virus scanning occurs after data is loaded into the main memory, but infection by a virus may have already occurred by this time. Therefore, it would be beneficial to check for possible virus infection before the data is transferred to main memory. A security key is read from the removable media. As encrypted data is read from the device, it is decrypted using the security key and then re-encrypted using the same security key to produce new data. The original data is accepted and sent to main memory if it is identical to the new data produced by decryption and re-encryption. If the two sets of data are not identical, then the data transmission from the device is aborted and all data on the removable media is rejected. The decryption/re-encryption checking is performed in hardware and so it can occur in real time. This hardware could be on the device controller, a separate security card, the mother board, or anywhere along the data path from the device controller to the main memory.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.