Patent Document

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates generally to mobile communication devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods and apparatus for providing mobile communication devices that operate in multiple isolated domains that provide differing levels of security and reliability. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Communication systems play an important role in government, business and personal settings, each with their own unique set of requirements that sometimes overlap and sometimes conflict. In government settings, there is often a need to handle sensitive communications in a secure manner and the communication devices need to be reliable and resistant to unauthorized modification. Traditionally this is accomplished with special purpose hardware and systems that can be very expensive to develop, deploy and maintain. 
     In business settings, a firm or business entity may wish to provide employees with cell phones to conduct business related transactions. The business entity might prefer to separate business use of the phone from personal use for a variety of reasons. These may include the avoiding expenses incurred from personal calls, the potential embarrassment of having certain types of inappropriate personal use associated with the business entity, and the risk of downloading mal-ware that might be embedded in applications freely available on the internet. 
     In personal settings, users would like to enjoy the freedom to make calls and download applications of any type without restrictions, while still knowing they can rely on the phone for business use even if problems arose as a result of personal use activity. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     What is needed, therefore, is the ability to modify or otherwise use an existing commercial off-the-shelf smartphone without hardware modification in a manner that provides multiple user domains, each with differing levels of security and reliability, and wherein each domain is isolated from the other. 
     In embodiments of a smartphone configuration according to the present invention, a commercial off-the-shelf smartphone may be adapted through software modification techniques to provide multiple operating modes or domains that provide differing levels of security and reliability. According to one embodiment of the invention, the adaptation involves a provisioning process where previously installed software is cleared from the device and new trusted software is installed. 
     Each operating domain may be isolated from the others by confinement to an isolated region of memory. A communication control module enforces communication restrictions between domains by appropriately configuring a hardware memory management unit. Some domains are restricted to running applications that are signed or otherwise can only be provided from trusted sources. The communication control module may also enforce communication restrictions between software operating in the various domains and device drivers. 
     Techniques to detect unauthorized modification may also be provided wherein the device can verify the contents of memory through hash function calculations, cryptographic techniques and certificate challenges. 
     Cross domain activity notification may be provided through trusted indicators. A user operating in one domain may be notified of the arrival of email or an incoming phone call from another domain and given the opportunity to switch domains using appropriate access control methods to insure domain switching is not spoofed by unauthorized intrusion software or technique. 
     Other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating a smartphone used in a government application. 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram illustrating a smartphone fielded in a government application. 
         FIG. 3  is a block diagram illustrating a smartphone used in a commercial application. 
         FIG. 4  is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of the memory components of a smartphone. 
         FIG. 5  illustrates a smartphone connected to a laptop computer. 
         FIG. 6  illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a memory layout for a smartphone. 
         FIG. 7  is a block diagram illustrating the first part of an initialization phase for detection of unauthorized modification in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 8  is a block diagram illustrating the second part of an initialization phase for detection of unauthorized modification in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 9  is a block diagram illustrating the first part of a verification phase for detection of unauthorized modification in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 10  is a block diagram illustrating the second part of a verification phase for detection of unauthorized modification in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 11  is a block diagram illustrating isolated domains within a smartphone in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 12  is a table listing categories of device drivers in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 13  is a block diagram illustrating communication with “assigned high” device drivers in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 14  is a block diagram illustrating communication with “assigned low” device drivers in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 15  is a block diagram illustrating communication with “shared” device drivers in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 16  is a block diagram illustrating communication with “switched” device drivers in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 17  illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a user interface display for access control, domain switching and security parameter configuration. 
         FIG. 18  illustrates a state diagram showing access control, domain switching and security parameter configuration in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. 
         FIG. 19  illustrates an alternative procedure for modifying an existing mobile communication device to operate in multiple domains in accordance with some embodiments. 
         FIG. 20  illustrates an alternative functional block diagram of a mobile communication device configured to operate in multiple domains in accordance with some embodiments. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     As described herein, a goal of a multiple domain smartphone is to provide different levels of security and stability in different domains depending on the usage context and to provide an efficient and convenient way to switch between the domains without sacrificing security and stability. A further goal is to provide this capability using a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) smartphone with only software modifications. The software modifications are intended to provide “secure” software, by which is meant that the quality and integrity of the of the software and its execution environment may provide a basis for trusting its behavior. 
