Peripheral Device Attestation for Secure Offline Workspace Onboarding
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Solution Overview
Problem
The challenge of securely onboarding peripheral devices within a workspace environment, ensuring they are trusted before granting access to secure data, especially when network connectivity is limited or absent, is not adequately addressed by existing technologies.
Innovation Solution
A peripheral device workspace cloud orchestrator server verifies the trustworthiness of newly connected devices using attestation services, leveraging a trusted cloud service or neighboring workspaces, and assigns operational entitlements to ensure secure onboarding and data access control, even in offline scenarios.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If traditional onboarding methods are used without attestation services, then device connectivity and ease of operation are improved, but security and reliability deteriorate due to unauthorized access risks
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary attestation of peripheral devices before granting full access. The cloud orchestrator server verifies device identities and security credentials in advance, ensuring that only authenticated devices are onboarded to the workspace, thus preventing unauthorized access before it can occur
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a cloud orchestrator server as an intermediary between peripheral devices and the workspace network. This mediator manages the attestation process, verifying device credentials and controlling access permissions, thereby maintaining security while enabling seamless device connectivity
2Reliability
If cloud attestation services are always required for device onboarding, then security is improved, but system complexity and loss of time increase due to mandatory network connectivity requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adapts its attestation process based on network availability. When connected to the cloud, full attestation services are performed; when offline, the system gracefully degrades to use previously cached attestation data or local verification mechanisms, maintaining security without requiring constant cloud connectivity
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs and caches attestation credentials preliminarily when cloud connectivity is available. These pre-verified security credentials are stored locally and can be used during offline periods, eliminating the need for real-time cloud connection during onboarding while maintaining security standards
3Reliability
If strict attestation verification is performed for all peripheral devices, then security and reliability are improved, but productivity and ease of operation worsen due to extended onboarding time
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements risk-based attestation where the verification depth is adjusted based on device risk profiles. Low-risk devices with established credentials undergo streamlined verification, while high-risk or unknown devices receive more thorough scrutiny, balancing security requirements with onboarding efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
The attestation process is designed to be largely automated with minimal human intervention. The cloud orchestrator server automatically verifies device credentials, checks security policies, and grants or denies access without requiring manual approval, significantly reducing onboarding time while maintaining strict security verification
Data Source
AI summary
A peripheral device workspace cloud orchestrator server includes a hardware processor, a power management unit to provide power to the hardware processor and memory device, and a network interface device to receive detected peripheral device enrollment data describing an introduced peripheral device node that has requested to be operatively coupled to an anchor information handling system node within a peripheral device workspace, the anchor information handling system node operatively coupled to the peripheral device workspace cloud orchestrator server and identified as being included within the peripheral device workspace. The hardware processor executed computer-readable program code of a node attestation service module to attest whether the introduced peripheral device node is a trusted node based on the received peripheral device enrollment data. The hardware processor executes computer-readable program code of a node authorization service module to provide operational entitlements that define the actions allowed by the introduced peripheral device node.