Patent Application
20080077805
Some of the purposes of the invention having been stated, others will appear as the description proceeds, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:
While the present invention will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which a preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown, it is to be understood at the outset of the description which follows that persons of skill in the appropriate arts may modify the invention here described while still achieving the favorable results of the invention. Accordingly, the description which follows is to be understood as being a broad, teaching disclosure directed to persons of skill in the appropriate arts, and not as limiting upon the present invention.
The PCI local bus 26 supports the attachment of a number of devices, including adapters and bridges. Among these devices is a network adapter or NIC 28, which interfaces the computer system 10 to a LAN (wired or wireless), and graphics adapter 29, which interfaces the computer system 10 to a display. Communication on the PCI local bus 26 is governed by a local PCI controller 30, which is in turn coupled to non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM) 31 via a memory bus 32. Local PCI controller 30 can be coupled to additional buses and devices via a second host bridge 34.
Computer system 10 further may include an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus 35, which is coupled to the PCI local bus 26 by an ISA bridge 36. Coupled to the ISA bus 35 is an input/output (I/O) controller 38, which controls communication between computer system 10 and attached peripheral devices such as a keyboard 12, mouse 13, and a disk drive 39 on which software is stored as digital data. In addition, I/O controller 38 supports external communication by computer system 10 via serial and parallel ports. Alternatively, more recently designed systems may use a PCI Express service for such functions as graphics.
As mentioned above, one function of software controlling the operation of the system 10 is to allocate memory in the system memory 22. In the process of allocating addresses in that memory component, data will be exchanged with other memory components, typically with a disk drive 39 where a “swap file” may exist. It is precisely this swapping between memory components that gives rise to the security problem addressed by this invention.
As contemplated by this invention, computer instructions are stored accessibly to the central processor 20 and executable by that processor for processing data, the instructions having elements directing the temporary exchange of data among a plurality of memory components as described here. Additionally, security computer instructions are stored accessibly to the central processor 20 and executable to (a) generate an encryption key prior to a temporary exchange of data between two memory components and (b) encrypt data to be temporarily exchanged (see
The present invention contemplates that the memory components comprise system memory 22 and a disk drive 39, and that the temporary exchange of data is between the system memory and a disk drive. The security computer instructions are executed in said central processor. However, the present invention contemplates that the security key may be generated either in the processor or in the host bridge 25. The encryption key is ephemeral. That is, the encryption key exists only for the interval of time required for the exchange to be completed and then vanishes so as to be unrecoverable after the related task is completed.
Regarding the encryption key, the extent to which the key is ephemeral may depend upon whether the key exists only for the one swap exchange or exists for so long as the related process is running. That is, the author of code implementing this invention has a design choice—either the key may be in existence for only a short time—the time of one exchange—or a longer time—the interval that the related process is executing (such as a word processing or spreadsheet program). Another characteristic of the key is that during its existence, for whatever time that may be, it is stored in a memory location which is unknown to, and inaccessible by, other processes and processors running in the system. Thus the key is concealed during its interval of existence in addition to being in existence for only a limited time.
From this description, it will be understood that the present invention contemplates a method of securing data undergoing such an exchange by executing computer instructions in a computer system to process data; temporarily exchanging data from a first memory location to a second memory location as memory demands fluctuate; responding to a temporary exchange by generating an encryption key and applying the generated key to encrypt data being exchanged into the second memory location; and responding to a reversal of the temporary exchange by applying the generated key to decrypt the data which has been exchanged. Such a method will include other steps such as creating an ephemeral key, executing the controlling code in the central processor, or generating the key within a bridge in the system.
In the drawings and specifications there has been set forth a preferred embodiment of the invention and, although specific terms are used, the description thus given uses terminology in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.
