Secure universal serial bus (USB) storage device and method

A system, comprising:

• a Universal Serial Bus (USB) secure microcontroller;
• a Universal Serial Bus (USB) host controller coupled to a USB bus;
• and
• a USB storage device configured to communicate with the Universal Serial Bus host controller, the USB storage device comprising:
• a memory controller configured to store and retrieve data from a memory stored in an encrypted format, wherein the memory controller comprises an interface to the Universal Serial Bus secure microcontroller, the interface comprising at least one of:
• a Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) and a MultiMediaCard (MMC) interface;
• and
• wherein the Universal Serial Bus (USB) secure microcontroller is configured to authorize access to the memory through the memory controller, wherein the Universal Serial Bus secure microcontroller initiates authentication upon enumeration of the USB storage device, wherein the enumeration authentication to permit access to the memory through the memory controller is performed through validation by the Universal Serial Bus secure microcontroller using authentication information that is stored in a portion of a microcontroller memory disposed in the Universal Serial Bus secure microcontroller and not from other storage accessible through the memory controller, and wherein access to the memory through the memory controller is selectively permitted based on a result of the validation prior to data being read from or written to the memory,
• wherein the Universal Serial Bus secure microcontroller is configured to authorize access to the memory through the memory controller and to protect data stored in the memory by:
• authenticating the USB storage device, a user of the USB storage device, and at least one of received data to be stored in the memory and a request to provide the retrieved data from the memory;
• and
• ensuring that data stored in the memory is encrypted.

A method, comprising:

• storing information in and retrieving information from a memory in a Universal Serial Bus (USB) storage device, wherein access to the memory is provided by a memory controller comprising an interface to a USB secure microcontroller, the interface comprising at least one of:
• a Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) and a MultiMediaCard (MMC) interface;
• and
• authorizing access to the memory through the memory controller to thereby secure contents of the memory using the USB secure microcontroller, wherein the USB secure microcontroller initiates authentication upon enumeration of the Universal Serial Bus storage device, wherein the enumeration authentication to permit access to the memory through the memory controller is performed through validation by the USB secure microcontroller using authentication information that is stored in a portion of a microcontroller memory disposed in the USB secure microcontroller and not from other storage accessible through the memory controller, and wherein access to the memory through the memory controller is selectively permitted based on a result of the validation prior to data being read from or written to the memory,
• wherein the USB secure microcontroller is configured to authorize access to the memory through the memory controller and to protect data stored in the memory by:
• authenticating the Universal Serial Bus storage device, a user of the Universal Serial Bus storage device, and at least one of received data to be stored in the memory and a request to provide retrieved data from the memory;
• and
• ensuring that data stored in the memory is encrypted.