     A multiple domain smartphone according to embodiments described herein provides many benefits. It should be understood that a viable system need not include all of the features described herein and is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms. 
     One embodiment of the invention is described with reference to  FIG. 1 , which shows a simplified diagram of a secure smartphone in a government application. In  FIG. 1 , a mobile phone  100  may be operated in a secure domain  102  or an unsecure domain  104 . The mobile phone  100  may be, for example, an Android™ smartphone or any suitable commercially available smartphone. In secure domain  102 , communications  106  between mobile phone  100  and Cellular or Wireless Network  110  may be encrypted. In unsecure domain  104 , communications  108  between mobile phone  100  and Cellular or Wireless Network  110  may be open. Cellular or Wireless Network  10  may then communicate to either a secure server  116  over a secure backhaul  112  or to an unsecure server  118  over an open backhaul  114 . 
     Secure server  116  may provide services including Virtual Private Network (VPN), secure Voice over IP (VoIP), secure email, secure video and secure Situational Awareness and inventory. 
     Unsecure server  118  may provide services including web/internet access, VoIP, email, video and Situational Awareness and inventory. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates a real world application of the secure smartphone as it may be used on a battlefield. Smartphone equipped soldiers  200  may communicate in a secure domain to a manned or unmanned aircraft equipped with a picocell base station  202  which may then relay the communication to a Ka-band or Ku-band satellite communications unit  204  through an EnerLinks™ ground transceiver  212 . The satellite communications unit  204  then relays the communications to a global information grid (GIG)  206 . Alternatively, the EnerLinks™ ground transceiver  212  could relay the communication to cellular/wireless equipment  214  which may then relay the communication to a cellular or wireless network  210 . The smartphone equipped soldiers  200  may also switch to an unsecure domain to communicate through a cellular or wireless network  208  operated by a commercial carrier in a nearby town. Use of a smartphone in this manner may provide greater network throughput at a fraction of the cost of traditional tactical radios. 
     An alternative embodiment of the invention is described with reference to  FIG. 3 , which shows a simplified diagram of a multi-domain smartphone in a commercial application. In  FIG. 3 , a mobile phone  300  may be operated in a business domain  302  or a personal domain  304 . In business domain  302 , communications  306  between mobile phone  300  and cellular or wireless network  310  may optionally be encoded. In personal domain  304 , communications  308  between mobile phone  300  and cellular or wireless network  310  may be open. Cellular or wireless network  310  may then communicate to either a business enterprise server  316  associated with the business domain over a VPN backhaul  312  or to a public network  318  over an open backhaul  314 . 
       FIG. 11  illustrates a basic block diagram of the smartphone in accordance with an embodiment of the invention which will be discussed in greater detail later in the detailed description. As an introduction for the discussion that follow, the device comprises multiple isolated domains  1100 ,  1102 ,  1104   1106  and hardware  1116  which may further comprise a processing module to run operating systems  1110  and application software  1108 . Each operating system  1110  may be dedicated to an operating domain such as the high domain  1100 , the low domain  1102 , or any number of intermediate level domains  1120 . The high domain  1100  may run secure or business applications while the low domain  1102  may run unsecure or personal applications. The device also comprises a communication control module  1114  to enforce communication restrictions between each of the operating systems  1110 , device drivers  1106 , trusted applications  1104  and device hardware  1116 .  FIG. 11  presents an overview of the system and the interconnected components, each of which will be described in fuller detail below. 
