Method to verify the integrity of components on a trusted platform using integrity database services

A computer-implemented method for verifying the integrity of components, comprising:

• verifying at least one component of an image file, wherein verifying includes:
• generating an integrity report for at least one component of a client platform, the integrity report including a digest for the at least one component of the client platform;
• checking whether each digest in the integrity report has a corresponding integrity record in a local signature database;
• if one or more digests does not have a corresponding integrity record in the local signature database, checking whether the one or more digests has a corresponding integrity record in a global signature database associated with an integrity authority that is separate and remote from the client platform, and verifying the digests in the integrity report with the integrity authority against the integrity records in the global signature database;
• and
• generating a trust report by a verification server including an integrity/trust score using the integrity report, the integrity/trust score being determined in part by a certificate used to sign the integrity report, wherein the verification server is separate from the client platform and remotely generates the trust report including the integrity/trust score;
• deploying the client platform after verifying the at least one component of the image file, wherein deploying includes:
• installing the at least one component of the image file on the client platform after verifying the image file;
• and
• synchronizing the integrity records in the local signature database with the integrity records in the global signature database.

A system for verifying the integrity of components within a trusted computing environment, comprising:

• an integrity authority capable of being connected to a network including a global signature database to store a first plurality of integrity records, wherein each of the first plurality of integrity records includes a trustworthy hash;
• an authenticator entity including a local signature database to store a second plurality of integrity records, wherein each of the second plurality of integrity records includes a trustworthy hash,
• wherein the authenticator entity is configured to compare said hash of at least one component of said integrity report with said trustworthy hash of each of the second plurality of integrity records;
• an authentication server capable of being connected to the network to authenticate a client platform, wherein the integrity authority and the authentication server are separate and remote from the client platform;
• a verification server separate from the client platform, and capable of being connected to the network to receive an integrity report from said client platform, to compare a hash of said integrity report with said trustworthy hash of each of the first plurality of integrity records from the integrity authority if said hash of said integrity report is not found in said second plurality of integrity records, and to provide a trust report to the authentication server, wherein the trust report includes an integrity/trust score that is determined based on the comparison of said hash of said integrity report with said trustworthy hash of each of the first plurality of integrity records and the second plurality of integrity records;
• a resource available on the network;
• a policy server separate from the client platform, and capable of being connected to the network to control access to the resource by said client platform according to the integrity/trust score,
• wherein said integrity/trust score is used by the policy server to decide whether to grant or deny access to the resource by said client platform, and
• wherein the authenticator entity includes the verification server, the authentication server, and the policy server and the authenticator entity is configured to periodically synchronize said local signature database with said first plurality of integrity records of said global signature database.

An article comprising a non-transitory machine-accessible and readable storage medium having associated data that, when accessed, results in a machine:

• generating an integrity report for at least one component;
• generating a trust report including an integrity/trust score using the integrity report, the integrity/trust score being determined in part by a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) certificate used to sign the integrity report;
• authenticating a client platform;
• receiving the integrity report including a plurality of digests from the client platform;
• checking whether each of the plurality of digests has a corresponding integrity record in a local signature database;
• if one or more of the digests does not have a corresponding integrity record in the local signature database, checking whether said one or more digests has a corresponding integrity record in a global signature database associated with an integrity authority that is separate and remote from the client platform, and verifying the plurality of digests in the integrity report with the remote integrity authority;
• generating a trust report including an integrity/trust score using integrity records stored in the local signature database or the global signature database of the remote integrity authority;
• granting access of the client platform to a resource if the integrity/trust score exceeds a threshold;
• denying access of the client platform to the resource if the integrity/trust score does not exceed the threshold;
• and
• synchronizing the integrity records in the local signature database with the integrity records in the global signature database.