Protected device management

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

authenticating first credentials of a user of a system before access is allowed to any device of a plurality of devices attached to the system;

intercepting an event indicating a hot-plug attachment of a new device to the system, wherein the intercepting is performed by firmware in a secure partition of the system, and the secure partition is isolated from a host operating system of the system;

requesting second credentials to access the new device using the firmware to establish trusted path connections to a display device to display a request for the second credentials and a user input device to receive the second credentials, wherein the second credentials are requested by the firmware without rebooting the system;

authenticating the second credentials;

enabling access to the new device after authenticating the second credentials; and

delivering a hot plug event for the new device from the secure partition to the host operating system.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein enabling access to the new device comprises using a native command for the device to enable decryption of the new device.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second credentials comprise a password for the new device; and

enabling access to the new device comprises using the password to unlock the new device.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second credentials comprise a user identifier; and

enabling access to the new device comprises providing the user identifier to a trusted third party and enabling access to the new device if the trusted third party authenticates the user identifier.

5. An apparatus comprising: at least one processor;

a secure partition isolated from a host operating system executing on the processor; and

a memory comprising instructions for firmware executing in the secure partition to perform the following:

authenticating first credentials of a user of a system before access is allowed to any device of a plurality of devices attached to the system;

intercepting an event indicating a hot-plug attachment of a new device to the system, wherein the intercepting is performed by the secure partition;

requesting second credentials to access the new device using the firmware to establish trusted path connections to a display device to display a request for the second credentials and a user input device to receive the second credentials, wherein the second credentials are requested by the firmware without rebooting the system;

authenticating the second credentials;

enabling access to the new device after authenticating the second credentials; and

delivering a hot plug event for the new device from the secure partition to the host operating system.

6. A computer program product comprising: a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium; and

instructions in the computer-readable storage medium, wherein the instructions, when executed in a secure partition of a processing system, cause firmware executing in the secure partition to perform operations comprising:

authenticating first credentials of a user of a system before access is allowed to any device of a plurality of devices attached to the system;

intercepting an event indicating a hot-plug attachment of a new device to the system, wherein the intercepting is performed by the secure partition, and the secure partition is isolated from a host operating system of the system;

requesting second credentials to access the new device using the firmware to establish trusted path connections to a display device to display a request for the second credentials and a user input device to receive the second credentials, wherein the second credentials are requested by the firmware without rebooting the system;

authenticating the second credentials;

enabling access to the new device after authenticating the second credentials; and

delivering a hot plug event for the new device from the secure partition to the host operating system.