     Provisioning 
     Before any security measures may be effective, a newly purchased commercial phone is wiped clean and re-imaged with a secure software image. A smartphone may be provisioned by obtaining a commercially available off-the-shelf phone and performing a sequence of steps to be described. A goal of the provisioning process is to ensure that the phone is cleared of any pre-existing data and software prior to installing new applications. First, the phone may be isolated by shielding it from open WiFi access to prevent unauthorized wireless access or interference. Next, the external Flash card and SIM card, which contain cellular data network information as illustrated in  FIG. 4  at  402 , may be removed. An unsigned application may then be download, installed and run on the phone to overwrite and replace the boot area of the RAM memory  404 . At this point Flash memory is corrupted and normal phone operations will no longer work. This may be verified later. The phone may now be rebooted with new boot code. A series of non-compressible random numbers may be downloaded over a USB port to fill all memory, such as RAM and Flash, as illustrated in  FIG. 5 . A hash calculation, based on a seed value, of all the random data written to memory may then be performed. If the resulting hash value matches an expected value then the phone has been verified to be clear of any previous data or software. A secure Flash image may then be downloaded and the phone rebooted, at which point the secure image takes control of the phone. If the hash value did not match, then something prevented the replacement boot software from executing and the unit can not be secured. 
     Detection of Unauthorized Modification 
     It may be useful to ensure that the phone has not been subject to unauthorized modification during the course of its operation or between times of usage. Although some commercial phones have varying levels of protection against this, there is no phone that cannot have its software image at least partially modified. While it may not be possible to prevent unauthorized modification without the use of custom hardware or mechanical housing, it is possible to make the process difficult and detectable. Techniques for detection of unauthorized modification may be combined with an appropriate physical possession policy to minimize the possibility of unauthorized modification. Any unauthorized modification to the contents of memory are cause for concern.  FIG. 6  illustrates an example embodiment of a memory layout for the smartphone which may be useful for the discussions that follow. RAM  600  may contain communication control module  601 , a device driver region  602 , a trusted software region  604 , a high domain O/S region  606 , a low domain O/S region  608  and application region  609 . Flash  610 , which is non-volatile memory, may contain high domain  612  data, applications and operating system (such as an Android™ OS). Flash  610  may also contain low domain  614  data, applications and operating system (such as an Android™ OS). Flash  610  may also contain trusted domains  616 , device drivers  618  and a communication control boot  620 . 
     In one embodiment of the invention, detection of unauthorized modification may be achieved through an on-demand random challenge involving only the phone after the phone has been put into a known state via the provisioning process. In this technique, a first text-based key phrase may be entered and used as a hash seed value. The phone then performs a hash calculation over the Flash memory including the boot, trusted domains, device drivers and all operating systems. A second text-based key phrase may then be entered and split against the hash result. The split is stored in Flash memory while the second key phrase is erased from memory. Whenever the integrity of the phone needs to be verified, the first key phrase may be entered and in response, the phone calculates and displays the second key phrase based on the contents of the Flash memory. If the displayed second key phrase is the expected value then the Flash memory is unlikely to have been modified. 
     In another embodiment of the invention, detection of unauthorized modification may be achieved through an on-demand random challenge involving the phone and a laptop or other computer that has a copy of the original Flash image in the phone. In this technique, the laptop may request a copy of the data portion of the Flash memory for temporary safekeeping and replace those portions with random values from the laptop. The laptop may then provide a seed and request an on-demand random challenge as described in the previous technique. The laptop may then verify the results of this challenge, which the phone computes based on the random data that was just downloaded, to ensure that the challenge process has not been corrupted. If the expected hash value is produced from the challenge then there is some assurance that the phone software has not been corrupted and the laptop may then restore the data portions of Flash with the original contents that were saved. 
     In another embodiment of the invention, detection of unauthorized modification may be achieved through the installation of a host based integrity verification application on the phone. There may be separate integrity verification applications for each domain. The integrity verification application may be downloaded and installed through the wireless network (i.e., “over the air”) or through a USB port. The integrity verification application may be signed to indicate that it comes from a trusted source or has otherwise been evaluated and approved. Thus, the integrity verification is done by means of trusted processing. The integrity verification application contains a database of expected signatures for key binary executables that may be run on the phone, as well as other specific data, and verifies the signature of each binary executable against the appropriate entry in the list of expected signatures. The list of expected signatures is itself also protected from external modification and subject to integrity checks. The integrity verification application may be run to produce an overall pass or fail indication, wherein the failure to match any signature against the corresponding expected signature would result in an overall fail indication. 
