Secure user assigned device from manufacturer
AssigneeMicrosoft Technology Licensing, LLC
InventorsAnni Dong, Yanan Zhang, Brian Stuart Perlman
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
This document relates to securing ownership of devices to particular users when the devices are shipped directly from an original equipment manufacturer in order to prevent malicious use of devices that are lost or stolen. A purchaser may purchase a device from an original equipment manufacturer, and as part of the purchasing process, may provide ownership information for the device, which may include a user identifier and an identity provider. The ownership data can be written to firmware, and upon powering on of the device, the device can request a user identifier, which is then validated by the identity provider before allowing operating systems operations to continue on the device.
Claims21
A device comprising:
- a hardware processing unit;
- and a storage resource storing computer-readable instructions that configure the hardware processing unit to:
- detect an initial powering on of the device;
- responsive to determining that an ownership marker associated with a designated owner of the device is present on the storage resource of the device upon the initial powering on of the device, lock the device from performing a particular operating system operation;
- obtain an input of a user identifier;
- and
- unlock the particular operating system operation upon receiving a validation, the validation indicating that the obtained input matches the designated owner of the device,
- the initial powering on occurring after shipment of the device from a manufacturer of the device.
A method, comprising:
- detecting an initial powering on of a device;
- responsive to the initial powering on of the device and a determination that a marker is present in firmware of the device that reflects that the device is locked to a designated owner of the device, locking a particular operating system operation on the device and prompting for a user identifier;
- and unlocking the particular operating system operation responsive to validating that the user identifier matches the designated owner of the device, the initial powering on occurring after shipment of the device from a manufacturer of the device.
A system comprising:
- a hardware processing unit;
- and
- a storage resource storing computer-readable instructions that configure the hardware processing unit to:
- responsive to initial powering on of the system, determine that a BIOS flag is present on the storage resource, the BIOS flag indicating that the system is associated with a designated owner of the system and further indicating enforcement of a lock on a particular operating system operation;
- using an identity provider designated in firmware, validate that a received user identifier matches the designated owner of the system;
- and remove the lock on the particular operating system operation responsive to validation of the received user identifier, the initial powering on occurring after shipment of the system from a manufacturer of the system.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.