Patent ID: 9749141
Date: 2017-08-29
CPC Classifications: G06F,H04L

Claim:
1. A secure boot system comprising: a write-once, always-on memory for storing a certificate digest comprising a digest of a sensitive information image resulting from cryptographically processing the sensitive information image, wherein the write-once, always-on memory is configured to be writable one time once powered up; a certificate processor communicatively coupled to the write-once, always-on memory and configured to authenticate a certificate, to extract the certificate digest from the certificate, and to store the certificate digest in the write-once, always-on memory responsive to the secure boot system being powered up to ensure that the certificate digest cannot be modified once extracted by the certificate processor, wherein the write-once, always-on memory is configured to retain contents of the memory until the certificate processor is powered down, and to clear the contents of the memory responsive to the certificate processor being powered down; and a digest processor communicatively coupled to the write-once, always-on memory and configured to perform a boot process responsive to the secure boot system being powered up or the digest processor being rebooted, the digest processor being independently bootable from the certificate processor, the digest processor being configured to: wherein the certificate processor is configured to perform more computationally-intensive operations than the digest processor, and wherein the certificate processor is configured to authenticate the certificate and extract the certificate digest only at power-up to conserve power.