     In another embodiment of the invention, detection of unauthorized modification may be achieved through an on-demand certificate challenge to cryptographically detect changes in persistent memory involving only the phone and two key phrases for verification. This technique may consist of an initialization phase and a verification phase. 
     The initialization phase is illustrated in  FIGS. 7 and 8 . After the phone has been provisioned and is in a known state, private  716  and public  718  certificates may be obtained which are unique to the phone. A first text-based key phrase  714  is entered and a hash function  708  is calculated. The public certificate  718  is then AES encrypted  712  using the hash of the first key phrase  710 . This encrypted public certificate is then stored in persistent memory  706 . 
     Moving now to  FIG. 8 , using the first key phrase  816  as a seed, a hash function is calculated  808  over the software image  804  in Flash memory  800 . The software image  804  includes the boot, trusted domains, device drivers and operating systems but excludes user data and applications. A second text-based key phrase  818  is entered and split against the Flash hash word at  810  to create a Flash hash key  812 . The Flash hash key  812  is then encrypted at  814  using the private certificate  820  and stored in persistent memory  806 . The private certificate  820  and the second key phrase  818  are then cleared from the phone. 
     The verification phase is illustrated in figures  FIGS. 9 and 10 . The user may initiate a certificate challenge by entering the first key phrase  914 . A hash of the first key phrase  910  is then used as an AES key to unwrap, at  912 , the encrypted public certificate stored in persistent memory  906 , to reproduce the public certificate  916 . 
     Moving now to  FIG. 10 , the public certificate  1020  is used to decrypt, at  1014 , the Flash hash key  1012 . The first key phrase  1016  is also used as a hash seed to calculate a hash  1008  over the software image  1004  in Flash memory  1000 . The hash value is combined with the Flash hash key at  1010  to recover the second key phrase  1018 . If the recovered second key phrase  1018  matches the expected value then the integrity of the software image  1004  has been verified. 
     Secure Initial State 
     Prior to being used for secure operations, the health of the platform may be determined and all elements of the system placed into a known state. At power up, health tests may be performed for both the hardware and the Flash memory, including software and persistent data. Power up health tests focus on establishing that the hardware environment is sound, including CPU, RAM and Flash memory, and that the software and data contents of the Flash memory are valid and authenticated. The tests may involve the CPU instruction set; CPU registers; MMU; RAM storage, address and data lines; and Flash address and data lines. 
     In addition to power up health tests, operational health tests may monitor the health of the hardware environment while the device is operational. These may be periodically performed in the background with minimal impact to the user functionality. These tests may involve the CPU instruction set; CPU registers; MMU; RAM storage and data lines; and before-use Flash program cyclic redundancy check (CRC). 
     Additionally, the identity of the user may be authenticated through a password challenge at power up, prior to entering into the operational environment. After authentication the system may be initialized by loading the communication control module, the operating system environments and trusted software. 
     Isolated Regions of Memory 
     Four isolated domains, or regions of memory, may be provided as illustrated in  FIG. 11 . A system high domain  1100  may provide applications  1108  and an operating system  1110 , such as the Android™ or Linux™ operating system. A system low domain  1102  may provide applications  1108  and an operating system  1110 , such as the Android™ or Linux™ operating system. The system low domain may be used for unclassified processing. Although only one high domain  1100  and one low domain  1102  are illustrated for simplicity, and number of each type of domain may be provided. Any number of additional intermediate level domains  1120  may also be provided. Trusted domains  1104  may be used for secure transforms, cryptographic control, security configuration, access control and secure switching and other security related software. Domains  1106  may be used for device drivers. Each domain operates as an independent virtual machine (VM). Separation is enforced between domains by a memory management unit (MMU), which is part of the phone hardware  1116 , and a communication control module  1114  which configures the MMU. 
     The communication control module is similar to an operating system kernel except that it may only perform the tasks necessary for configuring memory separation, and inter-domain communications. This may include an application scheduler and moving data between address spaces (isolated domains or memory regions). This allows device drivers and operating systems to exist entirely in their own address space. The separation of all tasks across all operating systems present on the same processor is maintained by the communication control module. 
