Patent Application: US-88164307-A

Abstract:
a generalized - topology heterogeneous time - variant computing environment is defined , which includes generalized usage devices , storage devices , and data links . it includes as sds all physical or virtual devices which may be used to store data and on which data may be accessed via an access protocol , including devices of types not conventionally recognized as sds . an inline storage protection device is defined , which is enabled for use by a physically distinct ispd key device which must be removed after enablement . an ispd protects using encryption the data on an sd associated with it , and simultaneously it applies data usage policy and performs auditing of data usage . in another operating scenario , an ispd may function as a simple data protection device without applying policy or performing auditing , but in such operation excluding particular types of sds addressed by similar devices in the prior art . in another operating scenario , an ispd of either type maintains its sd as equivalent in content to an sd supplied by an external coordinating storage facility . in this usage multiple ispds in multiple ces may coordinate against a single coordinating storage facility and thus maintain effectively identical sds , each of which is protected independently of the others by its ispd .

Description:
the generality of possible deployment situations for this invention suggests that there are many possible embodiments of it , and indeed many embodiments which easily might be considered “ preferred .” the selection of this first “ preferred embodiment ,” therefore , is to some extent arbitrary . it has been highlighted as the “ preferred ” embodiment primarily because it represents a very simple operational scenario . the alternative embodiments suggested later , and other embodiments , are no less preferable in their own contexts . a preferred embodiment of this invention consists of an ispd implemented to protect sds of the dasd classification . in one such preferred embodiment , the usage device would be a conventional laptop computer with an external universal serial bus (“ usb ”) port , the data links would be usb links , and the storage device would be a solid - state usb - attached “ memory stick ” ( of the type also known as a “ pen drive ”). the ispd upstream port and downstream ports would be usb ports . the ispd would implement usb protocols and the appropriate sd access protocol , such as scsi , for operating the sd . this ispd / sd pair would be operating in “ local - sd ” mode operation . there would be no control port . all programmatic definitions of policy and auditing would be pre - loaded into the ispd at manufacture , and all audit data would be retained on the ispd , invisible to an ordinary user , for potential forensic use . there would be no coordination port . this ispd / sd pair would be operating in independent , not coordinated , mode operation . such a preferred embodiment is shown in fig1 . the operation of an ispd in this embodiment would proceed as described in the detailed description and in the operation sections , above . for ispd operation , in local - sd , independent mode , such as this would be , an operator of an ispd would connect the ispd 1108 to the usage device 1100 and an sd 1132 to the ispd 1108 . the operator would then use the ispdk 1122 to enable the ispd 1108 . the first time that this was done , the ispd would “ see ” a storage device as a new storage device ; it would ignore any data which happened to pre - exist on the sd . the ispd would , when enabled and when requested to read or write data from or to the sd , follow the basic read / write protocols as described above . the ispd , would have been initialized with policy and auditing programs at manufacture . since it has no control port over which these might be modified , these initial policy and auditing programs would persist over the entire operational life of the ispd . the ispd would enforce policy and conduct auditing at all times . in addition to securely providing data with an sd of this class , this embodiment presents a number of operational advantages . it protects a type of sd , a usb “ memory stick ,” which is particularly subject to theft . it provides ease of use in a portable environment : a user might leave the computer - ispd - sd combination disabled in a relatively insecure location and carry on their person only the ispdk , for example . it may also be employed without modification in an existing computing environment . there is no need , in this embodiment , to make any provision in the laptop computer , the usb data links , or the usb “ memory stick ” for the ispd technology of this invention ; it is transparent . while ispd operation in remote - sd mode is not logically impossible with this particular embodiment , long - distance network communications are not common using the usb communications medium . an embodiment more suitable for remote - sd operation is described in the alternative embodiments section below . an alternative embodiment of this invention would be similar to the preferred embodiment described above , but in addition the ispd would contain a control port over which its policy and auditing programs might be updated . this is shown diagrammatically in fig1 . another alternative embodiment of this invention employ two ispd / ispdk / sd computing environments in both local - sd and remote - sd coordinated operation . this is shown diagrammatically in fig1 . another alternative embodiment of this invention would be similar to the preferred embodiment described above , but use an ethernet network link for the downstream port , possibly further linked to an enterprise &# 39 ; s intranet or to the public internet . this embodiment would permit ispd operation in remote - sd mode . in this type of operation , the ispd and the remote sd provider would implement a cryptographically secure data link ( effectively a virtual private network , or “ vpn ”) for communications between the ispd and the sd . the remote sd might be , for example , an ethernet - capable network - attachable disk disk ( an appropriate disk access protocol , such as scsi , would run on top of these network services ). this is shown diagrammatically in fig1 . another alternative embodiment of this