Secure Module for Digital Content Protection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Personal computers with open architectures face challenges in securing digital content due to the risk of software being decrypted and copied from main memory, even when encrypted, as the decryption keys can be analyzed and the right-protection algorithm discovered.
Innovation Solution
A secure module with a tamper-resistant structure is integrated into the personal computer, which stores secure software and decryption keys, allowing direct access and comparison to prevent falsification, and uses a secure environment for decoding encrypted content, including irregular rewriting of software and buffer positions, and secret-number communication to enhance security.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If software is made difficult to read through encryption and obfuscation, then security against static analysis is improved, but the software can still be copied from main memory during execution
Solution Approach 1:
A secure module acts as an intermediary between the decryption keys and the decryption process. The secure module loads decryption keys into a protected memory space and performs decryption operations within this secure environment, preventing direct access to keys by the main system memory while enabling legitimate decryption functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The decryption keys are extracted from the main system memory and placed into a separate, protected secure module. This separation isolates the sensitive cryptographic material from the vulnerable main memory environment, allowing the system to maintain security while still performing decryption operations.
2Ease of operation
If decryption keys are stored in main memory for software execution, then decryption functionality is enabled, but keys can be analyzed and copied by malicious users
Solution Approach 1:
The secure module serves as an intermediary that mediates between the need for decryption functionality and the risk of key exposure. It provides a controlled interface for decryption operations while maintaining keys within a protected environment that prevents direct access by malicious software.
Solution Approach 2:
The memory space is segmented into a secure, protected region within the secure module and the main system memory. Decryption keys are stored only in the secure region, which is isolated from the main memory space that malicious users can access, thereby segmenting the system to protect sensitive data.
3Reliability
If right-protection algorithms are implemented to prevent copying, then security against casual copying is improved, but determined attackers can still analyze and discover the algorithms
Solution Approach 1:
The secure module acts as an intermediary that performs decryption operations without exposing the underlying algorithms or keys to the main system. Even if attackers can observe the system running, they cannot access the protected memory space where the secure module operates, making algorithm analysis extremely difficult.
Solution Approach 2:
The system preemptively protects decryption keys and algorithms by storing them in a secure module before any decryption operations occur. This preliminary protective measure ensures that even if attackers are present or monitoring the system, the sensitive information remains inaccessible until the secure module actively performs operations.
Data Source
AI summary
An information reproducing apparatus of the present invention includes a secure module and a main memory. The information in the secure module can not be accessed from outside. The secure module reads, using a direct access method, information relating to software stored in the main memory. The secure module checks a falsification of the software by comparing the information read with the information stored in advance in the secure module.