Method and apparatus for secure credential entry without physical entry

1. A peripheral memory storage device comprising:

memory configured to store user authentication data, wherein the user authentication data is associated with a user and includes login information that is used to determine permissions granted to the user to access an operating system executing on a host computer system; and

a processor in communication with the memory and the host computer system during bootup of the host computer system, the processor configured to:

receive a biometric sample from a biometric transducer;

receive a command from the operating system executing on the host, the command indicating readiness to accept input of the user authentication data to access the operating system; and

in response to receipt of the command:

retrieve the user authentication data from the memory; and

provide the authentication data to the host computer system in response to physical verification of the biometric sample.

2. The peripheral memory storage device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is in communication with the computer system via an interface.

3. The peripheral memory storage device of claim 2 , wherein the interface is a wireless interface.

4. The peripheral memory storage device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to disable access to a portion of the memory in response to a determination that the biometric sample is not verified.

5. The peripheral memory storage device of claim 1 , further comprising a biometric sensor configured to collect the biometric information and to provide the biometric information to the processor for physical verification.

6. A computer system comprising:

a computer system interface in communication with a peripheral memory device, wherein the interface is enabled by an operating system executing on the computer system prior to display of a login screen configured to receive user authentication data that includes login information associated with a respective user and to determine permissions granted to the respective user to access the operating system; and

a computer processor in communication with the computer system interface and configured to start the operating system during a boot-up process, wherein the computer processor is configured to:

provide a login request to access the operating system;

receive, via the computer system interface, user authentication data from the peripheral memory device based on the login request; and

provide the user authentication data including the login information associated with the respective user to the login screen to access the operating system including populating fields of the login screen with the user authentication data.

7. The computer system of claim 6 , wherein the computer system interface is a wireless interface.

8. The computer system of claim 6 , wherein the user authentication data includes a user password, a user identifier, or combinations thereof.

9. The computer system of claim 6 , wherein the processor is further configured to load a driver to enable the computer system interface prior to display of the login screen.

10. The computer system of claim 9 , wherein the peripheral memory device defines a user input device it will mimic and loads appropriate translation command structures for the user input device.

11. A method comprising:

receiving, at a peripheral memory device from a computer system during bootup of the computer system, an operating system command indicating readiness to accept input of user authentication data to access the operating system, wherein the user authentication data includes login information associated with a respective user and is used to determine permissions granted to the respective user to access the operating system;

receiving a request for biometric sample verification from the computer system;

receiving a biometric sample;

providing the biometric sample verification in response to physical verification of the biometric sample; and

in response to receipt of the command:

retrieving the user authentication data from memory of the peripheral memory device; and

providing the authentication data to the computer system.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein providing the authentication data to the computer system is via a wireless communication interface.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising receiving the biometric sample from a biometric transducer of the peripheral memory device.

14. The method of claim 11 , further comprising disabling access to a portion of the memory of the peripheral memory device in response to a determination that the biometric sample is not verified.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein disabling access to the portion of the memory of the peripheral memory device in response to a determination that the biometric sample is not verified comprises blowing a fuse of a fuse array of the peripheral memory device, erasing the user authorization data, or combinations thereof.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein the user authentication data includes a user password, a user identifier, or combinations thereof.