Granted Patent B2

US 9,465,755 · App. 14/233,321 · Granted Oct 11, 2016

Abstract

Claims (78)

1. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium encoded with instructions executable by a processor, the storage medium comprising:

instructions to provide a manager signal including manager information to a remote security monitor;

instructions to receive a monitor signal;

signal determination instructions to determine if the monitor signal is (i) an idle signal from the remote security monitor, the idle signal including an unmodified version of the manager information, or (ii) a zeroize signal from the remote security monitor, the zeroize signal including a modified version of the manager information, wherein the remote security monitor is remote from the processor; and

instructions to zeroize a security parameter stored in secure parameter storage if a threshold amount of time elapses without receiving the idle signal from the remote security monitor.

2. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1 , further comprising:

instructions to zeroize the security parameter in response to a determination that the monitor signal is the zeroize signal; or

instructions to zeroize the security parameter in response to a determination that the monitor signal is an invalid signal.

3. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 2 , wherein the remote security monitor is one of a plurality of remote security monitors, wherein:

each remote security monitor of the plurality of remote security monitors is remote from the processor;

the signal determination instructions comprise:

signal identification instructions to determine if the monitor signal is the idle signal from one of the plurality of remote security monitors, the zeroize signal from one of the plurality of remote security monitors, or the invalid signal; and

the instructions to zeroize the security parameter comprise:

instructions to zeroize the security parameter if the threshold amount of time elapses without receiving the idle signal from one of the plurality of remote security monitors.

4. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 3 , wherein:

each remote security monitor of the plurality of remote security monitors is associated with unique idle information and unique zeroize information; and

the signal identification instructions comprise:

unique information determination instructions to determine if the monitor signal includes the unique idle information associated with one of the plurality of remote security monitors, includes the unique zeroize information associated with one of the plurality of remote security monitors, or is the invalid signal.

5. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 4 , further comprising:

instructions to reformat at least a portion of the monitor signal, wherein the signal identification instructions are to determine, from the reformatted monitor signal, if the monitor signal is the idle signal from one of the plurality of remote security monitors, the zeroize signal from one of the plurality of remote security monitors, or the invalid signal.

6. A computing system, comprising:

a processor of a computing device, the processor including:

secure parameter storage to store at least one security parameter; and

a parameter manager to output a first manager signal including first manager information; and

a remote security monitor, remote from the processor, to:

detect a security incident;

receive the first manager signal from the parameter manager;

provide, to the parameter manager, a first monitor signal including the first manager information to indicate an idle state, if no security incident is detected;

wherein the parameter manager is further to:

zeroize the at least one security parameter of the secure parameter storage if, after outputting the first manager signal, a threshold amount of time elapses without receiving a signal including the first manager information.

7. The computing system of claim 6 , wherein:

the remote security monitor is further to:

modify the first manager information of the first manager signal to request zeroization of the at least one security parameter if a security incident is detected; and

provide, to the parameter manager, a second monitor signal including the modified first manager information; and

the parameter manager is further to:

zeroize the at least one security parameter of the secure parameter storage in response to receiving a signal including the modified first manager information.

8. The computing system of claim 7 , wherein the processor comprises:

remote zeroization state storage to store a state value indicating whether remote zeroization is enabled;

wherein the parameter manager is further to:

prevent the zeroization of any security parameters stored in the secure parameter storage in response to any signal received from outside of the processor, if the state value indicates that remote zeroization is disabled; or

prevent the zeroization of any security parameters stored in the secure parameter storage in accordance with a failure to receive a signal from outside of the processor, if the state value indicates that remote zeroization is disabled.

9. The computing system of claim 7 , wherein the parameter manager is further to:

output a second manager signal including second manager information different than the first manager information;

zeroize the at least one security parameter of the secure parameter storage if, after outputting the second manager signal, the threshold amount of time elapses without receiving a signal including the second manager information;

determine that a received signal is an invalid signal; and

determine that the invalid signal indicates that a connection between the processor and the remote security monitor is unreliable.

10. The computing system of claim 7 , wherein:

the parameter manager is further to:

encrypt at least the first manager information included in the first manager signal;

decrypt at least a portion of a signal received by the parameter manager; and

determine whether the decrypted signal includes the first manager information; and

the remote security monitor is further to:

decrypt at least a portion of the first manager signal, wherein the first manager information is at least part of the decrypted first manager signal; and

encrypt at least the first manager information included in the first monitor signal; and

encrypt at least the modified first manager information included in the second manager signal.

11. The computing system of claim 10 , wherein:

the parameter manager is to encrypt information differently than the remote security monitor;

the processor is disposed in an enclosure of the computing device; and

the remote security monitor is disposed outside of and separate from the enclosure.

12. The computing system of claim 6 , wherein:

the parameter manager is to output the first manger signal via a first wireless communication interface; and

the remote security monitor is to:

receive the first manager signal via a second wireless communication interface; and

provide the first monitor signal to the parameter manager via the second wireless communication interface.

13. A method, comprising:

monitoring, with a remote security monitor, to detect a security incident;

receiving, with the security monitor, a first manager signal including first manager information from a processor, wherein the security monitor is remote from the processor;

modifying the first manager information with the security monitor to indicate an idle state, if no security incident is detected;

modifying the first manager information with the security monitor to request zeroization of at least one security parameter stored in secure parameter storage of the processor, if a security incident is detected; and

providing a first monitor signal including the modified first manager information from the remote security monitor to the processor to cause the processor to zeroize the at least one security parameter if a security incident is detected.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein:

modifying the first manager information to indicate the idle state comprises modifying the first manager information, with the remote security monitor, to indicate the idle state and to indicate an identity of the remote security monitor; and

modifying the first manager information to request zeroization comprises modifying the first manager information, with the remote security monitor, to request zeroization and to indicate the identity of the remote security monitor.

15. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

receiving, with the remote security monitor, a second manager signal from the processor, after providing the first monitor signal including the modified first manager information indicating the idle state;

modifying second manager information included in the second manager signal, with the remote security monitor, to indicate the idle state, if no security incident is detected;

modifying the second manager information, with the remote security monitor, to request zeroization, if a security incident is detected; and

providing a second monitor signal including the modified second manager information from the remote security monitor to the parameter manager.

Assignments (11)