Computer network comprising network authentication facilities implemented in a disk drive
AssigneeWestern Digital Ventures, Inc.
InventorChristopher L. Hamlin
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A computer network is disclosed comprising a plurality of interconnected network devices including a plurality of client computers, an authentication server computer operated by a system administrator, and a disk drive connected to the authentication server computer. The disk drive comprises an interface for receiving the personal authentication data and user access data from the system administrator, a disk for storing data, and a disk controller for controlling access to the disk. An authenticator within the disk drive, responsive to the personal authentication data, enables the disk controller, and cryptographic circuitry encrypts the user access data received from the system administrator into encrypted data stored on the disk.
Claims23
A computer network comprising a plurality of interconnected network devices including:
- (a) a plurality of client computers;
- (b) an authentication server computer operated by a system administrator;
- and
- (c) a disk drive connected to the authentication server computer, the disk drive comprising:
- an interface for receiving personal authentication data and user access data from the system administrator;
- a disk for storing data;
- a disk controller for controlling access to the disk;
- an authenticator, responsive to the personal authentication data, for enabling the disk controller;
- and
- cryptographic circuitry for encrypting the user access data received from the system administrator into encrypted data stored on the disk;
- wherein:
- the user access data comprises a plurality of user identifiers and corresponding access rights to the plurality of network devices;
- the disk stores encrypted device access data associated with the network devices;
- the device access data for use in authenticating device access requests transmitted from client computers to the network devices;
- and
- the encrypted device access data is stored on the disk during manufacture of the disk drive.
A computer network comprising a plurality of interconnected network devices including:
- (a) a plurality of client computers;
- (b) an authentication server computer;
- and
- (c) a disk drive connected to the authentication server computer, the disk drive comprising:
- an interface for receiving from a client computer a user ID and a user access request to access a network device, and for transmitting device access data to the client computer;
- a disk for storing encrypted data;
- a disk controller, responsive to the user ID and user access request, for controlling access to the disk;
- and
- cryptographic circuitry for decrypting the encrypted data stored on the disk to generate decrypted data;
- wherein the disk controller uses the decrypted data to generate the device access data transmitted to the client computer.
A computer network comprising a plurality of interconnected network devices including:
- (a) a plurality of client computers;
- (b) an authentication server;
- and
- (c) a disk drive comprising:
- an interface for receiving an encrypted device access request and for inputting/outputting user data from/to a client computer;
- a disk for storing data;
- a disk controller for controlling access to the disk;
- an internal drive key;
- a secret device key shared with the authentication server, the secret device key stored in encrypted form;
- cryptographic circuitry, responsive to the internal drive key, for decrypting the encrypted secret device key to generate a decrypted secret device key;
- and
- an authenticator, responsive to the decrypted secret device key, for authenticating the device access request.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.