Patent ID: 8091115

Claim:
A removable memory storage device that is capable of inline pattern matching and policy enforcement, the removable memory storage device comprising: a housing enclosing: physical storage including solid-state memory that is capable of storing data; multiple target patterns that comprise malware signatures; an input/output (I/O) channel to receive a request from a host to perform a memory access operation with the physical storage; and a pattern matching and policy enforcement engine that is positioned in the removable memory storage device so as to intercept data flowing between the I/O channel and the physical storage, the pattern matching and policy enforcement engine including: a pattern matching component to perform a pattern matching procedure on the data with reference to the multiple target patterns in real-time while the data is being intercepted; and a policy enforcement component to perform a policy enforcement procedure if a pattern match is detected between the data and the at least one target pattern; wherein the pattern matching and policy enforcement engine is to permit the request from the host to perform the memory access operation with the physical storage if a pattern match is not detected between the data and the multiple target patterns; wherein the removable memory storage device exposes at least one interface to enable one or more attributes of the pattern matching and policy enforcement engine to be configured.