Integrity verification using a peripheral device

A method for integrity verification of a computer using a peripheral device, the method comprising:

• connecting said peripheral device, said peripheral device comprising an embedded system comprising a microprocessor core, memory controller, static RAM, flash memory, ROM, system controller, said system controller having an interrupt, at least one timer, and power management components, and said peripheral device further including communications controllers comprising USART controller, SPI controller, 12C controller and USB communications controller;
• components that comprise said peripheral device are selected from the group consisting of a single system on chip (SOC) device, an application specific integrated circuit chip (ASIC) and commercial off the shelf (COTS) components and a universal serial bus (USB) device comprising a display, to the computer;
• sending a random challenge from said peripheral device to said computer;
• computing attestation data using said random challenge and information stored in said computer, wherein said attestation data is computed using information from a trusted platform module on said computer;
• retrieving said attestation data and said log information regarding a boot process of said computer from said computer by a client program running on said computer, wherein said client program is configured to load from said peripheral device onto said computer;
• sending said attestation data and said log information from said computer to said peripheral device;
• using said peripheral device to verify said attestation data by comparing said attestation data and log information received from said TPM to verification information received from said client program, wherein said verification information is received by said client program from a configuration server via a network connection of said computer that is connected to said network, wherein said verification information comprises a plurality of certificates;
• displaying a result of said comparison of said attestation data from said computer with said verification information received by said peripheral device from the configuration server on the display on said peripheral device;
• and wherein said peripheral device further comprises a fingerprint scanner, and the method further comprising sending a scanned fingerprint to said computer based on a successful integrity verification.

A system comprising:

• a computer, said computer comprising an operating system and a trusted platform module (TPM), said TPM configured to store attestation data regarding said operating system;
• and
• a peripheral device in communication with said computer, the peripheral device being configured to perform an integrity verification of the operating system, said peripheral device being an embedded system comprising a microprocessor core, memory controller, static RAM, flash memory, ROM, system controller, said system controller having an interrupt, at least one timer, and power management components, and
• said peripheral device further including communications controllers comprising USART controller, SPI controller, I2C controller and USB communications controller;
• components that comprise said peripheral device are selected from the group consisting of a single system on chip (SOC) device, an application specific integrated circuit chip (ASIC) and commercial off the shelf (COTS) components;
• function specific display device hardware;
• an interface configured to communicate with said computer, wherein said interface comprises a USB (universal serial bus) interface, and said peripheral device comprises a USB peripheral device;
• a logic element comprising a client program configured to execute on said computer, said client program further configured to load from said peripheral device onto said computer and to receive verification information via a network connection of said computer that is connected to said network, wherein said verification information comprises a plurality of certificates;
• and
• said logic element further configured to perform an integrity verification of an operating system of said computer, wherein said integrity verification comprises:
• issuing a random challenge by said peripheral device;
• sending said random challenge from said peripheral device to a trusted platform module (TPM) on said computer;
• receiving attestation data and log information regarding a boot process of said computer from said TPM by said peripheral device in response to said random challenge;
• verifying said attestation data using a verification method selected from the group consisting of:
• comparing said attestation data and said log information received from said TPM on said computer to a known list of acceptable attestation values;
• using a client program to compile a list of certificates that enable said peripheral device to verify said attestation data;
• and using said client program to obtain a correctness certificate from a database of trusted configurations via a network connection;
• a display, said display being located on said peripheral device, configured to display a result of said comparison of said attestation data from said computer with said verification information received by said peripheral device from said configuration server;
• and
• a fingerprint scanner located on said peripheral device configured to send a scanned fingerprint to said computer based on a successful integrity verification.