Platform Hardware Verification of I/O Device Contents
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Solution Overview
Problem
Input-output devices such as USB flash drives and pen drives are commonly used to spread malware and viruses across networks, with existing antivirus programs often failing to detect or remove infected files effectively.
Innovation Solution
A platform-based verification technique that uses hardware to scan the contents of I/O devices before they are exposed to the operating system, involving a manageability engine and virtualizer engine to detect and delete infected portions, thereby preventing malware and virus infections.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If antivirus programs are used to detect and remove malware, then malware detection capability is improved, but the ability to actually delete infected files deteriorates (programs can only quarantine files)
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary verification of I/O device contents at the platform level before the operating system accesses the data. The verification module scans and validates files during the boot process or device insertion event, detecting malware before it can execute or spread. This preliminary action prevents infected files from being loaded into memory or executed by applications, effectively stopping the malware propagation chain at the source rather than attempting post-infection cleanup.
2Reliability
If hardware-based verification is implemented before OS exposure, then network security is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a verification module as an intermediary component between the I/O device interface and the operating system. This module acts as a security gatekeeper that intercepts data from I/O devices, performs malware verification using hash comparison against known virus signatures, and only permits clean data to pass through to the OS. The intermediary approach isolates the complexity of security verification from both the I/O device drivers and the OS, maintaining a clean system architecture while enhancing security.
3Measurement precision
If comprehensive file scanning is performed on all I/O device contents, then malware detection accuracy is improved, but system processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the verification parameter from scanning entire file contents to comparing file hash values (such as MD5 or SHA-1 checksums) against a database of known malware signatures. This parameter transformation allows for extremely fast verification since hash comparison is computationally efficient compared to full file scanning. The system maintains high detection accuracy by using unique hash values that identify specific malware variants, while reducing processing time from potentially minutes per file to milliseconds.
Data Source
AI summary
A platform to support verification of the contents of an input-output device. The platform includes a platform hardware, which may verify the contents of the I/O device. The platform hardware may comprise components such as manageability engine and verification engine that are used to verify the contents of the I/O device even before the contents of the I/O device are exposed to an operating system supported by a host. The platform components may delete the infected portions of the contents of I/O device if the verification process indicates that the contents of the I/O device include the infected portions.