invention would consist of an ispd implemented to provide security to an sd which was a portion of the ram of an otherwise conventional computer . in an embodiment of this type , the usage device would be the processor or processors of the computer , the data links would be a memory bus within the computer , and the storage device would be random access memory (“ ram ”). in this embodiment , the access protocol for the sd is simply the memory addressing scheme , possibly including virtual memory addressing , of the computer . this is shown diagrammatically in fig1 another alternative embodiment of this invention would consist of an ispd implemented to provide security to an sd which was a set of documents served over the world wide web (“ www ”) by a hypertext transport protocol (“ http ”) server . such a server and its document set is in fact a tasd , although it is not always thought of in such terms . it &# 39 ; s use as a tasd meets all of the criteria for the basic model . the ud is the user &# 39 ; s web - accessing device ( such as a “ browser ”). the dl is a tcp / ip network such as the public internet . the sd is a virtual device presented by the http server . the access protocol is http ( possibly in combination with the document object model (“ dom ”)); which provides access in a tree - structured manner to individual documents and ( when dom is used ) to individual fields within these documents . this situation described in this manner constitutes a read - write ( for an administrator ) or read - only ( for a user ) sd within a networked or distributed computing environment . this is shown diagrammatically in fig1 . as is well - known in the public media , this situation is exposed to many security threats . one threat of particular importance to many providers of sds ( websites ) is the unauthorized modification of the data of these sds ( web pages ) in , for example , acts of deliberate vandalism . in this embodiment , an ispd would be implemented such that its upstream and downstream ports implemented the http protocol , together with the underlying layers of tcp / ip and physical network protocols required to transport http . the sd ( a tasd ) would be the downstream web server . it would first be initialized with its content in read / write operation , by an administrator . best practice might during this time sever all other network connections to the http server . it would then be disabled and then re - enabled in read - only mode . at this point , the ispd would effectively “ re - serve ” the data on the tasd ( the website ) in a read - only fashion . the data element of one possible embodiment would be an entire document . in read / write operation , the ispd would write this de ( a document ) in encrypted fashion to the http server ( using for example http “ put ” commands ) and read the document in encrypted form from it , in each case using the basic read / write cycle as described earlier . in read - only mode , the ispd would refuse write ( put ) operations and satisfy only those operations compatible with reading . if an attacker were to subvert the http server , the data ( documents ) on it would be encrypted and therefore themselves secure . if an attacker were to change these documents ( for example , to deface a website ), the ispd would detect these as changed documents and refuse to serve them . it thus provides a fail - safe ( in the technical sense — failure results in continued safe operation ) of a website against defacement . this alternative embodiment has been described in terms of a read - only user , as is common in the world wide web of the present time . however , in a different usage scenario an alternative embodiment resembling this one might be used by an ordinary user for ordinary read / write data storage on the tasd . another type of alternative embodiment is characterized not by the class of sd but by the serial arrangement of ispds on a dl . if two or more ispds are placed serially on a single dl , this does not violate the principle that only one ispd must control access to an sd , because only the final ispd in the series works directly with the sd . the other ispds work indirectly not with the data on the sd itself but with that data as presented by the ispd on their “ downstream ” side . each ispd after the one closest to the sd therefore receives encrypted data and re - encrypts that data for presentation on its “ upstream ” side . this is shown diagrammatically in fig1 . this multiple encryption of data may or may not provide cryptographic advantages . it does , however , provide an operational advantage which may be of importance in certain situations . given such a serial arrangement of ispds , all ispds in the series must be enabled in order for data to be written from the ud to the sd , and for data on the sd to be read back to the ud . since each ispd may be enabled by a different ispdk , and since these ispdks may be distributed among multiple parties , this effectively constitutes a “ voting ” system for data access in which all parties must concur that access should be allowed ( by using their ispdk to enable their ispd ). one possible application of this embodiment would be in a data equivalent of a safe deposit box , where both the owner of the data ( corresponding to the holder of the safe deposit box ) and an authority ( corresponding to a bank manager ) must present their ispdks ( their safe deposit box keys ) to access the data . another application would be in a data escrow situation , where multiple nominally equal parties who do not trust each other ( and potentially trusted third parties as well ) must all present their ispdks in order to access the data . many other alternative embodiments are possible . for example , alternative embodiments exist for each class of sd ( for example , for spasd , sasd , relasd , etc .) and , within each class , for each type of data link , storage device , and access protocol . in each of the alternative embodiments described above , operation would proceed as described in the general operation description earlier . the first alternative embodiment , shown in fig1 , would operate in the same fashion as the preferred embodiment ( fig1 ), except that as it additionally contains a control port 1214 and a link 1226 to an external control facility , its