     The system high  1100  and system low  1102  domains may be complete and isolated operating systems with their own set of applications and storage. Although only one of each is shown in  FIG. 11  for simplicity, there may be as many as required. Similarly, although two trusted domains  1104  are shown, there may be as many as required including redundant trusted domains. 
     Each domain in  FIG. 11  exists as a separate Cell under the communication control module. A Cell consists of resources isolated and protected from other cells, including an address space in memory enforced by the MMU, as well as execution time on the CPU enforced by time-slicing. The protection of all cells is managed by the communication control module. The communication control module configures the MMU each time it switches focus to a new domain, allowing it access to its own resources and only those resources. The communication control module also replaces the portions of the OS in each domain, such that their schedulers may now rely on the communication control module for configuring the MMU for their sub-tasks. 
     Device Drivers 
     A goal of some embodiments of the invention is to allow the device drivers to be portable. Existing device driver binaries may be used in unmodified form. This is possible because they are wrapped with functional translation between the OS and the communication control module and because they are isolated in their own domain. Some device drivers may be wrapped with trusted software to enable switching or transformations. This may offer the advantage of allowing for rapid migration as new releases are made available. Device drivers may change implementation significantly with hardware, but the fundamental device driver interface changes infrequently. 
     There may be four classes of device drivers as illustrated in the table of  FIG. 12 . These class are switched, shared, assigned low and assigned high. Specific example of actual device drivers are provided within each class. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 13 , physical devices assigned exclusively to the system high domain  1306  may be available only to the system high domain  1300 . The data that passes through these devices may not undergo an encryption transformation. The GPS device provides precise location information about the user. In some situations it may be preferable to keep this information secret and not shared over clear channels which is why the GPS device driver may be assigned to the high domain. Device drivers in the assigned high domain may be fixed in the software image. In alternate embodiments, the assignment may be configurable by an authorized entity. Such assignment reconfiguration may require a reboot of the phone. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 14 , physical devices assigned exclusively to the system low domain  1406  may be available only to the system low domain  1400 . The data that passes through these devices typically need not undergo an encryption transformation, although in some embodiments they may undergo such a transformation if required. Devices such as the USB bus and Bluetooth need to be compatible with their existing protocol specification which may make it impractical to transform or share their data passing through the bus. Device drivers in the assigned low domain may be fixed in the software image. In alternate embodiments, the assignment may be configurable by an authorized entity. Such assignment reconfiguration may require a reboot of the phone. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 15 , shared devices  1506  may always be available to both high and low domains  1500  and  1504 . The data that passes through these devices is encrypted data compatible with the system low domain. 
     The cellular data network and WiFi network are packet-switched IP networks. Packets exiting from the system high-side are first subject to an Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) transformation in a trusted domain before reaching the device driver. Packets entering and exiting the system low-side are unchanged. By sharing the device data services each domain can access the network when needed, allowing for background syncing and avoiding connection loss from network timeouts regardless of which domain is currently selected by the user. This may also allow the domain with which the user is not interacting to enter an idle, low power state, increasing battery life. This may also avoid additional latency that would otherwise be created by routing data from the system high-domain to the trusted domain to the system low-domain and then to the device driver. 
     The Flash storage device may be partitioned between the high domain and the low domain, allowing each access only to their own data. Data transfer from either side goes through an encryption transformation in a trusted space with each domain using a different symmetric encryption key. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 16 , switched devices  1606  change exclusive assignment between high and low domain  1600  and  1604  while assigned. The data that passes through these devices may not usually be encrypted. There may be an effective sanitization strategy for output devices before each switch  1620 . Input devices may not need sanitization. The display and speaker are two examples of switched output devices. The sanitization consists of flushing and clearing the buffer that feeds each device driver. Since each device is write-only, the sanitization is simply to flush and clear the buffers to avoid remnant data from being mixed with new data from the other domain. The touchscreen, microphone and keypad are examples of switched input devices which do not need sanitization. 
