Trusted Security Zone Hardware Driver Integrity Verification
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Solution Overview
Problem
Electronic devices face challenges in maintaining the integrity of hardware drivers, which can be compromised by nefarious programs, compromising the trusted security zone and potentially exposing sensitive information.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a trusted security zone that performs a confidence check on hardware drivers, comparing their uncompromised state with their current state, and allowing trusted applications to invoke only uncompromised drivers, thereby preventing malicious interference and ensuring the integrity of the trusted environment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If hardware drivers are stored in the permissive sector for easy access, then ease of operation is improved, but reliability deteriorates due to potential compromise by nefarious programs
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments hardware drivers into two distinct storage locations: a permissive sector for general access and ease of operation, and a trusted security zone for storing uncompromised driver copies. This segmentation allows the system to maintain both ease of access and reliability by serving drivers from the permissive sector while verifying them against the trusted security zone.
Solution Approach 2:
The trusted security zone acts as an intermediary verification layer between the permissive sector and the application. Before executing a hardware driver from the permissive sector, the system mediates by comparing it against the trusted copy in the security zone, ensuring integrity without preventing easy access.
2Reliability
If the trusted security zone implements strict verification of hardware drivers, then reliability is improved, but device complexity increases due to additional verification mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The system creates a copy of the hardware driver in the trusted security zone during manufacturing or initial setup. This copying approach simplifies verification by enabling direct comparison between the permissive sector copy and the trusted copy, avoiding the need for complex cryptographic verification while maintaining reliability.
3Reliability
If the system performs confidence checks on all hardware driver invocations, then reliability is improved, but productivity decreases due to additional verification time
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary verification by comparing the hardware driver in the permissive sector against the trusted copy in the security zone before the application needs to use it. This preliminary action ensures that verification happens in advance, allowing fast execution during actual application operation without repeated checks.
Data Source
AI summary
An electronic device comprises a processor, a permissive sector, a trusted security zone that is separate from the permissive sector, a hardware driver, a first trusted application, stored in the trusted security zone, that is configured to invoke the hardware driver in response to activation instructions, and a second trusted application, stored in the trusted security zone, that when executed on the processor, configures the processor to: amass information about an uncompromised state of the hardware driver, store the information about the uncompromised state of the hardware driver in the trusted security zone, and compare, in response to receipt of activation instructions by the first trusted application, the information about the uncompromised state of the hardware driver with a current state of the hardware driver, and perform an action in response to a result of the comparison.