Blockchain Hardware Firmware Software Change Tracking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems fail to consistently track changes to hardware, firmware, and software in devices, making it difficult to identify the cause of failures and locate malware.
Innovation Solution
A blockchain-based system that stores events related to changes in hardware, firmware, and software as blocks, allowing for the identification of anomalies and tracking of changes, including hypervisor events and virtual machine changes, to create a comprehensive history of device modifications.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If changes to hardware, firmware, and software are tracked using traditional methods, then the system is simpler to implement, but the ability to identify the cause of failures and locate malware is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the tracking system into distinct blockchain blocks for hardware, firmware, and software changes. Each component's modifications are recorded in separate, organized units within the blockchain structure, enabling precise tracking of individual component changes while maintaining system-wide integrity through the blockchain's inherent linking mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces blockchain technology as an intermediary layer between device components and the tracking system. This intermediary provides an immutable, decentralized ledger that records all changes without requiring complex centralized management, thereby improving tracking precision while actually reducing overall system complexity through automation.
2Reliability
If a comprehensive tracking system is implemented to identify all changes, then the ability to detect anomalies improves, but the time and resources required to maintain the tracking system increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements automated anomaly detection that continuously monitors blockchain records for suspicious patterns. When anomalies are detected, the system automatically generates alerts and can trigger remediation actions, eliminating the need for manual review of every change and significantly reducing maintenance time while improving reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary validation and classification of changes as they are recorded in the blockchain. By pre-processing and categorizing events during ingestion rather than during analysis, the system reduces the time required for later maintenance and investigation, as the data is already organized and flagged for potential issues.
3Loss of information
If detailed records of all hardware, firmware, and software changes are maintained, then the ability to diagnose device failures improves, but the storage requirements and data management complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential and immutable information from change events and stores it in the blockchain, such as event type, timestamp, component identifier, and hash values. Detailed logs and full change descriptions are stored externally and referenced by the blockchain records, thereby maintaining complete information for diagnosis while minimizing the data volume stored in the blockchain itself.
Data Source
AI summary
A plurality of events associated with a communication device are received. The plurality of events relate to a plurality of changes of hardware, firmware, and/or software in the communication device. The plurality of events are stored as a plurality of blocks in a blockchain. One or more anomalies associated with the plurality of changes of the hardware, the firmware, and/or the software are identified. In response to identifying the one or more anomalies associated with the plurality of changes of the hardware, the firmware, and/or the software in the communication device, a software image of the communication device is received and added to the blockchain. A second embodiment discloses using this process for a hypervisor using virtual machines or containers.