     The touchscreen, display and keypad are logically grouped together since they may all need to be switched simultaneously and immediately when the user initiates a domain switch. The microphone and speaker are logically grouped together and they may not need to immediately switch when the user initiates a domain switch. This is to avoid a secure voice conversation from switching over to the low domain should the user initiate a transition to the low domain during a secure voice call. 
     Data at Rest 
     All data, when not actively in use, whether in non-volatile Flash memory or volatile RAM may require some degree of protection. All data stored in Flash memory, whether internal or external to the phone, may be encrypted immediately prior to storage to prevent unauthorized access. 
     If the system high domain is in a locked state, whether through timeout or overt action by the user, the RAM associated with the high domain may be sanitized for additional protection and may need to be reinstated before the high domain can resume processing. The system low domain may also be locked, but the RAM may remain untouched. 
     Key Management 
     Keys may be stored persistently. One method may use Suite B algorithms and PKI key material. Stored key material may be AES key wrapped using a key encryption key (KEK) that is split with a user password and a random value. The split KEK may then be stored in internal Flash memory (unencrypted persistent storage). This allows for a more dynamic KEK value, but is only as strong as the user password. 
     Keys may also be stored temporarily in internal RAM. In the event of power loss the device needs to be externally rekeyed. Locking the device may allow the keys to remain present in RAM. 
     Field Control and Configuration 
     The phone may have security parameters that can be configured, as well as trusted controls necessary to interact with the phone in a secure manner. 
     In one embodiment of the invention, access control to the device may be provided. The access control may be a single-factor password based mechanism. Mutual authentication may be required. The procedure may be initiated by a hard-key press which is intercepted at the device driver and unseen by the OS environments. A popup dialog may be presented to the user requesting a device passphrase to authenticate the device and gain access to protected functions including setting some security options and switching to the system high domain. The passphrase may also be used to cryptographically recover stored key material. The display may appear as illustrated in  FIG. 17 . The popup dialog may be used to switch domains and change security parameters.  FIG. 18  illustrates an example state diagram showing access control, domain switching and security parameter configuration according to some embodiments. 
     Both OS domains may be live and active simultaneously although isolated in RAM and Flash memory. This provides support for background synchronization. A hard-key press may be used to switch between domains. The hard key press may be captured by an input only device and processed by a trusted element at the device driver level and not forwarded to either OS. It may be undesirable to rely on an application in the high or low domain to initiate the switch since this may increase the chance of a security breach. Physical keys are preferable to virtual keys because physical key presses are discrete events that can be filtered out at the device driver level and never forwarded to the high or low domain software that may have current control over the display and keypad. 
     Once the user initiates a domain switch using a physical key press, the trusted device driver element notifies a trusted security element to take control of the keypad and display, which may then present the user with a two-way authentication prompt. Identity management relies on a mutual authentication scheme. The trusted element displays a device passphrase on the screen, which the user may recognize as having been previously entered, and then presents the user with a short menu of options. The display may be trusted because (1) the key press was intercepted at a low level device driver before entering either domain and (2) the display presented a shared secret device passphrase to the user which is not accessible by any software outside of the trusted domain. 
     Some actions may require the user to enter their password to perform the action. The action may be trusted to have been performed because the phone first authenticated itself as the trusted portion. Some actions may also be limited to only certain users who have the authentication credentials. Once authenticated, the user can switch between domains or perform security actions more quickly without entering credentials repeatedly, until either a timeout or overt lock occurs. Some rare and important security actions may require a password every time. There may also be an additional menu option for certain users to gain access to more advanced settings to which other users do not have access. 
     Some switched device drivers may lag or not switch. For example, it may be undesirable for the speaker and microphone to switch domains during a call in progress. 
     Field updates and maintenance may include software updates. Trusted portions of software may be updated under restriction controls including the requirement that the updates be signed. The system high side may benefit from signed software which has been evaluated. The system low side may benefit from compatibility with existing commercial standards such as, for example, the Android™ or Google™ marketplace. 
     The device may be disposed of when no longer needed or repurposed. All information in the phone can be sanitized by following the provisioning process described previously. The phone may then either be returned to the original default Android™ image, for example, or to a new secure image. In the event of accidental loss or theft, a remote sanitization capability may be provided in some embodiments. 
