Patent Document ID: 7751584
Application ID: 10713294
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A method, comprising: building a steganographic extractor to extract hidden information contained in binary images. loading the steganographic extractor during a pre-boot phase of a computer system; discovering, during the pre-boot phase, binary firmware images on which a steganographic operation has been performed to generate hidden information contained within each binary firmware image; extracting, via the steganographic extractor during the pre-boot phase, the hidden information contained in each binary firmware image discovered; obtaining a digital signature contained in the hidden information that is extracted from one of the binary firmware images; comparing the digital signature with a known authentic digital signature to determine an authenticity of that binary firmware image; providing a notification message to at least one of a user and a system environment log indicating the binary firmware image could not be authenticated; providing the user with an option to load the binary firmware image that could not be authenticated; and loading the binary firmware image in response to the request by the user.