Early Key Retrieval During OS Startup for Encrypted Partitions
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Solution Overview
Problem
During the startup of an operating system, encrypted data partitions cannot be accessed due to the lack of initialized network services, leading to failed startup processes, especially when decryption keys and access control policies are stored externally and require network initialization.
Innovation Solution
An early retrieval process is implemented to pause the operating system startup at specific user-mode process execution points, retrieve decryption keys and access control policies from a key management server, and initialize network services before proceeding, ensuring encrypted data partitions can be decrypted and accessed.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the operating system startup process follows the typical sequence where network services are initialized after applications/services attempt to access data, then the startup process maintains standard execution flow, but the startup process fails when encrypted data partitions require network services for key retrieval
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pausing the startup process at specific checkpoints (after master smss.exe, smss.exe, csrss.exe, or wininit.exe execution) to retrieve decryption keys from the key management server before applications/services attempt to access encrypted data. This ensures network services are initialized and keys are available beforehand, preventing startup failure while maintaining a controlled sequence through monitoring process intervention.
2Reliability
If decryption keys are stored on an external key management server requiring network services, then data security is improved through external key management, but the startup process cannot access encrypted data until network services are initialized
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by pausing the startup process at early checkpoints to retrieve decryption keys from the external key management server before data access is needed. This preliminary key retrieval ensures data access reliability when encrypted partitions are mounted, while the pause duration is minimized by performing the operation at the earliest possible moment in the startup sequence.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a monitoring process as an intermediary that manages the interaction between the startup process and the key management server. This monitoring process detects process execution, pauses the startup sequence, coordinates key retrieval through network services, and resumes execution, thereby mediating between the need for external key management and the requirement for timely data access.
3Reliability
If the startup process is paused to retrieve decryption keys early, then encrypted data partitions can be accessed successfully, but the startup process duration increases due to the additional pause and network operation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs the key retrieval operation at the earliest possible checkpoint in the startup sequence (after master smss.exe execution), minimizing the overall startup time by overlapping the key retrieval with subsequent initialization operations that would occur anyway. This preliminary action ensures encrypted data access success while reducing the time penalty to the minimum necessary window.
4Reliability
If network services are initialized early to retrieve decryption keys, then key retrieval is enabled, but other startup operations that depend on standard network service initialization may be disrupted
Solution Approach 1:
The monitoring process acts as an intermediary that carefully coordinates the early network service initialization with the rest of the startup sequence. It pauses at specific checkpoints, retrieves keys, then resumes the startup process allowing subsequent operations to proceed with standard network service initialization, thereby maintaining compatibility while enabling early key retrieval.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs only the essential key retrieval operation during the paused window, leaving other network-dependent startup operations to execute in the standard sequence afterward. This selective preliminary action ensures key retrieval success while maintaining adaptability and compatibility with standard startup operations that follow the normal initialization flow.
Data Source
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AI summary
During the user-mode startup of an operating system of a computing system and prior to the execution of a service control manager process, an early retrieval process is launched so as to retrieve (i) decryption keys corresponding to one or more encrypted files, folders or data partitions and/or (ii) an access control policy from a key management server external to the computing system. The retrieved information may be provided to a disk filter driver and/or file system filter driver of the operating system. In order to communicate with the external key management server, the early retrieval process may initialize the network stack of the computing system, since network services is not yet available prior to the execution of the services.exe process.