Patent ID: 8656487
Filing Date: 2014-02-18
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A method comprising: upon request, setting a read only indicator to selectively restrict the ability to write data out from a platform while always allowing any data to be viewed; checking at boot whether said read only indicator is set; launching a driver to filter write requests to output ports of the computing platform; intercepting, by the driver, a write request associated with a type of output port from the output ports of the platform; comparing, by the driver, the type of output port to an access level value associated with the type of output port; denying the write request when the write request is for a selected output port associated with a read-only mode; reading the read-only indicator associated with the type of output port to determine authorization of the selected output port to output data; and wherein the driver comprises a portion of firmware for the computing platform, the write request is received from a disk operating system (DOS) command, and the read-only indicator is stored as a setup option in firmware.