Patent ID: 12197582

TERM INTERPRETATIONS

1. CPU: Central Processing Unit2. BIOS: Basic Input Output System3. FW: Firmware4. UEFI FW: Firmware conforming to UEFI international standard5. Platform FW: Platform firmware, which can be BIOS or UEFI FW6. PBA: Pre-boot-authentication7. SSD: Solid-state Drive8. MBR: Master Boot Record9. TRNG: True Random Number Generator10. ROM: Read Only Memory11. PBA_Meas: System Measure Functional Group in PBA12. PBA_Auth: Authentication Functional Group in the PBA13. OS Loader: Operating System Boot Module14. OS Core & Apps: Operating System Core and Applications15. SED: Self Encrypting Drive16. RSA: International-Standard Public Key System Encryption Algorithm17. SHA: International-Standard Hash Algorithm18. AES: Advanced Encryption Standard, which is an International Standard of BlockEncryption Algorithm19. SM2: Chinese-National-Standard Public Key System Encryption Algorithm20. SM3: Chinese-National-Standard Hashing Algorithm21. SM4: Chinese-National-Standard Block Encryption Algorithm22. TPM: International-Standard Trusted Platform Module/Root Module23. TCM: Chinese-National-Standard Trusted Cryptography Module/Root Module24. TPCM: Trusted Platform Control Module25. RoT: Root of Trust

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Principles and features of the present disclosure are described below. When taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and examples given in the present disclosure are intended to explain the invention only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

FIG.2shows a block diagram of the basic structure of a solid-state drive according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Basic architecture of the solid-state drive according to the present disclosure is similar to a traditional SED (Self-Encrypting Drive) including an MCU, Flash memory medium chips or dies, a crypto engine which performs relevant cryptographic algorithms, a true random number generator (TRNG), a read only memory (ROM) and the likes. Other system components related to the operations of traditional solid-state drives are not key points of the present disclosure and are not enumerated here. A firmware for controlling various operations of the solid-state drive and a firmware used for realizing a functional group of the root of trust of the system according to the present disclosure are stored in the ROM and a system-data storage space. It is worth noting that the characteristic that the above-mentioned ROM cannot be modified after a master control chip leaves its chip production line is one of the key reasons why the embodiments of the present disclosure can ensure system security. In the system, critical functions that must not be bypassed are required to be realized in the ROM.

The functional group of the root of trust further comprises:

a submodule for root of trust measurement function, configured to determine whether the system operating environment is under a known secure state according to a system state characteristic value collected and calculated by the PBA module, wherein the function of PBA will be clarified in subsequent explanations;

a submodule for root of trust for storage functions, configured to provide a protected secure storage space for storing measurement results and other sensitive information;

a submodule for root of trust for reporting functions, configured to cryptographically sign the measurement results, and submit them to the host system according to predetermined security protocols when requested by the management software running in the host system.

The storage space included in the solid-state drive subsystem is divided into a drive subsystem storage space and an operating system space. The drive subsystem storage space is used to store data related to drive subsystem firmware and system management. The operating system space can be addressed by logical block address LBA, and is used to store information comprising the operating system and user programs and data. The operating system space contains a special storage space namely the MBR module in traditional BIOS systems or a boot file in a UEFI system. A method to read the special storage space is always known by the platform firmware of all systems, and is commonly used to store the first stage in the system boot chain. The function of the system boot program in traditional solutions is to load the operating system gradually, stage by stage. In a system which is designed according to the present disclosure, the above-mentioned first stage boot program (e.g., MBR) is hidden in the drive subsystem storage space, and the space originally occupied by the boot program is used to store a unique boot program according to the present disclosure. A function of the unique boot program is to load the pre-boot authentication (PBA) module provided according to the present disclosure into the system's main memory and execute the PBA module.

The PBA module can be further divided into a system measurement module and an identity authentication module.

A function of the system measurement module is to measure the state of measurable elements in the system, including the system firmware, a CPU serial number and address code of network MAC etc., by use of a cryptographic algorithm, to generate characteristic signature of the current system operating environment. The characteristic signature values can be sent to the root of trust through a security protocol to determine whether the operating environment of the system is in a known security state.

A function of the identity authentication module is to collect the user identity authentication information (e.g., password, fingerprint, voice feature code, etc.) from a system interface according to design requirements, and submit it to the solid-state drive subsystem to achieve identity authentication based on predetermined security protocol.

The foregoing only describes some preferred embodiments of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the present invention. Any modification, equivalent substitution, improvement, etc., made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included within the scope of protection of the present invention.