policy and audit programs could be updated as desired . the second alternative embodiment , shown in fig1 , contains a computing environment 1351 which would operate in a local - sd mode manner similar to the alternative embodiment of fig1 , and a computing environment 1359 which also would operate in a similar manner , except that its sd 1392 is a remote - sd . however , in this embodiment the ispds 1308 and 1368 of each computing environment each operate in coordinated mode operation and each maintain the contents of their sds as effectively identical to a storage device provided by the external coordinating storage facility 1399 . the third alternative embodiment , shown in fig1 , operates in a manner similar to the preferred embodiment . ( fig1 ), except that the downstream dl 1428 is an ethernet network connection ( with an appropriate disk access protocol running atop it ) and the sd 1432 is an ethernet - capable network - attached disk drive . the fourth alternative embodiment , shown in fig1 , operates in a manner which is functionally similar to the preferred embodiment ( fig1 ), even though its ud , dl , and sd components are all apparently technologically dissimilar to the preferred embodiment of fig1 . in this alternative embodiment ( fig1 ), the usage device ( ud ) 1500 is a computer processor such as an ordinary commercial microprocessor . the data link ( dl ) 1504 between the ud / processor 1500 and the ispd 1508 is a memory bus such as might be implemented on a microcomputer motherboard . the storage device ( sd ) 1532 is semiconductor ram as might be found on a conventional microcomputer , and the dl 1528 between the ispd 1508 and the sd 1532 is , like dl 1504 , a memory bus . although the preferred embodiment of fig1 might reasonably be implemented as a pocket - sized device connecting a laptop computer via cables to a usb memory stick , while this present alternative embodiment might be implemented on a microcomputer motherboard itself ( with appropriate physical access for ispdk 1522 ), their operation is functionally similar from the point of view of this invention . the fifth alternative embodiment , shown in fig1 , operates again in a functionally similar manner ( especially with regard to the preferred embodiment of fig1 ), except that in this embodiment the downstream dl 1628 between ispd 1608 and sd 1632 is a tcp / ip protocol suite connection over the public internet and the sd 1632 is a hypertext transport protocol daemon ( httpd ) server serving a repository of document object model ( dom ) structured documents ( that is , in the terminology of this invention , it is a tasd ). the sixth alternative embodiment , shown in fig1 , contains two ispds 1708 and 1768 configured serially . these form two distinct computing environments , ce 1 ( 1750 ) and ce 2 ( 1752 ). as can be seen from fig1 , these two environments overlap . ce 1 ( 1750 ) contains a laptop computer 1700 as its ud , a usb link 1704 as the upstream dl between laptop / ud 1700 and ispd 1708 , an ispd 1708 ( together with its ispdk 1722 and ispdk ports and channel 1716 , 1720 , and 1718 ), a usb link 1728 as the downstream dl between ispd 1708 and the sd , and a storage device ( sd ) which is in fact computing environment ce 2 ( 1752 ) as presented through ispd 1768 . ce 2 ( 1752 ) has as its usage device ce 1 ( 1750 ), as seen over usb link 1728 ( which is an upstream dl from the perspective of ce 2 ) from ispd 1708 . ce 2 contains , in turn , its own ispd 1768 ( and ispdk 1782 , etc .) and usb drive 1792 as its sd . this alternative embodiment thus contains two ispds in a serial topology . the operational advantages of serial combinations of multiple ispds have been discussed earlier . in conclusion , the reader will see that the ispd and ispdk as described here provide a mechanism for securing data on a storage device ( possibly a remote storage device ) which protects against the exposure of that data to an attacker , even if the storage device is stolen by the attacker , and which protects against the introduction by an attacker of false data . the devices also permit either independent operation or the coordination of multiple storage devices in such a way that each remains secure in the event of the compromise of another . the devices also permit the enforcement of usage and modification policy and the conducting of auditing on the usage of data and the storage device in such a way that the policy and auditing enforcement shares in the security of the protection of the storage device . additionally , the devices present several operational advantages . they are simple and intuitive to use , as they may be plugged in to existing configurations . they require the physical use of the ispdk , thus denying many automated or network - based attacks . because they require the ispdk to be removed after use , they protect an operator against the operational mistake of leaving an ispdk insecurely coupled with its ispd . a reader familiar with the art will also observe that this invention presents a novel unified paradigm for organizing the components of a computing environment . this invention therefore allows the use of a single common technology over a range of situations not typically considered as related in the prior art . it uses a single basic model , with a single set of basic read / write cycles , a unified conception of an ispd device , and a single conception of an ispdk device and its use with an ispd over a range of deployments which goes from the very smallest scale possible ( for example , between an alu and registers ) to the very largest scale possible ( the general public internet ). this is an approach of extraordinary novelty . while the description of this invention includes many details , including a new terminology , these should not be construed as limiting the scope of this invention , but rather as exemplifications of various preferred embodiments of it . many other variations are possible , including the use of this invention with sasd ( such as magnetic tape drives and farms ), relasd ( relational databases as storage devices ), and spasd ( such as stacks or queues ). thus the scope of this invention should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents , and not by the examples given . 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