Anti-theft in firmware
AssigneeIntel Corporation
InventorsQian Ouyang, Jian J. Wang, Vincent J. Zimmer, Michael A. Rothman, Chao B. Zhang
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Abstract
Methods, systems and storage media are disclosed for enhanced system boot processing that authenticates boot code based on biometric information of the user before loading the boot code to system memory. For at least some embodiments, the bio-metric authentication augments authentication of boot code based on a unique platform identifier. The enhanced boot code authentication occurs before loading of the operating system, and may be performed during a Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) boot sequence. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
Claims10
A system, comprising:
- a processor;
- a non-volatile memory coupled to the processor;
- and
- a system memory coupled to the processor;
- wherein said non-volatile memory includes one or more instructions for:
- determining whether enhanced biometric authentication has been enabled during a driver execution environment phase (DXE) of a UEFI boot sequence;
- generating a first key during the DXE, based on biometric information of a user collected from a biometric device during the DXE;
- authenticating the user and firmware code stored in the non-volatile memory during the DXE;
- and
- loading the authenticated firmware code from the non-volatile memory into the volatile memory during the DXE phase, wherein the firmware code is authenticated before loading from the non-volatile memory into the volatile memory;
- wherein said authenticating comprises determining that the user is authorized by decrypting the firmware code before loading from the non-volatile memory into the volatile memory using the first key based on the biometric information of the user, a unique identifier associated with the system, and one or more of:
- (a) possession of a token, (b) password, (c) passphrase, and (d) location of the user, and wherein said decrypting is to be performed prior to loading of an operating system during the DXE before loading the firmware code into the volatile memory.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.