Patent ID: 8954965
Filing Date: 2015-02-10
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A method for cloning source virtual machine state having an associated trusted execution environment to formulate a target virtual machine state, the method comprising: an act of accessing a source virtual machine state of a source virtual machine having an identity, the source virtual machine state including a trusted execution environment that has at least an endorsement hierarchy, the endorsement hierarchy including a signing portion, the endorsement hierarchy being based on the identity of the source virtual machine; an act of copying the source virtual machine state to formulate a target virtual machine state that is to be associated with a target virtual machine having an identity that is different than that of the source virtual machine, the target virtual machine state having a signing portion and endorsement hierarchy that is based on the identity of the source virtual machine, wherein the signing portion of the copied endorsement hierarchy is at least temporarily disabled at the target virtual machine while the signing portion of the endorsement hierarchy at the source virtual machine state remains enabled; and an act of modifying the target virtual machine state such that the endorsement hierarchy of the target virtual machine state is based on the identity of the target virtual machine, thereby enabling the signing portion of the target virtual machine, and such that the signing portions of both the source and target virtual machine states are operable.