Abstract:
Improved computer operating system which is impervious to attack by viruses, hackers and the like and which allow only the operating system to operate on the processor and which creates a virtual machine on which all application software is run.

Description:
RELATED CASES 
       [0001]    This invention is described in my copending provisional application Ser. No. 61/342,766, filed, Apr. 19, 2010 and now Apr. 18, 2011. 
     
    
     FIELD OF INVENTION 
       [0002]    This invention relates to computers and is particularly directed to providing improved security for computers. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    In recent years, computers have become essential to business and government operations and the security of these computers is critical. However, currently, computer viruses, malware and hacker attacks constitute major threats to personal computers, network servers, hand-held computers, smart phones and the like. The main reason for this is that all software applications can execute code directly on the main processor, or on the virtual machine, at the same level as the operating system. Therefore, it is always possible for an application to take control of the system and abuse the power without awareness of the operating system. Unfortunately, almost all operating systems and application software have bugs in which executing a specific command sequence causes a crash. Commonly computer viruses and hackers first execute a code to cause a crash, which stops the security, then, they take control of the system. Thus, security provided by none of the prior art computer operating systems have been entirely satisfactory. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY AND OBJECTS OF INVENTION 
       [0004]    These disadvantages of the prior art are overcome with the present invention and a computer operating system model with improved security is provided which is impervious to attack by viruses, hackers and the like. 
         [0005]    These advantages of the present invention are preferably attained by providing improved computer operating systems in which only the operating system, that has its own virtual machine, is allowed to directly operate on the processor and all other application software is run by the virtual machine of the operating system. 
         [0006]    Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved computer operating system which is impervious to attack by viruses, hackers and the like. 
         [0007]    An another object of the present invention is to provide an improved computer operating system which is impervious to attack by viruses, hackers and the like and which allow only virtual machine of the operating system to directly operate on the processor. 
         [0008]    A specific object of the present invention is to provide an improved computer operating system which is impervious to attack by viruses, hackers and the like and which allow only virtual machine of the operating system to directly operate on the processor and on which all application software is run. 
         [0009]    These and other objects and features of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description, taken with reference to the figures of the accompanying drawing. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
         [0010]      FIG. 1  is a diagrammatic representation of a prior art computer system; and 
           [0011]      FIG. 2  is a diagrammatic representation of a computer system embodying the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0012]      FIG. 1  shows a prior art computer system, indicated generally at  10 , having a processor or a virtual machine that runs on the processor  12 , and an operating system  14  which runs on the processor or the virtual machine that runs on the processor  12 . As shown, all application software  16  is also run on the processor or the virtual machine that runs on the processor  12 . Consequently, it is always possible for the application software  16  to take control of the processor or the virtual machine that runs on the processor  12  and to abuse that power without the awareness of the operating system  14 . Hackers and viruses take advantage of this weakness to create havoc. 
         [0013]    However, this weakness is overcome with the present invention, as seen in  FIG. 2 , by having an operating system that has its own virtual machine  18 , and causing all application software to be run by virtual machine of the operating system  18 . In this way, only virtual machine of the operating system  18  is running directly on the processor  12 . Virtual machine of the operating system  18 , runs the application software  16 , by doing a processor simulation in which a set of memory locations are operated similar to registers of a processor  12 . If desired, the operating system  18  can create multiple virtual machines instead of only one to achieve a higher degree of multitasking and parallel computing. Furthermore, the virtual machine based operating system  18  can be designed in a way to run any existing software application without the need for a re-design or re-compilation of the application source code, to be backward-compatible. It is also possible for the operating system  18  to create different virtual machines to execute application codes in different languages, such as Java byte-code, or code compiled for different processors and computer platforms, such as Windows, Linux, Mac, smart-phones, and so on. 
         [0014]    Preferably, the virtual machine based operating system  18  can have one or more plain text or XML format security policy files, which each contains a set of rules about what actions will be allowed for a specific application software  16 , or a specific user, or the operating system itself  18 . The virtual machine of the operating system  18  would constantly check the rules as it runs any application code. The user can decide what to allow when installing new application software  16  and the operating system  18  would automatically create security policy rules specific to that application software  16 . An application software  16  would never be allowed to modify any security rules or settings of the operating system  18 . Only a user who has an enough level of security privileges can modify, a limited set of security rules and settings, by using the tools provided by the operating system itself  18 . Furthermore, the operating system  18  would have a basic set of built-in security rules that cannot be modified by any user. For example, an attempt to modify the operating system files  18 , or any kind of executable application code file. 
         [0015]    The operating system  18  also would have files containing information on which files belong to itself and, preferably, would automatically create and track similar files for each new application software installed. In this way, the operating system  18  would know whenever a running application software  16  tries to modify any file which does not belong to it. Later the virtual machine of the operating system would stop execution of that application code, and inform the user. 
         [0016]    Processor simulating virtual machine based computing platforms already exist. However, in the prior art systems, the virtual machine  12  is separate from the operating system  14 . Therefore, a malicious application software  16  can still execute code without authorization from the operating system  14  and cause many kinds of damage. The present system precludes this because all file, memory, network communication etc. access requests of any running application must go through the virtual machine of the operating system  18  that runs that application code. Therefore, if the application software  16  tries to do any kind of unauthorized operation, the operating system  18  can easily detect and stop the operation, and optionally also warn the user. 
         [0017]    Currently, many kinds of computer viruses, malware and hackers take control of a computer system by taking advantage of software bugs. Almost all existing operating systems and application software have bugs, in which executing a specific command sequence causes a crash. Computer viruses and hackers first execute a code to cause a crash, which stops the security and then, they take control of the system. Newly discovered software bugs force the user to continuously download software patches and updates from the Internet and also to use anti-virus software which also continuously needs to be updated to protect against the latest viruses, etc. In the system of the present invention, the same tactics would not work because, if any running application software  16  crashes, it would simply cause the virtual machine of the operating system  18  to stop execution of that application and notify the user. If the virtual machine itself  18  crashes, then execution of the application software  16  would also stop, since the virtual machine  18  was running the application software  16 . Hence, it would be impossible for a malicious application software  16  to take control of the operating system  18  or direct control of the processor  12 . 
         [0018]    Many new general security rules that apply to all application software, or specific rules for particular application software, or network and Internet access can be added to the operating system  18  later to further enhance security, for example, when large companies, government or military institutions need even higher security in their computer systems. In addition, numerous other variations and modifications can obviously be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Therefore, it should be clearly understood that the forms of the present invention described above and shown in the figures of the accompanying drawing are illustrative only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.