       FIG. 19  illustrates a procedure for modifying an existing mobile communication device to operate in multiple domains in accordance with some embodiments. Operation  1900  comprises installing an operating system for each operating domain in isolated regions of memory. At least one of the domains may be a business domain and at least one of the domains may be a personal domain. The business and personal domains may be targeted for commercial applications. In some embodiments existing software may be cleared from the device prior to installing the operating systems. Operation  1910  comprises installing device drivers in isolated regions of memory. 
     Operation  1920  comprises implementing a communication control module to enforce communication restrictions between operating systems, device drivers and device hardware. The communication control module may be used to prevent corruption or unauthorized modification of software or data between domains as well as to prevent access of business data by a personal domain application. Each domain operates as an independent virtual machine and separation is enforced between domains by a memory management unit which is part of the device hardware and is configured by the communication control module. 
     Operation  1930  comprises implementing an authentication procedure to switch from personal domain to business domain. The procedure may establish an expected response phrase to be supplied in response to an authentication challenge. The procedure may confirm authentication when an encoded version of the expected response phrase matches a similarly encoded version of the trial response phrase that is entered in response to an authentication challenge. 
     Operation  1940  comprises providing a trusted indicator that the device is operating in a business domain. This trusted indicator may be under the exclusive control of software that operates in the business domain. 
     In some embodiments the mobile communication device may provide communication transmission between the mobile communication device and a business entity associated with the business domain, through a virtual private network (VPN), while the mobile communication device is operating in the business domain. 
     In some embodiments the mobile communication device may provide a device erasure capability, wherein one or more of the isolated regions of memory are erased. The device erasure may be initiated by a button or key press on the device or by the reception of a communication transmission from a business entity associated with the business domain. A trusted indicator may be provided to indicate that the erasure has been accomplished. In some embodiments the erasure may be limited to areas of memory associated with the business domain. The device erasure may be accomplished by trusted software operating in the business domain. 
     In some embodiments restrictions may be placed on software downloads to the device for use in the business domain. The software downloads may be subject to a validation procedure which may include a requirement for a trusted signature accompanying the software to be downloaded. The validation may be provided by the business entity associated with the business domain. Software downloads may require the approval of an enterprise authority rather than being allowed at the user&#39;s option. 
       FIG. 20  illustrates a functional block diagram of a mobile communication device configured to operate in multiple domains in accordance with some embodiments. The term module may comprise hardware, software or a combination of both. The device comprises multiple isolated regions of memory  2000  and a processing module  2018  to run operating systems  2006 . Each operating system  2006  may be dedicated to an operating domain such as business operating domain  2008  and personal operating domain  2010 . 
     The device also comprises a processing module instantiated communication control module  2014  to enforce communication restrictions between each of the operating systems  2006 , device drivers  2012  and device hardware  2002 . The communication control module may be used to prevent corruption or unauthorized modification of software or data between domains as well as to prevent access of business data by a personal domain application. Each domain operates as an independent virtual machine and separation is enforced between domains by a memory management unit which is part of the device hardware and is configured by the communication control module. 
     Authentication module  2016 , which is also instantiated by the processing module, may enable domain switching from personal domain to business domain based on an authentication technique. Authentication module  2016  may further comprise an input module, an encoding module and a confirmation module. The input module may receive an expected response phrase in response to an authentication challenge, and a trial response phrase in response to the authentication challenge. The encoding module may encode the expected and trial response phrases. The confirmation module may confirm authentication based on a match between the encoded expected response phrase and the encoded trial response phrase. 
     Trusted indicator  2004  may provide irrefutable evidence that the device is operating in a business domain and the indicator may be under the exclusive control of software that operates in business domain. Trusted indicator  2004  may be an LED on the device. 
     In some embodiments the mobile communication device may provide a transceiver to optionally encode communication transmission between the device and a business entity associated with the business domain while the device is operating in the business domain. In some embodiments the encoded communication may be through a VPN.

Technology Category: 3