Cryptography – Communication system using cryptography
Reexamination Certificate
2000-10-04
2001-09-18
Buczinski, Stephen C. (Department: 3662)
Cryptography
Communication system using cryptography
C380S251000, C380S287000, C713S155000, C713S176000, C713S180000, C713S182000, C713S194000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06292569
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION(S)
This invention relates to computer security, and more particularly to secure and/or protected computer execution environments. Still more specifically, the present invention relates to computer security techniques based at least in part on cryptography, that protect a computer processing environment against potentially harmful computer executables, programs and/or data; and to techniques for certifying load modules such as executable computer programs or fragments thereof as being authorized for use by a protected or secure processing environment.
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION(S)
Computers have become increasingly central to business, finance and other important aspects of our lives. It is now more important than ever to protect computers from “bad” or harmful computer programs. Unfortunately, since many of our most critical business, financial and governmental tasks now rely heavily on computers, dishonest people have a great incentive to use increasingly sophisticated and ingenious computer attacks.
Imagine, for example, if a dishonest customer of a major bank could reprogram the bank's computer so it adds to instead of subtracts from the customer's account—or diverts a penny to the customer's account from anyone else's bank deposit in excess of $10,000. If successful, such attacks would not only allow dishonest people to steal, but could also undermine society's confidence in the integrity and reliability of the banking system.
Terrorists can also try to attack us through our computers. We cannot afford to have harmful computer programs destroy the computers driving the greater San Francisco metropolitan air traffic controller network, the New York Stock Exchange, the life support systems of a major hospital, or the Northern Virginia metropolitan area fire and paramedic emergency dispatch service.
There are many different kinds of “bad” computer programs, which in general are termed “Trojan horses”—programs that cause a computer to act in a manner not intended by its operator, named after the famous wooden horse of Troy that delivered an attacking army disguised as an attractive gift. One of the most notorious kinds is so-called “computer viruses”—“diseases” that a computer can “catch” from another computer. A computer virus is a computer program that instructs the computer to do harmful or spurious things instead of useful things—and can also replicate itself to spread from one computer to another. Since the computer does whatever its instructions tell it to do, it will carry out the bad intent of a malicious human programmer who wrote the computer virus program—unless the computer is protected from the computer virus program. Special “anti-virus” protection software exists, but it unfortunately is only partially effective—for example, because new viruses can escape detection until they become widely known and recognized, and because sophisticated viruses can escape detection by masquerading as tasks the computer is supposed to be performing.
Computer security risks of all sorts—including the risks from computer viruses—have increased dramatically as computers have become increasingly connected to one another over the Internet and by other means. Increased computer connectivity provides increased capabilities, but also creates a host of computer security problems that haven't been fully solved. For example, electronic networks are an obvious path for spreading computer viruses. In October 1988, a university student used the Internet (a network of computer networks connected to millions of computers worldwide) to infect thousands of university and business computers with a self-replicating “worm” virus that took over the infected computers and caused them to execute the computer virus instead of performing the tasks they were supposed to perform. This computer virus outbreak (which resulted in a criminal prosecution) caused widespread panic throughout the electronic community.
Computer viruses are by no means the only computer security risk made even more significant by increased computer connectivity. For example, a significant percentage of the online electronic community has recently become committed to a new “portable” computer language called Java™ developed by Sun Microsystems of Mountain View, Calif. Java was designed to allow computers to interactively and dynamically download computer program code fragments (called “applets”) over an electronic network such as the internet, and execute the downloaded code fragments locally. Java's “download and execute” capability is valuable because it allows certain tasks to be performed locally on local equipment using local resources. For example, a user's computer could run a particularly computationally or data-intensive routine—relieving the provider's computer from having to run the task and/or eliminating the need to transmit large amounts of data over the communications path.
While Java's “download and execute” capability has great potential, it raises significant computer security concerns. For example, Java applets could be written to damage hardware, software or information on the recipient computer, make the computer unstable by depleting its resources, and/or access confidential information on the computer and send it to someone else without first getting the computer owner's permission. People have expended lots of time and effort trying to solve Java's security problems. To alleviate some of these concerns, Sun Microsystems has developed a Java interpreter providing certain built-in security features such as:
a Java verifier that will not let an applet execute until the verifier verifies the applet doesn't violate certain rules,
a Java class loader that treats applets originating remotely differently from those originating locally,
a Java security manager that controls access to resources such as files and network access, and
promised to come soon—the use of digital signatures for authenticating applets.
Numerous security flaws have been found despite these techniques. Moreover, a philosophy underlying this overall security design is that a user will have no incentive to compromise the security of her own locally installed Java interpreter—and that any such compromise is inconsequential from a system security standpoint because only the user's own computer (and its contents) are at risk. This philosophy—which is typical of many security system designs—is seriously flawed in many useful electronic commerce contexts for reasons described below in connection with the above-referenced Ginter et al. patent specification.
The Ginter et al. specification describes a “virtual distribution environment” comprehensively providing overall systems and wide arrays of methods, techniques, structures and arrangements that enable secure, efficient electronic commerce and rights management, including on the Internet or other “Information Super Highway.”
The Ginter et al. patent disclosure describes, among other things, techniques for providing a secure, tamper resistant execution spaces within a “protected processing environment” for computer programs and data. The protected processing environment described in Ginter et al. may be hardware-based, software-based, or a hybrid. It can execute computer code the Ginter et al. disclosure refers to as “load modules.” See, for example, Ginter et al. FIG.
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and corresponding text. These load modules—which can be transmitted from remote locations within secure cryptographic wrappers or “containers”—are used to perform the basic operations of the “virtual distribution environment.” Load modules may contain algorithms, data, cryptographic keys, shared secrets, and/or other information that permits a load module to interact with other system components (e.g., other load modules and/or computer programs operating in the same or different protected processing environment). For a load module to operate and interact as intended, it must execute without unauthorized modification and its conte
Shear Victor H.
Sibert W. Olin
Van Wie David M.
Buczinski Stephen C.
Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner L.L.P.
InterTrust Technologies Corp.
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