# US 10,482,278 B2 · Remote provisioning and authenticated writes to secure storage devices > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,482,278 B2 - Document ID: US10482278B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 16/297,315 - Filed: 2019-03-08 - Published: 2019-07-04 - Granted: 2019-11-19 - Earliest claimed: 2015-10-13 - Assignees: McAfee, Inc. - Applicants: McAfee, LLC - Inventors: Adrian R. Pearson; Sergiu D. Ghetie; Thomas R. Bowen; Gamil A. Cain; Jason Cox; Faraz A. Siddiqi; Neeraj S. Upasani - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10482278B2 ## CPC - G06F 21/6218: {to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database} - G06F 21/575: {Secure boot} - G06F 21/79: in semiconductor storage media, e.g. directly-addressable memories - G06F 2221/2107: File encryption - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) ## Abstract A system for securing electronic devices includes a storage device including a storage device controller processor, at least one non-transitory machine readable storage medium in firmware of the storage device communicatively coupled to the storage device controller processor, and a monitor application comprising computer-executable instructions on the medium. The instructions are readable by the storage device controller processor. The monitor application is configured to provision one or more read-only areas of the storage device, provision a candidate copy area of the storage device, reduce a maximum capacity available for user data on the storage device by a size of the read-only areas and the candidate copy area, and secure access to the read-only areas of the storage device. ## Claims ### Claim 1 At least one non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, comprising computer-executable instructions carried on the machine-readable medium, the instructions readable by a hardware processor, the instructions, when read and executed, for causing the hardware processor to: provision one or more read-only areas of a storage device; provision a candidate copy area of the storage device; secure access to the read-only areas of the storage device; determine that an attempted write to one of the read-only areas has been made; copy contents of the attempted write to the candidate copy area; verify a signature of data to be written to the read-only area using a unique key associated with the read-only area; and in response to verifying the signature of the data to be written to the read-only area using the unique key associated with the read-only area, copy the contents from the candidate copy area to the read-only area. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the candidate area is as large as a largest of the read-only areas. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions for causing the hardware processor to: provision one or more key storage areas in which to store the unique keys associated with the one or more read-only areas. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions for causing the hardware processor to: provision the read-only areas of the storage device is performed during a boot process of the storage device; and upon provisioning the read-only areas, block further provisioning based upon a blocking instruction from an entity specifying the provisioning. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions for causing the hardware processor to: determine an attempted provisioning of a read-only area of the storage device; create and send a certificate-verification packet including a nonce of the storage device; receive a verification response to the certificate-verification packet; determine that the verification response identifies the source of the attempted provisioning; and verify the verification response based upon the nonce of the storage device. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions for causing the hardware processor to: after provisioning the read-only areas of the storage device, determine an attempted provisioning of a read-only area of the storage device; and verify data to be written based upon a validation using a key contained within the provisioning data. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions for causing the hardware processor to: determine that a second attempted write to one of the read-only areas has been made; copy contents of the second attempted write to the candidate copy area; compare a security version of a second payload to be written with a security version of a corresponding read-only area; verify the second attempted write by determining that the security version of the payload is greater or equal to the security version of the corresponding read-only area; and based on a verification of the second attempted write, copy the contents from the candidate copy area to the read-only area. ### Claim 8 A system for securing electronic devices, comprising: a storage device including at least one non-transitory machine-readable storage medium; a hardware processor coupled to the storage device and configured to: provision one or more read-only areas of the storage device; provision a candidate copy area of the storage device; secure access to the read-only areas of the storage device; determine that an attempted write to one of the read-only areas has been made; copy contents of the attempted write to the candidate copy area; verify a signature of data to be written to the read-only area using a unique key associated with the read-only area; and in response to verifying the signature of the data to be written to the read-only area using the unique key associated with the read-only area, copy the contents from the candidate copy area to the read-only area. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The system of claim 8, wherein the candidate area is as large as a largest of the read-only areas. ### Claim 10 (depends on 8) The system of claim 8, wherein the hardware processor is further configured to: provision one or more key storage areas in which to store the unique keys associated with the one or more read-only areas. ### Claim 11 (depends on 8) The system of claim 8, wherein the hardware processor is further configured to: provision the read-only areas of the storage device is performed during a boot process of the storage device; and upon provisioning the read-only areas, block further provisioning based upon a blocking instruction from an entity specifying the provisioning. ### Claim 12 (depends on 8) The system of claim 8, wherein the hardware processor is further configured to: determine an attempted provisioning of a read-only area of the storage device; create and send a certificate-verification packet including a nonce of the storage device; receive a verification response to the certificate-verification packet; determine that the verification response identifies the source of the attempted provisioning; and verify the verification response based upon the nonce of the storage device. ### Claim 13 (depends on 8) The system of claim 8, wherein the hardware processor is further configured to: after provisioning the read-only areas of the storage device, determine an attempted provisioning of a read-only area of the storage device; and verify data to be written based upon a validation using a key contained within the provisioning data. ### Claim 14 (depends on 8) The system of claim 8, wherein the hardware processor is further configured to: determine that a second attempted write to one of the read-only areas has been made; copy contents of the second attempted write to the candidate copy area; compare a security version of a second payload to be written with a security version of a corresponding read-only area; verify the second attempted write by determining that the security version of the payload is greater or equal to the security version of the corresponding read-only area; and based on a verification of the second attempted write, copy the contents from the candidate copy area to the read-only area. ### Claim 15 A method of electronic device security, comprising: provisioning one or more read-only areas of the storage device using a hardware processor; provisioning a candidate copy area of the storage device; securing access to the read-only areas of the storage device; determining that an attempted write to one of the read-only areas has been made; copying contents of the attempted write to the candidate copy area; verifying a signature of data to be written to the read-only area using a unique key associated with the read-only area; and in response to verifying the signature of the data to be written to the read-only area using the unique key associated with the read-only area, copying the contents from the candidate copy area to the read-only area. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The method of claim 15, further comprising: provisioning one or more key storage areas in which to store the unique keys associated with the one or more read-only areas. ### Claim 17 (depends on 15) The method of claim 15, further comprising: provisioning the read-only areas of the storage device is performed during a boot process of the storage device; and upon provisioning the read-only areas, blocking further provisioning based upon a blocking instruction from an entity specifying the provisioning. ### Claim 18 (depends on 15) The method of claim 15, further comprising: determining an attempted provisioning of a read-only area of the storage device; creating and sending a certificate-verification packet including a nonce of the storage device; receiving a verification response to the certificate-verification packet; determining that the verification response identifies the source of the attempted provisioning; and verifying the verification response based upon the nonce of the storage device. ### Claim 19 (depends on 15) The method of claim 15, further comprising: after provisioning the read-only areas of the storage device, determining an attempted provisioning of a read-only area of the storage device; and verifying data to be written based upon a validation using a key contained within the provisioning data. ### Claim 20 (depends on 15) The method of claim 15, further comprising: determining that a second attempted write to one of the read-only areas has been made; copying contents of the second attempted write to the candidate copy area; comparing a security version of a second payload to be written with a security version of a corresponding read-only area; verifying the second attempted write by determining that the security version of the payload is greater or equal to the security version of the corresponding read-only area; and based on a verification of the second attempted write, coping the contents from the candidate copy area to the read-only area.