Patent · US Active

Hardware supported virtualized cryptographic service

US8375437B2 · kind B2 · utility

28Cited by
4References
20Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMar 30, 2010
Grant dateFeb 12, 2013
Priority date
Expiry dateJun 14, 2031

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L63/061
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A Trusted Platform Module (TPM) can be utilized to provide hardware-based protection of cryptographic information utilized within a virtual computing environment. A virtualized cryptographic service can interface with the virtual environment and enumerate a set of keys that encryption mechanisms within the virtual environment can utilize to protect their keys. The keys provided by the virtualized cryptographic service can be further protected by the TPM-specific keys of the TPM on the computing device hosting the virtual environment. Access to the protected data within the virtual environment can, thereby, only be granted if the virtualized cryptographic service's keys have been protected by the TPM-specific keys of the TPM on the computing device that is currently hosting the virtual environment. The virtualized cryptographic service's keys can be protected by TPM-specific keys of TPMs on selected computing devices to enable the virtual environment to be hosted by other computing devices.

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