Patent Application
20080222700
The present invention relates to challenge/response systems in general, and more particularly to providing a secure challenge/response system on a single computer running multiple operating systems.
The success of web based systems in many cases today is dependent on accurate and reliable user authentication. The readiness of users to retrieve or submit proprietary information over the web is negatively correlated to the risk of an adversary accessing that information.
Typically users will exchange one or more encrypted passwords with the system they are trying to log into. However, passwords must be relatively short to allow for memorization and thus can be guessed by an adversary, or they can be stolen using a key logger or other kinds of Trojan Horse software. Additionally, many algorithms used to create encrypted passwords can be deciphered on relatively standard computers in order to learn the identity of the encrypted password. One solution is to use a biometric device to identify the user. Aside from concerns with identity theft and privacy issues, here too, an adversary or virus could gain low level access, say at the BIOS level, and copy the biometric data.
Smart cards solve these problems using challenge-response protocols, by sending a valid response to every challenge. The response is typically a cryptographic function of, among other things, the challenge, the date and time, and the user password. However, smart card systems add to the cost of challenge/response systems and the smart cards themselves can be lost or stolen. Such systems also have other limitations in that they are often difficult to manage, involving distribution and maintenance of equipment as well as firmware updates, and usually require clock synchronization with the remote system.
The present invention in embodiments thereof discloses systems and methods for providing a secure challenge/response system on a single computer running multiple operating systems.
In one aspect of the present invention a secure challenge-response virtualization system is provided including a computer having a memory divided into at least a first and a second logical partition, where the first partition is operative to receive a challenge from an entity, and a challenge/response manager configured with the second partition, where the first partition is configured to provide the challenge to the challenge/response manager configured with the second partition, and where the challenge/response manager is configured to generate a response to the challenge and provide the response to the first partition.
In another aspect of the present invention a method is provided for providing challenge-response transactions in a virtualization system, the method including receiving a challenge at a first logical partition of a memory of a computer, providing the challenge to a second partition of the memory of the computer, generating at the second partition a response to the challenge, and providing the response to the first partition.
In another aspect of the present invention a method is provided for providing challenge-response transactions in a virtualization system, the method including configuring a first logical partition of a memory of a computer to provide to a second partition a challenge received by the first partition, and configuring the second partition to generate a response to the challenge and provide the response to the first partition.
The present invention will be understood and appreciated more fully from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the appended drawings in which:
Reference is now made to
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It will be appreciated that challenge and/or response may be communicated to/from the various partitions using means other that a hypervisor. For example, the partitions may use a shared memory and/or shared hardware registers into which the challenge and/or response may be written and from which may be read. Alternatively, the challenge and/or response need not be transmitted automatically between the partitions. Rather, the user may receive and note the challenge in LPAR 1, switch his view to LPAR 4, manually enter the challenge in LPAR 4, receive and note the response, switch his view back to LPAR 1, and manually enter the response in LPAR 1.
It will be appreciated that by placing the challenge/response manager within a partition that is only indirectly accessible to challengers, and that is separate from other partitions that themselves access those secure systems that issue challenges, the present invention offers a greater degree of security against hacking attempts.
While the methods and apparatus herein may or may not have been described with reference to specific computer hardware or software, it is appreciated that the methods and apparatus described herein may be readily implemented in computer hardware or software using conventional techniques.
While the present invention has been described with reference to one or more specific embodiments, the description is intended to be illustrative of the invention as a whole and is not to be construed as limiting the invention to the embodiments shown. It is appreciated that various modifications may occur to those skilled in the art that, while not specifically shown herein, are nevertheless within the true spirit and scope of the invention.
